The last two weeks have been really busy with school starting plus all the extracurricular botanical fun I've been having. One of my classes is on GIS--
Geographic Information System--using ArcGIS software. For those unfamiliar with GIS,
Wikipedia has a good site describing the subject. Essentially it is a system that allows someone to create dynamic maps in which every shape, point, or line has tables of data associated with it. This allows one to view data in a spatial way--something essential for understanding ecological processes. It has opened up a new world for me in this way. I knew a bit about GIS before taking this class thanks to my exposure to it in high school, but I never fully grasped the potential that it offers.
For a Little Duck Island update:
I am currently in the stages of uploading my GPS--
Global Positioning System--data from Little Duck Island and beginning to process it. I am also working on computerizing the data from the beat-up
Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks. Finally I am almost ready to send out my soil samples for analysis. More on this soon.
Finally, here are some pics from the summer: (Click on them to see them bigger)
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| Waves on Little Duck Island | | |
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| Great Duck Island to my left |
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| My wonderful field assistant/imaginary friend Matt Dickinson |
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| Collecting Fragaria virginiana! |
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| We filled ourselves on these in June |
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| Working on a plot on the south end of the island (note Great Duck in the distance) |
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| Our camp sweet camp |
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| Plant presses provided a nice reading table in our room |
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| One of out last nights on the island (note Mount Desert Island on the horizon) |
