Results are in for first collection

 The first collection went well, considering how cold the average temperature was. I am having a great time recording the weather and temperature averages and its like adding values to what I already thought was happening. 

for the first collection we had...

First Collection: 02/12-02/22

 

Edible Garden: Ants: 2, spiders: 3, crickets: 1, pill bugs: 6, beetles: 2

Native Garden: Beetle: 1, black fly: 1, spider: 1, worm: 1

Average Temperature: 55.4ºF

Average Weather: Sunny/clear: 30%, Partially cloudy: 20%, cloudy: 20%, scattered thunderstorms: 20%, overcast: 20% 

The weather seemed pretty evenly distributed between the different weather types, which I thought was interesting. With the average temperature being only 55.4ºF, it makes sense that there was only a total of 16 arthropods. 

This collection was the first time I captured a fly post larval stage. I have only ever recovered black fly larvae before, but not an actual black fly! Which was pretty cool. I am going to start the process of pinning them and taking pics underneath the microscope, but thats after my Calculus exam next week. Excited to hit this off with a great start. 

The collections will run on 10 day intervals, immediately following one another. I think that's the best way to collect the most information. I have waited before for it to heat up, and I feel as though I am just loosing data doing it that way. Most of my notes are by hand, and I need to get more comfortable with excel since I will be using that more and more as I continue through my degree. 

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!