Tools-Pen, Clipboard, Cellphone (to record time), Hydrosense soil moisture-reading device, and four digital thermometers
New, promising growth on a Red Yucca
The green roofs were constructed in October and will be used for this experiment for the next two years. There are three plant species being tested for compatibility: Dyssodia pentachaeta (Dogwood) Calliandra eriophylla (Fairy Duster), and Hesperaloe parviflora (Red Yucca). We have 36 of these extensive (6-8 inches of media) green roofs along with three roofs with traditional shingles and three roofs with white, reflective paint based with titanium. When you touch the roofs with the traditional shingles and compare it to the ones with the white paint, you can feel a huge temperature difference-the white-painted roofs are much cooler. While the white paint keeps the heat gain down, the paint is believed to be toxic, and as rainfall runs off roofs, the rain can accumulate paint residues and carry toxins off the roofs and into the environment. Inside each of the small houses, we have temperature-reading sensors that send data to a computer, and with that data, we can compare the temperatures of the three different types of roofs and can tell if the extensive green roofs are actually leading to decreased temperatures inside buildings-the most important benefit for the SW region.
On Monday, I was getting used to taking the data, and it took me almost four hours to collect all the data on a single visit! I ended up getting my hands on three more thermometers so I can set them in place and collect data a lot quicker. Now, I have it down to about 1.25 hours to collect all the numbers on a single visit (and I visit them 3x a day). I have to visit the 36 roofs and take temp and soil moisture readings at four different spots...so that's 36x4x2 data points. Since I go out at three different times of the day, I get lots of sun exposure. I go out with a long-sleeved undershirt, sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed hat and I apply sunscreen at three different times throughout the day. So far, I haven't had any sunburns, but my legs are starting to tan. The weather has been hot, but on some days, it can be really windy. On Tuesday, we had our first show of clouds since I've been here.
We've had really beautiful views of the full moon
And saw a Gila Monster crawl by our casita
Today, instead of taking soil moisture and temp readings, I went to campus to help Sarah, one of Dr. P's lab technicians. She went to Columbia University for her undergrad and is now heading to UC, Monterrey to study the vascular system of kelp (marine biology). I helped her with some nitrogen extractions. Basically, investigators find locations of "washes", dried riverbeds in the city, and flush small areas of them with water. With the sudden influx of water, the soil microbes are quick to respond. So, Dr. P is interested in how the microbes respond to the influx of water with respect to nitrogen cycling. With the increase in water, then do the microbes take up more nitrogen? In order to answer this question, the investigators add a tracer, isotropic nitrogen (N15), and then will analyze if/how the microbes are using the nitrogen by looking for the tracer while extracting nitrogen. The soil samples are put in Erlenmeyer flasks and placed in an air-tight containers. In the middle of the container, a flask of chloroform is placed. The container is then vacuumed, and the chloroform starts to evaporate and bubble a bit. When the soil microbes are exposed to chloroform, their cells burst, essentially making their carbon and nitrogen available for lab analysis, specifically nitrogen extractions. This whole process is called fumigation.
Nice part of campus
Since Sarah is a lab tech, she is left with a lot of sample processing. She receives the samples, prepares and weighs them, adds chemicals, fumigates then, puts them in a shaker, strains them, and then stores the extracted nitrogen in sample cups.They are then frozen until they are sent to a lab for chemical analysis where we will found out the exact concentration of nitrogen.
Today, my job was to help Sarah with all the steps. I weighed samples, cleaned glassware, prepared funnels, and strained the samples. This is typical lab work. It can be tedious at times, but it's very simple and very repetitive. From my experiences in Silvia's and John's lab and now this lab, I don't think my passion lies in lab work, and I don't know if it's ideal work environment. If I'm going to be working with chemicals and stuck in a lab, I might as well be working towards the next life-saving drug. Soil ecology is important too, I guess, but the work is very repetitive, and I don't see myself getting a lot out of it. Who knows? I might start to like lab work once I start my own project and move away from solely assisting others with their projects. Also, I didn't ask what the whole purpose this experiment was, and if I knew what it was, I probably would have thought I was doing something of some importance. We'll see, but that's what this internship and experiences are all about, figuring out what you like and things you just can't stand. On Monday, I'm meeting with some faculty of the landscape architecture department to tour their department and talk to them about my interests. Dr. P introduced me to Dr. Livingston who is a member of the landscape architecture (LA) department. She has her Masters in LA and a Ph.D in natural resources conservation. She seems to be interested in water conservation through landscape design and the use of native plants in landscapes. She'll be great to talk to since her background is similar to something I think that I'd like to pursue.
I'm going to continue taking readings from the green roofs on an every-other day basis, and next week on Wednesday, Dr. P and I are going to sit down and come up with a plan for my project. I'll be using the existing green roofs and probably start taking a new data set from them. So maybe, I'll measure plant growth or soil respiration. I have some journal articles to go through, and those may give me some ideas. I met with Dr. P for a short time today, and he showed me a pamphlet on the 2012 Sustainable Water Management Conference. He suggested that I submit an abstract of my project to present at this conference. Hopefully, I'll have an idea of my project's purpose and question by this time next week so I can start writing up an abstract. This conference is from March 18th-21st in Portland Oregon. So, I'm hoping to go to San Fran from Dec 5-9 for the American Geophysical Union conference and now this one! That's one great thing about research is the funding and travel to conferences!
But all in all, I'm having a great time. The people are really nice and I'm really getting to know the other interns. Most of them are undecided like me and really want to find out their ideal field/type of work. It's nice to know that others are working to discover that as well and it's not just me over-thinking my future.
Hey Padre, you we're right, I'm just hugging trees this summer J/K
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