Team habitat had it's first real day of habitat research work today. Almost a whole day was spent setting up quadrats in the forest and taking soil samples and measurements in the forest. Since you're probably wondering what a quadrat is, here is a quick description of our research project and method that will help you understand:
Quadrats are square areas in particular areas of a forest where we are going to conduct our research. We have 3 types of areas that we are studying; original forest, natural reforestation, and monoculture reforestation. Two quadrats are set up for each type of forest. Our quadrats are 10x10 meters square. Within these quadrats we have taken soil samples to study the composition of the soil and measurements were taken of the pH, moisture, and temperature of the soil. Tomorrow and in the following days we will be counting the amounts and types of species within the quadrats to study the diversity and characteristics of the forest areas.
Setting up these quadrats has required moving through some very dense vegetation. Despite that, we would like to report that as of tonight, the only bites we've had so far are from spiders.
Keep checking back for more updates from our habitat team and the other teams studying birds and bugs in... that's right, COSTA RICA!
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