Week 9

A busy week that started on Saturday when I accompanied a TRC scientist on a periphyton run down the Kaupokanui river. It involved looking through a tube into the river creating a quadrat. It was then a matter of recording the substrate (rocks, gravel and the like) and then how much and what types of algae were on the rocks. It was an interesting day and actually very similar in lots of ways to quadrats on the reef.
On Sunday Virginia and I went for a walk at the southern end of the Tapuae Marine Reserve. It was heer first visit to that end of the reserve and I was able to show her some of the different species I have learnt.
Monday and Tuesday morning I spent looking through a microscope again looking for creatues in soft sediment samples. The hard part is identifying differnt types of microscopic worms or molluscs or arthropods. I am getting better at using amicroscope and can find most creatures but Erin checks my plates and my identifications. I am up to about 75%, not enough to do it independently.
This week is very low tides and so I have been out with Erin and another scientist to do some reef surveys. She had to conduct transects at three different sites in Waitara on three days. It was really good to watch her in action and see how it is done properly. I would crouch next to her and try to mentally spot what she was saying or trying to work out what I had missed. By the end of the third day she let me have ago at identifying and doing a couple of quadrats. I could do it, but a lot slower and needed help with differentiating between some snails.

The end of the week I have been setting up things for my own transects. My own site sheets, my own field sheets, and practising my identifications. I went down on Thursday with Elise, and on Friday with Virginia. It was glorious weather and great to be back on the beach.