Once I had decided on my final research project topic and developed my hypotheses and predictions, I did not have to make any changes to my research design. The only real issue I had with implementation of said design was the enormous amount of mosquitoes in the forest, making for very painstaking and frustrating observation periods. Engaging in the practice of ecology has definitely altered my appreciation for how ecological theory is developed. It’s one thing to have an interesting idea and go out into the field and make initial observations that may make for a good research project. It’s an entirely different thing to actually implement all the sampling methods and take that collected data and interpret it in meaningful ways. Although, I really enjoyed taking all the theory I have read about in biology textbooks and going out into nature and witnessing those theories in real-time. I could see examples of intra and interspecific competition and resource allocation in the landscape around me. I noticed things I hadn’t noticed before, because I was truly looking and observing, like a plant of Queen Anne’s Lace and the handful of yellow swallowtail caterpillars eating the leaves. Overall, it was a very rewarding and educational experience.