Final LINK Project
For my LINK project, I actually completed two projects for my mentor. I watched many whelk videos to see their habits and if they have changed in the wild versus in captivity. I watched about 48 hours of video in total, just from the field videos. We also took a few days of video of the whelks in captivity, which I also watched. The main actions that I needed to look for was when I saw a whelk, when it fell into the cave and if it would feed. For the captive whelks, I would just mark down when they moved, fed, or just slept. This process was time consuming, and also really hurt my eyes. But I also felt like I help Shelley gather data that would have just added to her work load.
The second project that I worked on over the three weeks, was measuring and counting the egg strings. Every female whelk lays and egg string that is around 50 centimeters long, with about 70 capsules attached. The capsules are what the baby whelks hatch from. For each capsule, I needed to find the average from the capsule, then measure the width and length, and find the wet weight. We did the math, and I figured that I counted over 2,500 baby whelks just to find the average amount in the egg string. I was only able to finish one egg string, but Shelley said that when I come back to Massachusetts, I can do some more.
I had made a poster for the LINK project exhibition, but I had to put it in storage, due to some house construction.
The second project that I worked on over the three weeks, was measuring and counting the egg strings. Every female whelk lays and egg string that is around 50 centimeters long, with about 70 capsules attached. The capsules are what the baby whelks hatch from. For each capsule, I needed to find the average from the capsule, then measure the width and length, and find the wet weight. We did the math, and I figured that I counted over 2,500 baby whelks just to find the average amount in the egg string. I was only able to finish one egg string, but Shelley said that when I come back to Massachusetts, I can do some more.
I had made a poster for the LINK project exhibition, but I had to put it in storage, due to some house construction.