Jekielek_Week 7 Reflection
This week we went into the field for our group project, and it was amazing. Jen, Rene, Sarah and I took the Vinalhaven ferry from Rockland at 7am to then join Captain Jason Day on his boat for a morning of sampling. Jen and Sarah had never collected eDNA data in the field before and the gear (borrowed) was not marked in meters. SO, there were both logistical organizing and teachable moment components to this effort…in so many ways. Like all the groups, we each bring our own experience and knowledge to this project. Jen has a constant eye on how we’re going to be telling the story of our work. Sarah is calm, cool, and collected no matter what the circumstances. Rene is always asking the clarifying questions to keep us on the same page. I’m bringing the access to the water and logistics. We’re very lucky.
I’m still not sure if replication or pseudo replication is better for this project. We’re collecting water at 8 different depths throughout the water column. So, we’re having to deploy the niskin twice to each depth. I guess I feel that this increases the chance for the sample to be from two different spots, just as a function of human error, water flow, drift, etc. Also, replicates take a much longer time than pseudoreplicates and, when you’re paying for a boat, that is a serious consideration. Plus, the remainder of the eDNA project uses pseudoreplicates for the index sampling and, as far as I know, the other sampling. So, I think we’ll just do pseudoreplicates in the future rather than replicates. I think we can tell the story just as well.