Photo: Bob Kusik
Week 1 (9/17-9/23)
Week 2 (9/24-9/30)
Week 3 (10/1-10/7)
Week 4 (10/8-10/14)
Week 5 (10/15-10/21)
Week 6 (10/22-10/28)
THE FINAL WEEKEND (DUN DUN DUHH! 10/29-10/31):
Friday, 10/29/04
Ok, so it's not really the final weekend, just the final weekend before the team website is due and the research is over. We had our (maybe) final team meeting today. Marty and Garrett and I set up a meeting tomorrow to work on our sensor page. That will be our main project this weekend.
Ok, so it's not really the final weekend, just the final weekend before the team website is due and the research is over. We had our (maybe) final team meeting today. Marty and Garrett and I set up a meeting tomorrow to work on our sensor page. That will be our main project this weekend.
WEEK 6 (10/22-10/28):
Thursday, 10/28/04
Today I spent some time working on this lovely personal website of mine. I updated and added some actual links to cold hard research. Are you allowed to post journal articles online like this? I should probably find out.
Wednesday, 10/27/04
There was a coordination meeting today, but I have been really sick this week so I didn't go. I felt bad after all Kip has talked about attendance, but this is the first time I have ever missed the class, so hopefully it will be excused. I did however, get updated on what went down at the meeting. Our group has decided to split up into 3 smaller groups for the remainder of the week to finish the website. Each group is in charge of a page that summarizes and organizes the team's research pertaining to one of the 3 goals. They put me in the sensor group with Marty and Garrett.
Friday, 10/22/04
Team meeting day! We were supposed to switch to research pertaining to the eco-village this week, but since our islands are currently protected and uninhabited, and we have come to the conclusion that they are not really suitable for future habitation, we are mostly just concentrating our research elsewhere. In the meeting we discussed all the reasons to back up our assertion that the village not be built on the northern islands (isolation, fresh water issues, accessability, few natural resources, current pristineness), but this week will mostly be spent finishing up other research and getting the team site together. We also made a list of processes we wanted our sensors to monitor. My goals for this week include following any leads from Anne about the sensors and summarizing my research on the team website. Here are the minutes.
WEEK 5 (10/15-10/21):
I've pretty much come to the conclusion that there is very little if any sensor network set up in the Galapagos right now. It seems that for most of these studies the researchers bring the supplies they need in on boats and take them out again when they are done. Anne Graham answered my email and sort of agreed with this, but said she would get back to me if she found anything of use to me.
Wednesday, 10/20/04
Coordination meeting today. Bryan took charge a little and we started signing up to work on different things during the second half of the semester. I signed into the biopreserve group because I'm most interested in legal and sovereignty issues. I also emailed Anne Graham, the library liaison with expertise in sensors, and explained my difficulty finding information about existing sensors.
Tuesday, 10/19/04
I spent a long time trying to research existing sensors today. It's not an easy task. I thought the best method would be to search for articles about studies done (about anything) in the Galapagos and look through the methodology sections to determine how they collected their data. I figured I would find mention of some sensing devices or stations in the islands but I didn't.
Monday, 10/18/04
Today was an information session. We talked about environmental sensors; remote sensing, monitoring of microbial populations as opposed to just superfauna, start small vs. start big, and more!
Friday, 10/15/04
We discussed our research at the team meeting today, and prepared to move on to research pertaining to the sensor network. My new job is to find out what our islands already have in terms of sensors. We also took a team picture to go on the website. Minutes.
Thursday, 10/14/04
I posted my research on NGOs to the team website and updated my info on the plan page. I found a medium-sized list of NGOs that are already or may be interested in being involved with the Galapagos and our biopreserve and posted a blurb about each. These might be good resources to use for advice or employ in our design.
Wednesday, 10/13/04
We had a coordination meeting today. We explained our new research plan to a few other groups and figured out individual tasks a bit more.
Friday, 10/8/04
At the team meeting today we sort of reorganized the structure of our research. Since there are 3 weeks left before we come together as a class to begin the design, we decided to use each of the weeks to focus the whole team's efforts on research pertaining to one of our three objectives. This week, we will all be working on things having to do with the international biopreserve. My task is to look at NGOs who are already involved with the Galapagos preserve or who may be good resources to approach later. Minutes.
Wednesday, 10/6/04
Coordination meeting today. Each team did a little presentation of their direction. Garrett did a great job on ours. Read the minutes.
Monday, 10/4/04
Today we discussed biopreserves in class. I found out that there actually aren't any international biopreserves in existence (the reason Kip chose this goal).
Sunday, 10/3/04
Today I read "The use of constant effort mist netting to measure between year changes in the abundance and productivity in common passerines." by Peach et. al. I haven't posted it to the team website yet.
Friday, 10/1/04
Team meeting today. We decided to continue our current topics for another week and we learned how to post stuff to the team website so Bryan doesn't always have to do it. Here are the minutes.
Thursday, 9/30/04
Today I read "A general approach to survival rate estimation by recaptures or resightings of marked birds" by Clobert, J., Lebreton, J.-D. and Allaine, D. It was extremely long, but I think I got some good stuff out of it. The complete reference and abstract are on the team site.
Wednesday, 9/29/04
There was a coordination meeting today, but I really didn't feel like we accomplished much. I guess we all just need to do a little more individual research and then we will have something to coordinate about. Read the minutes.
Tuesday, 9/28/04
Today I read some articles online and found some good references for journal articles. I found a few in the library catalogs and ordered some more through ILB. I have a lot to read now.
Monday, 9/27/04
Today in class we talked about different interests in the Galapagos, mostly fishing vs. conservation, but also tourism. We talked about the new park president and how he gets chosen. Read the minutes.
Friday, 9/24/04
Team meeting today. Read the minutes. I am going to start researching bird tracking/population monitoring.
Thursday, 9/23/04
Tourism facts by island:
Genovesa (Tower)- Really the only one of these islands that tourists visit. Most tour boats at least visit Darwin Bay. Fewer people actually go onto the island, but it is a huge attraction for bird-lovers because it is one of the most bird-populated islands in the Galapagos. It is fairly flat and easy to walk around on. The only dry landing is called Prince Philip's Steps, and it's basically a rock fall that makes it possible to climb the cliff up to the flat part of the island. However, the park service limits boats to less than 12 passengers in order to visit Prince Philip's Steps, so traffic is fairly low.
Marchena- It has no fresh water, so no one lives on it. It is off-limits to tourists except for some diving in the waters around it. So it is rarely visited by anyone.
Pinta- Seldom visited. Not sure if it is officially off-limit or not.
Darwin and Wolf- Small eroded volcanoes, inhabited only by sea birds. Seldom visited, but not sure about regulations again.
Wednesday, 9/22/04
There was a coordination meeting today. We worked on splitting up preliminary research, and talked to other groups about how they are doing it. We first split it into legal issues and nonlegal issues, and then divided up into smaller areas that we are each interested in. For friday I am researching tourism on our islands- how much there is (if any), what the islands have to attract tourists, and what the tourism restrictions on them are. Read the minutes.
Sunday, 9/19/04
I read about Team 1's assigned area of the Galapagos, the northern islands of Pinta, Marchena, Genovesa, Darwin, and Wolf, in the book The Galapagos Islands, A Natural History Guide by Pierre Constant. I learned that these islands are pretty much uninhabited except for birds, except Pinta, which was the home of Lonesome George the tortoise before he was relocated to the Darwin Station. Sea lions sometimes hang out in Genovesa's Darwin Bay. Most of these islands are small, eroded volcano calderas with steep cliffs, making them fairly inaccessible. The chapter said little about the surrounding waters, which I would like to look into.
Friday, 9/17/04
Today was our first team meeting. Read the minutes.