![Kish, William [Biol]](http://blogs.longwood.edu/williamkish/files/2019/10/cropped-Buffalo-creek.jpg)
In my biology classes throughout middle school and high school, I performed many projects and experiments. These experiments gave me a basic understanding of the scientific method and the biological concepts. However, these experiments were already pre-designed and have been previously performed by many other students and teachers. Because of these experiments, I did not have the extensive critical thinking skills and hand on experiences. Once I was at Longwood, I was able to design my own experiments, analyze my own data, and draw conclusions from it. Some of the experiments and projects that stood out to me were BIOL 251 Ecology and Evolution, BIOL 455 Wetlands Seminar and my PRISM 2018.
In Ecology and Evolution 251, we were able to pick our own subject of interest and design and experiment that answered our specific question. The subject that I was interested in was how invasive species compare to native species when feeding on prey. Since Dr. Henkanaththegedara was my professor, we used a species of native and invasive crayfish. We set up a lab experiment with 12 tanks, 4 with either the native or invasive crayfish species but both having tadpoles as the prey item. The final 4 tanks had only the tadpoles in them as the control. We examined the number of alive tadpoles every hour for 10 hours to then a one-way ANOVA to compare the mortality of the tadpoles in each tank. We were able to draw our conclusions on which species of crayfish, native or invasive, impacted the prey item more.
In BIOL 455, I was taught how to look through scientific literature to find what is important involving wetlands and how to interpret the results being presented. For my final term paper, I examined the differences between natural and created vernal pools and if they differed through their physico-chemical and biotic parameters. I had to use other peoples results into one coherent conclusion. This required me to read through scientific literature, interpret the information, and to write the conclusions into a clear and concise story. This was one of the first literature reviews that I had to write so this was a challenging paper to write. It did not feel exactly natural to take other people’s works and results and synthesis them and draw my own conclusions from them.
During my PRISM 2018 project, we examined the seasonal vernal pool communities and how the physico-chemical parameters affects those communities. We came up with a protocol for sampling vernal pools to limit the amount of disturbance where we sampled the vernal pools every other week from February to June, we were able to see in real time the shift in community diversity. By using two-way ANOVAs and simple linear regressions, we were able to find relationships and statistical differences between pools. We were able to come to the conclusion that diversity of the vernal pool communities did in fact depend on the time of year as well as the various physico-chemical parameters affecting the communities diversity.
Since middle school and high school, I have been building my experimental experience. I started with the fundamental concepts of performing and completing an experiment to learning how to design a well thought out experiment. I quickly learned in my biology career how to statistically analyze my data with R statistical software to then draw valid conclusions. Lastly, I learned a new method of drawing valid conclusions through literature reviews. Through hands-on experiments and literature reviews through my classes I was able to begin to critically think in a scientific way.
Below is my final paper on the impacts of an invasive crayfish species on natural prey species.
Below is my BIOL 455 final term paper
Below is my final poster of my 2018 PRISM project on vernal pools in High Bridge Trail State Park.