After a welcomed break at the midway point of my project, I am faced with an unsettling truth; I will be working right up to the deadline! This week has been highly repetitive, and not dissimilar to the last three of my project.
Set up experiment. Run experiment. Collect data. Repeat.
But at least I have learnt a few new skills this week.
Firstly, I learnt how. to set up new tanks with an air system. Each tank has an air stone and a pipe connecting it to an air system. This oxygenates the water, which is hugely important if I want to keep my crayfish alive!
I also learnt how to dispose of dead crayfish, because that is something living things do after a while. In order to not stink up the lab, each dead specimen must be bagged, labelled and frozen before being collected for incineration. This is certainly not my favourite job, but it does give me more appreciation for the animals that enable our progress of knowledge.
What's next?
I have now collected data for both crayfish species at 18oC, and half the data at 8oC. I am hoping to be finished with data collection next week, so that I can start the great task of data analysis! Yay, statistics! (Said no one, ever). This is the most daunting task in my opinion, but I am confident in my abilities to learn fast and adapt to the time pressure.
Wish me luck!