The True Heroes

This week's blog is dedicated to the true heroes of this chapter of my dissertation research. They are small and mighty, but they have really pulled their own to make this chapter run as smoothly as it has. The first, pictured here, are the 1% of all the animals I've picked and counted that have retained the Bengal Rose stain. You may remember from a few weeks ago that the animals did not retain the stain initially, so I tried increasing the stain concentration. Well, to no avail, as only approximately 1% of all the animals have retained even this concentrated version. Seeing one or even two stained meiofauna in a sample is a sight for sore eyes, as they are easier to track in the picking and transferring process than their translucent counterparts. 

The other hero of the week, or really of the entirety of my lab work, is my music. I know that as a student I heard that working in a lab meant accepting your supervisor's or PI's music and I was told stories of listening to endless hours of the radio. Luckily for me, our lab doesn't have communal music players or speakers, so I can sit down, put my headphones in, and listen to my podcasts (of which there are so many), music, or audiobooks. I know that Dr. Ingels gets a chuckle when he walks by the lab and I'm bopping my head to music and sometimes I am laughing at the things my podcasts talk about. Most of the time, my podcasts and audiobooks aren't academic, so I don't feel like I'm adding extra work to my day, and I can sit, focus on my task, and have enjoyable media playing in the background. I've even had to put up a sign on the lab door explaining that if I have my headphones in, I likely can't hear people at the door so they need to come tap me on the shoulder to get my attention. 

So here's to the true, unsung heroes, who have gotten me through these past few weeks. As of today, I have sorted through 26 of my 32 mesocosm containers, and picked out all their meiofauna. I'm hoping to finish the final 6 next week and move on to measuring all these animals. Expect a big blog explaining the measuring process soon!

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