Today I returned to McNeill Bay to continue my data collection. It had been raining the past few days but had stopped for my trip and the weather was cloudy (about 10°C). I analyzed 2 more rocks today with 10 quadrats placed per rock for a total of 20 replicates. The counting process can be fairly time consuming.
So far I haven’t had any problems implementing my sample design. Things actually went quite smoothly today.
I haven’t noticed any new patterns that make me question my hypothesis. I am realizing there are probably a lot of other factors at play but I still want to focus on my original hypothesis. I thought a little about the comment regarding distance from the drainage or sea wall but I don’t want to add another variable into the equation to make things more complicated (although interesting and a potential player, maybe future direction). I have noticed that barnacle abundance might not be as different across the first two sites (compared to my predicted graph). I think the general trend agrees with my hypothesis but I will know more on this as I crunch the numbers.
I have attached a picture of google maps showing the general placement of the rocks that I have now sampled.
Figure 1. Google map top view of McNeill Bay and the approximate locations of each site and the rocks analyzed at each site so far.
appreciate the google image here!
it would be good to see where the sewage outflow pipes are