In the beginning of this course, I was in the process of moving, which made finding a location site with consistent access was difficult; and although permissions were granted by a property owner to use their space, unforeseen medical reasons caused for restricted access to this site and led to a change in study location. Fortunately, the place I moved into had a backyard with three equally spaced planter boxes that provided an easier experiment design, to allow me to complete enough research for the study. Once designed, the experiment was relatively simple in its set up which led to predictions based on expected seasonal averages. As the weather this fall season was very different from historical averages, which first led to a delay in initial sprouts due to a prolonged dry period and responses to severe weather events were observable as opposed to responses to seasonal trends.
Engaging in an ecological study of my own gave me a greater appreciation for the struggles of researchers to investigate specific hypotheses or theories. Watching my research shift in theoretical basis as a response to changing locations and irregular weather patterns, was both frustrating and compelling, I definitely approach reading papers from a different perspective and respect the immense amount of work that goes into researching and writing about any topic.