After what feels like ages (actually, 5 months is quite a long time!) I have finished my fieldwork, hurrah! I sampled soil and leaf-litter invertebrates, and microbes, in total of 38 sites in 6 different land-use types (deciduous forest, coniferous forest, heathland, pasture, cropland and urban areas) with the aim to compare how species differ between them.
I enjoy being outside doing fieldwork, but it does come with it’s difficulties (see: The pitfalls of pitfall traps) and I am glad it is finished for now. Of course I now have to process lots of samples! Sorting and identifying the invertebrates, measuring soil properties in the soil samples I took, and extracting and sequencing DNA to analyse microbial diversity. There will be times I am stuck looking at a computer screen or down a microscope all day and miss being outside, so I must remember it does not always go well, as these photos demonstrate, enjoy!
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