Abstract

The methods project requires students to construct a multi-panel scientific figure of an interspecific interaction on the UMass Amherst campus and write a detailed methods section describing how it will be made. The goal of the project is to be as specific as possible so that another student can replicate the figure, because a primary goal of science is replication. The multi-panel scientific figure was constructed of three pictures of an interaction between a tree and moss. The differences observed between each of the three photos consisted of color, size, number, background, and contrast. These differences may have resulted from the weather, differences in distance from the tree, and differences in angle of the camera.