The Protocol for Style collection tomorrow is a bit different, so, everyone needs to get to the farm at 7:15 so we can go over it! But let me give you a quick overview of the main points:

• We will only be collecting styles at the end of the observation period. ONLY COLLECT STYLES ONCE!
• Prior to taking the style off the plant, we will be recording style persistence data:
o The form will have five new lines for you to fill out: fr1, fr2, mr1, mr2, and immatures:
ß Fr1 will be the first row of unshriveled styles. Count a row if there are any left at all.
ß Fr2 will be the last row (ie the most recent) row of unshriveled styles.
ß Mr1 will be the first row of male anthers
ß Mr2 will be the last row of male anthers (usually mr1 and mr2 are the same thing, ie the same row so just fill in the same number twice if this is the case)
ß Immatures is the number of rows with immature florets left, or if the number is less than 11 total (for the whole head), put that number down.
We’ll go over this quickly tomorrow so everyone can get the idea.
• One last thing, if there is still a problem with recording the letter field, enter the tag number of the plant in that space and enter the flag letter in the notes (if there is no tag, put a zero). There shouldn’t be a problem, but if there is, just try to capture the information requested in the notes section.

Thanks again for your help and your patience!

-Kate Monster

Yesterday, between ten people at ten remnants, we collected…
68 pollinators!!
(That’s almost 70!)

A big thanks to all who participated. You had an impressive capture rate and recorded your vials flawlessly.

We will go out to collect again tomorrow morning, each person to a different randomly chosen site (I will post these on the flog later today). Please arrive at Hjelm House at 7:30 to synch visors and pick up supplies so that we can all begin observations at 8:00 AM. I will provide muffins and coffee.

Here are some updates to the pollinator collection protocol– please read them and jot them down (if necessary) on your printed protocol before going out tomorrow morning.

1) As you all noticed, the visor option for “pollinator observed” does not allow you to move on unless you provide a response. There are two methods for selecting either “yes” or “no”. What I would prefer that you do is click on the words “pollinator observed” and click either “yes” or “no” on the resulting screen. The other possible method is to check the box for “yes” or check and un-check the box for “no”, but this should only serve as a backup plan.

2) When entering your stopwatch time, please use a decimal between minutes and seconds. So, if it takes six minutes and twenty seconds for a pollinator to arrive, your entry should read “6.20”.

3) If you observe but do not capture a pollinator, enter the data for the observation, select “no” for “pollinator captured?” and move on to the next plant. Do not stay at that plant to wait for more pollinators.

If you have any other questions or helpful tips for tomorrow’s collection crew please write them in the comments and we will address them before tomorrow morning.

Thanks again, guys– I guess dreams really do come true.