By Sierra Moen (Middlebury College)
To echo previous blogs, Africa is a free place beyond imagination. Wild animals dot the landscape, with Cape buffalo, impala, giraffe, ostrich, and zebra a stone’s throw from camp. Contrary to popular belief (hi Mom), however, we do more than gawk at creatures and play soccer with our friends in the community.
Part of Round River’s objectives in Botswana are to turn us into real scientists. To do that, we must jump through the traditional hoops: meticulous data collection, method examination, due diligence, and Grinnell Journaling.
Joseph Grinnell was a researcher in the early 20th century, credited with developing the niche theory in ecology. That is, the theory that each species evolved to fill a certain role within the ecosystem, and no two species fill the exact same niche. One does not become a pioneer of an evolving field without impossibly high standards and a ridiculous method of record keeping, and then one passes down one’s knowledge to the future generations…
Here, each student is required to write multiple Grinnell Journal entries while in Botswana, as well as keeping Species Accounts. Writing the Journal is an all day ordeal, punctuated with obsessive temperature checks and frantic note taking. Each Journal begins with a detailed description of the transect route taken, including GPS points and turns in the road tracked down to the meter. Next, the times of each transect are recorded, as well as times of other significant points across the day. Weather is recorded next, along with a habitat description on the following page. In this area, mopane scrub, mixed age mixed species stands, riverine scrub, and grassland dominate the habitat types.
Next in the Journal is the general commentary: a detailed description of every relevant sighting or occurrence throughout the day. This can reach up to ten pages, and includes three drawings. Our observations include goals of the day, animals we see, as well as conclusions we can draw from our sightings. For example, I recorded seeing a group of seven giraffe, three impala, and one steenbok grazing together in mixed-age mopane forest, and hypothesized that this multi-sized group grazed together to increase the safety of each animal. Multiple eyes at multiple levels increase the sightabilty of predators.
To end a Journal, and exhaustive species list is written. This includes all species identified throughout the day, including mammals, reptiles, birds, and plants. This list includes common names, scientific names, and relative abundance of the species.
Our Species Accounts are fun in a different way. Each student chooses five organisms to study over the course of the semester. Every time a sighting is recorded, we rush to our field journals and record time, habitat, location, weather, and observations. At the end of our semester, we’ll be able to review our notes and draw (hopefully) accurate conclusions on each species.
I could fill pages and pages with more specifications, but…. I need to finish a Grinnell!