Tuesday 16 March 2010

Busy, busy, busy...

Well, the last week has been insanely busy and I really can't imagine it getting any less busy for a little while. Partly, the business has come from honours work and partly from rehearsing for the play we are performing this Saturday night. At least, rehearsing the play is fun so I don't really mind that I have been this busy. The plot of the play is meant to remain a little bit of a secret so I can't tell you much about it yet.

Honours work, on the other hand, I can tell you anything you would like to know (and probably quite a bit more). I have started data exploration and statistical analysis and now have a few (quite interesting, I think) results that I can share with you.

  1. Hooded plovers and Red-capped plovers have different diets. While they live on the same beach, are approximately the same size, and have the same kinds of food available to them, they actually choose different prey items and have different diets. We zoologists would call this resource partitioning and find it highly interesting.
  2. Not only does the kind of creepy crawlies in the sand (the kinds of things my birdies like to eat) change across the beach from the wet sand to the dunes (which was completely to be expected), but it also changes along the beach (also not terribly surprising). The surprise comes in when you add the 'territory' factor. Red-capps and Hoodies choose different parts of the beach for their territories and Red-capp territories are characterised by a different bunch of creepy crawlies to Hoodie territories. Now I just have to match up the difference in diet to the difference in territory. Are they choosing their territories because they are looking for a place with certain food sources or are they eating what they are eating because it just happens to be what is in their territory which they have chosen for some other reason?
If you are still awake after reading that, you have done well. And if you didn't stay awake in that then you really dont want to read my thesis when I finish. Only 7.5 weeks to go now.

4 comments:

Martin said...

I'm still awake. Mind you, that's a surprise after this arvos rehearsal. I was so trying to fall asleep!

Tori said...

I want to read your thesis. You will have to send it to me when you have finished it. I want to be the leading expert in Kersbrook on Tasmanian plovers. Also my favourite comic is Count Your Sheep. Its about a little girl who has an imaginary sheep called Ship. Perfectly safe for readers of all ages and very funny.

Emma said...

I havent come across that one yet. I'll have to look for it when I get bored of my other three.

Aparently I have now got Moose (Martin) stuck on zoology comic :)

Martin said...

You're mean to me.