Drafts

I am trying to put together my proposal for the second writing assignment. It has been challenging. I am doing some reading from the book to get a better idea of what the whole scope of this assignment is. I think one thing that is important to relay in the background information is the fact that if these stigmalla multispicata are host switching it could cause a big problem because they don't have a ton of natural predators in this area. 

We went out yesteday to see if we coiuld see evidence of leafminers on any of the elm trees on campus and none of us were able to find anything. We are due to go back out on Monday to see if we can go to some of the locations further than Merrill to find some. I think one of the things that confuses me about this project is the fact that we aren't specifically looking for this type of leafminer. I don't get what we are going to do with the data in regards to the other leafminer species that we find. I thought the point of this project was to find out why the leafminer track looked like a species that doesn't eat that kind of tree.

The last hour of todays class was spent inspecting vairous species of elm trees for the presence of mines. We are peticularly interested in finding Stigmella multispicata  mines. The elm's with the most mines are the ones behind Morrell II. No leafminer activity was observed by myself, Stefanie, or Ivan in any of the trees west of Morrell. We did however, see a lot of the resistant american elm with galls on the leaves. Seeing all of these galls I wonder if they are feeding on the leafminers?? 

After class I drove up N Residential Drive to look at the 7 Siberian Elms. I Did not spend a bunch of time there but I did look closley at the leaves and once again there was no activity to be seen. THis is odd. I am begining to wonder if there is something in the area of the Morrell building that is attracting these moths. That is something that is out of the scope of this class. This is were we learn to write about these things, not actually research them. From what I have read about these studies they have ocured over a much longer period of time then this class would have time for. 

      Working with an outline certainly has an advantage. I have never created my own before so knowing exactly what to put in will still be challenging.  The problem that I face is staring at the screen trying to think of something to write. I'm thinking that possibly I could just put some words down to start then fill it in as I can figure it out. Writing has never been a strong subject for me, I just sort of fumble around and try to make things fit. This last writing project was extremely challenging. This is not my only writing challenge, creating the bibliography or reference list in next on the list.

       I have made many reference lists, bibliographies, and annotated bibliographies but I still need to learn how to use a citation tool for my reference list. I have watched people do them, and been shown different tools but nothing seems to stick. Just this evening I found an interesting article and I attempted to put it on the class biblio page but I could not find were to copy and paste the DOI number.  Once again I will need further instruction on this. Once I learn it this time I will be sure not to forget it, this will save me so much time with papers in the future. 

Specific Aim: To sample each species of Ulmus present on the UMass Amherst campus,  and to survey them for leaf mining insects.

Approach and Analysis: This experiment aims to sample leaves from every available Elm on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. There are currently 293 Elms on campus, and 17 unique species. At least one of each Elm species will be searched for evidence of leaf miners by observing the lowest branches of the tree. All observed leaf miners will be removed from the infected tree as well as a healthy uninfected leaf in close proximity. The location of the Elm will be marked, and the leaves will be cataloged for further analysis. 

    Specific Aim: To categorize infected leaves and identify factors related to the predation of 

infected leaves.

    Approach and Analysis: After obtaining a collection of infected leaves, we intend to 

measure the symmetry of each leaf from the mid rib. We intend to collect four width measurements every fifth of the way up the leaf from the base. We will measure from the outside leaf edge to the edge of the midrib on both the infected and uninfected leaves. We will also count the amount of veins, and the average distance between veins, on each side of the mid rib. This data will be analyzed for trends involving predation, the entry site of the miner, and the relative symmetry of each leaf in comparison to the ignored leaves.

Leaf miners are made by a number of species of insects in which the larval stage eats the tissue of the plant. Leaf miners can be made by several different insects. Most leaf miner burrows or tunnels are referred to as serpentine mines, consisting of thin, winding, whitish trails, or as blotch mines which are broad and whitish or brownish in color. These mines may cause heavy infestations, causing the leaves and the entire plant to turn brown by late spring. They feed on the leaf tissue between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf. Elm leaf miners are a pest that feed on the tissues in between the outer layers of elm leaves causing them to turn brown and the leaf to decay. Just because on leaf on the plant is affected does not mean that the whole plant is affected. Although, overtime this does change due to the amount of insects feeding on the leaves.

Specific Aim 2.To categorize infected leaves and identify factors related to the predation of infected leaves. The literature suggests that leaf miners have a specific oviposition tendency based upon the structure of the leaf (Apape 1995). As we collect data on the leaf miners, we want to confirm this phenomenon while also analyzing for other contributing factors.  

Today in class we crerated a comic and were limited to the 1,000 most common words. The subject matter was varied but all scientific. The point of the exercise was to use the 1,000 common words and pictures to explain the more complicated scientific topic. I liked this exercise because i feel like it is going to help me think along those terms more when I am learning complicated stuff. Maybe I can do this sort of thing when I am studying. I can rewrite what it is saying in the simplest terms possible. I encounter a lot of stuff in my classes that is complex and hard to wrap my mind around. It would be great t o have a new and improved study strategy.

      I thought that class went very well today. First Dr. Brewer cleared up a lot of the mind boggling information about the methods project. Dr. Long sat down with me and described in detail how to approach writing a scientific paper. Her suggestion about creating an outline was very helpful and I will try to implement this technique in the future. 

       The introduction to persuasive writing was a fun exercise. Dogs have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  I felt that saving them is the least I could do for them since they have brought me such joy throughout my life. Even though this was a fictitious exercise it was something that I could get behind. Everyone in the class had such strong arguments as to why the breed that they chose would be the best. 

      The work with the things explainer was such a refreshing look at simple words to explain complex systems. Dr. Long's explanations were spot on about how people use words that they do not understand just because its expected in technical papers. Creating my own cartoon was something I haven't done since elementary school, and I see that my artistic abilities really have not improved since than.         

This final review of the methods project has really beaten me down. My confidence level has drooped so much now I have no idea about what I am doing. I can clearly see that any aspirations of becoming a researcher have been completely removed. Now all I can hope for is at least a passing grade for this course. I do not see me attempting another course like this with a full course load. Writing has never been a strong suit of mine but up to this point I was feeling that my writing was at least adequate. Hopefully this next project will be better now that I have a better idea of what we are supposed to do (At least I think I do). I just have to remember that this research  has to be reproducible in order to be valid. Trying to write something that resembles a coherent paper is still going to be a challenge. 

I am still feeling somewhat unclear about how to go about writing our scientific proposal. I feel like this stuff is almost too vague to me. I don't know why writing has become such a chore for me. Maybe it is just because more is expected of us now. This is no longer ENG 101. I guess I tend to freeze up when stuff isn't easy. I am looking forward to collecting the data and using the software program to make sense of it all. I liked how the panel of graphs we created in class worked. It was interesting to see the arrangement of the axes. I am not as crazy about the topic of leafminers. I hate bugs and have no interest in them. But we were given choices as to what we wanted to do. So it's my own fault that this is what my proposal will be about. I am very glad to have a group to collaborate with though! That is such a good help. I am also interested in revisiting stats again in a more concrete and useful situation. When I took that class, so much of it was theoretical.