First Week of Field Study

FIELD TEST EXPLANATION

For the next 30 days, we will be testing the growing environments of the propagules. By monitoring the best growing conditions in the environments and locations along the coastline that are most conducive to plant growth, we anticipate being able to better plant more seeds and propagules when we find access to them. Through taking note of all of the factors that could affect the growth of the propagule (substrate, submersion, shade, protection etc.) as well as human interaction and wildlife growth, we anticipate having a better understanding of the growing environment. On Monday's and Thursday's we will collect propagules that we find on the ground based on their availability. After, finding suitable environments in the area of the tree they came from we will plant and then monitor their growth weekly or note which ones have been lost. Every other Wednesday, we will observe the wildlife and human interactions with the sites to give us a better understanding of the external factors that may affect growth.

DAY 1: OBSERVATION 9/9/15

On Day 1, we walked the coastline and divided it into six sites, of which were named and numbered Pina, Kiwi, Guyaba, Papaya, Chinola, and Acai. During our walk, we counted propagule availability at each of the individual trees which we numbered as well. Thorough observation of which sites had high human interactions and which kinds of interactions also led to a better understanding of the individual sites themselves. We also noted what kinds of wildlife were at each site and proposed why that maybe.


DAY 2: PLANTING DAY- TH 9/10/15

On this day, we collected no more than 20 propagules per tree and planted them respectively. Spanned over the six sites, we had fourteen individual planting sites. Some sites had only two planting sites while other had up to five. Rather than looking at the wildlife, we took this day to focus on the lifecycles of the mangroves and proposed why certain trees were producing more propagules than others. On our way back from the end of the site, we found that a few of our planting sites had been completely washed away, leading us to conversations about the importance of the growing environment.

DAY 3: PLANTING DAY- MON 9/14/15

On Day 3, we took note of how many propagules had been lost and planted other propagules in areas that would isolate the effect of certain factors. For example, we planted 10 propagules at site 5 directly on the beach to see if the tide had any effect from crashing on the propagules as well as the effect of direct sunlight to see if they would dry out. As we proceed with our field study, we expect to narrow our study to which sites are truly the most successful and will begin planting more where the propagules seem to thrive.