Looking back on this project I wish I had completed it over a longer period. I feel the data I obtained is not a great representation of what is occurring. If I could do it over I may only look at 1 or 2 sites but over 6 months from January to June for example. also, I don’t believe that the data was well quantitated and the actual algae numbers were not accurate. For this course, this project was super fun and I enjoyed reading the literature on algal research more than anything else. With online courses, I find I often miss the lab component so it was really fun to get outside and work on something that’s your own. In an ecology course, I think being able to get out in the field aids in the big-picture understanding of what we are learning and why. Ecology is not my favourite subject but getting to complete my own project really made this a fun learning experience. Learning about algae was cool too as it has so many important interactions with animals and bacteria. It has such a foundational role in food webs dynamics which is so cool and I think bacteria and algae ecology sometimes get overlooked when studying food webs but they are so critical.
this project was very interesting and very original! I appreciated the original effort