October 5, 2007 Our Final Day

It was our last day together. We all spent time entering information into the data base. There were many, many moths in small bags (glassines). Each bag was labeled with name of the order of the moth (butterflies are actually a type of moth) and a number. The moths were from Ecuador and Costa Rica. These are other places where work for this project is being done.

Then we met with Dr. Dyer. He went over in detail the orders of moths. He emphasized again that this project is about interactions. All the different experiments we have been working on are developing our understanding of the relationship between caterpillars, their parasites, plants, and variations in the environment such as rain, temperature, carbon dioxide levels.

I did read about this research before I went but actually assisting and working alongside the scientists helped me to have a much deeper level of understanding. It brought home to me the importance of doing science not just reading or discussing it.

It was interesting also to talk to the scientists and to learn about how they had come to design their experiments and how they collected data. The work was very straightforward. The scientists have studied a long time and are very knowledgeable but I hope that I can bring to my students that this is something they can do. Science is a door that is open to them.