My First Two Weeks

06 Jun My First Two Weeks

My first two weeks have consisted mostly of office work. I have done trainings on how to navigate through computer servers and such, but for the most part I’ve been reading through a lot of software, hardware and programming instruction manuals. I’ve also had to read through a lot of government documentation which has allowed me to gain a better understanding on how to put together my own protocol for monitoring vocal anuran/amphibian communities in the South Florida and Caribbean parks. A lot of my research has been conducted by reading through the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) documentation that the Southeast Coast Inventory and Monitoring Network has published.

Alligators!!!

Over these past two weeks I’ve really discovered the importance of being able to be self-driven, as well as, being able to do a lot of self-teaching, since my supervisor has been gone since last Friday on a week long trip conducting field work out on the Virgin Islands. Although I haven’t gotten the opportunity to do any field work as of yet and my work hasn’t been the most exciting, I certainly feel as though I’ve gained a lot of valuable knowledge in the past two weeks. It also helps that I do have a lot of experience doing research independently from my past internship in Alaska, although it differs in that the majority of my research last year was conducted while I was out on the field on backpacking trips, day-long hiking trips, or overnight canoeing trips.

However since I do live in Everglades National Park, on my own time, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of exploring of the park’s natural beauty. On my bike rides, hikes and canoeing trips, during the past two weekends I’ve gotten to see some amazing wildlife and experience some amazingly scenic views!