BZ 5755 James Cook Microhabitats Microclimatic Buffering & Climate Change Report i have uploaded a document of all the instruction i want for the report. i

BZ 5755 James Cook Microhabitats Microclimatic Buffering & Climate Change Report i have uploaded a document of all the instruction i want for the report. if any doubt feel free to contact me BZ5755 Field Reporting
Microhabitats, microclimatic buffering and climate change
This report is aimed at providing you with real data to analyse on various aspects of microclimatic data
and how it relates to the exposure of organisms at the scale of their day to day activity.
As discussed in the lectures on climatic exposure, there are many aspects of a species ecology that
influences the conditions that a species is actually exposed to during normal activity. Exposure can be
buffered by being nocturnal or by utilising microhabitats that reduce the fluctuations in temperature or
desiccation.
The aim of this report is to demonstrate an understanding of therm/desiccation microhabitats and to relate
it to the ecology of a species of your choice. In the data folders supplied you will find the results of two
experiments plus photos of each aspect and each microhabitat. The dataloggers were placed in a series of
microhabitats relevant to small organisms such as skinks, frogs, insects. Examples include under a log, in
a burrow, in sunny spots etc. the file names should be self explanatory. There is a number of replicates of
each microhabitat measurement. Two types of data is include: 1. Temperature data from iButton
dataloggers and 2. Desiccation rates. For each file of temperatures you will need to extract the actual data
of date/time and the temperature and add a column identifying the microhabitat. Then combine all the
data files into one so it will be one dataset with columns designating microhabitat, date/time and degrees.
Using this dataset you can examine the mean temperature, maximum, minimum, variance etc of each
microhabitat and compare across them. The desiccation data uses a damp sponge and weight to enable
you to calculate the rate of desiccation based on the loss of water over time and the dry weight of the
sponge. This allows you to compare the rates of desiccation in the different microhabitats. This is
particularly important for organisms such as frogs and some lizards that are prone to drying out.
Once you have got your head around what the data is showing you about the microclimatic conditions in
each microhabitat and how they compare to each other and over time of day you can then relate it to
ecology. You should pick a species that is relevant, like a local skink or frog or invertebrate and discuss
how the microclimatic data you have analysed will relate to your species and then relate it to the potential
for climate change to impact on your species. So for example, you might determine that a certain species
will have to change its behaviour to utilise a greater time under logs or at night in order to maintain its
fitness. It does not matter what species you pick, or even make a species up, the idea is to show that you
understand the concepts of microhabitats, thermal buffering, variability, desiccation and how these
concepts relate to the vulnerability of a species using those microhabitats. Try to think about why this
species might be vulnerable and how to measure the variables that will inform you on the exposure to
climatic change. Do this in a way that is relevant to the concepts you have learned in lectures on
exposure, buffering, microrefugia etc.
Consider things like shade, sunspots, different microhabitats, spatial heterogeneity, temporal variability,
habitat structure and features. Think about how means, maximums, minimums, variability, stability might
vary in different microhabitat and how the thermal properties may influence the biodiversity. For
example, leaf litter is very patchy both thermally (sunspots etc) and in quality and quantity. Many species
of invertebrates live in the leaf litter and many species of skinks and birds rely on leaf litter invertebrates
for food. Think about the implication of thermal ecology in this context and for future impacts of climate
change.
Follow standard scientific reporting format: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.
Analyse the data across the time from data loggers, and sponges and use these data and analyses to
discuss how your results can be used to assess the potential for microhabitat buffering etc for your target
species.
Use summary graphs and tables as much as possible to present the results.
BZ5755: Masters students should include an extra section in the discussion on the conservation
management implications of your results about your selected species. The report should be no longer than
6 pages (not including references).
This is the link for the data
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/izvfo5df9zqhwfh/AAC0PXoO3qk3XIRciMuhDGqba?dl=0

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