this afternoon i ran into a pretty frustrating road block, because i was trying to average coral cover by depth, but realized that i cannot combine data across different transects at the same site, because then the replicates become what is called a pseudo replicate, which makes each replicate somewhat illegitimate. the hardest part about this is that this type of statistics is completely new to me, and explaining my misunderstanding to people who speak another language proved extremely hard.

on a different note, last night i went up to the top of the peak, which is the highest mountain in hong kong. from up there, the entire city is visible, and on a clear night like last night, i got a sense of the city that i was previously unaware of. i never though a bunch of skyscrapers lit up could be so beautiful. there was also a full moon last night, which may have added to the scene. or the fact that the air was better, more clear and more quiet than anywhere else in the city.

we leave for xiamen on saturday, and while ive sometimes felt overwhelmed by this city, ive had a great time exploring it, getting to know it, and making it my own.

in the lab today, i found identifying the corals to be a piece of cake! there really is not much diversity at all, so after learning to spot the dominant species, the rest was pretty easy. i actually got through analyzing all the photos we have so far! this is good news, given that i have so little timeleft. i really was worried i wouldnt have time to finish the study before i leave, but now it looks like its going to be possible (with some hard work and long days!). i also finished making depth profiles for each transect at each site, which are actually so helpful in getting a visual on the environment. in doing so, i noticed a very interesting, very strong correlation between certain depths, and species richness of coral, that i want to look into further, as i believe it may be an important controlling factor in their growth. im currently downloading a 30-day trial of Adobe Illustrator on to my computer in order to create a grid that i can superimpose onto each photo, to make it easier to quantify percent cover of coral in each photo.

all in all, a great day, and i am very excited to finally be able to get my hands on the data!

As of today, the quadrat should be finished, and I was told we would be going into the field tomorrow, if the weather is good enough. If we get all the data I need tomorrow, that leaves me with 10 days to approximate coral cover, identify each genus of coral, note rock formations and dominant coral-associated macroinvertebrates, and identify species of algae in 75 photos, as well as quantifying sediment samples, looking at water quality data, and calculating the degree of wave exposure from all 5 sites. Basically theres no way I’m going to finish this before I leave. I talked to my labmates about it, and they said they would finish whatever I can’t, but I’m still very unclear on how that would work, and am nervous about the outcome of my project.

Meanwhile, so as to keep busy in the lab, one of Dr. Qiu’s grad students has been teaching me how to identify polychaetes down to the species level. Before I started this, I thought worms looked pretty similar to the naked eye. Well, turns out they look just as similar under a very powerful microscope, making identification a long and frustrating process. I.Ding to family level is fairly easy, as there are some distinct characters that differentiate the worms. Species level is a whole different story. But, some of the techniques used are very interesting. For example, some polychaetes can be identified based on their chaeta, which are small hair-like appendages that aid in movement, and are attached to the podia, or feet, of the worm. These can be extracted from the worm, and placed under a special microscope that has an attachment for creating a faint outline of whatever is under the microscope on a white piece of paper. I can then trace the outline of the chaeta, and try to identify the worm by comparing the shape to shapes of chaeta in papers and textbooks. I also learned how to use Adobe Illustrator to make textbook- quality illustrations of the worms, which I’m sure is a very valuable skill.

So thats a summary of my research this past week. Wish me luck finishing my project!

right now however, my research has come to a standstill, because ive been waiting for the workshop to build a quadrat for me out of pvc pipe, which in normal life would take like maybe an hour, but has taken more than a week. in the meantime ive been doing a ton of research and writing all the parts of my paper that i can without any actual data…. introduction, literature reviews, methods and materials etc. its been rough because this is the part of doing research that i hate the most! also, because no one has ever done research on this island, i have no papers to pull any type of solid facts from, so ive been pulling info from all over the place, and its kind of a mess that im not sure how to fix. but i think readers will be lenient given this is the first research done on the coral communities of this particular island. im just excited to get back into the field!

but, as a result of this lull, ive gotten the worst parts of the paper out of the way, and have gotten to see some parts of hk i havnt seen before because i dont have to go into the lab every day.

its really hard to be a vegetarian in this city, so ive been buying fruits and veggies from whats called a “wet market” which is an outdoor market that sells literally everything edible. when i go i have to be careful not to go to the meat section or else i will vomit. but its always a very cool experience to gosee all the weird things that i never knew were edible!

last weekend my hiking club went to abandoned villages in the mountains above the new terratories of hk. really creepy! some of the houses still have pictures hanging on the walls, as well as playgrounds covered in overgrown vines, and apparently some houses still have coffins in them. the hike leader told us that the first time he came to these villages, about 20 years ago, he even found human skeletons inside some of the houses. awesome.

every night at 8pm there is a huge light show involving all the skyscrapers along victoria harbor, which is accompanied by music and lasers. i saw it for the first time last night and probably have never seen such a blatant misuse of electricity in my life. but i guess anything for tourists!

all in all, still having a wonderful time in this big crazy city!

but i’ve come to realize now after being here for 3 weeks that this obvious influence from western culture has been integrated, almost seemlessly, into hong kong culture. this city is so international. walking down the street you hear many different languages, and all kinds of people. you see markets overflowing with everything from goldfish to jade right down the street from a massive nike store. its really the best of both worlds, and its up to you which culture you choose to immerse yourself in.

one of the best things about hong kong is the public transportation system, without which i would feel completely lost. this city is HUGE. its like 5 new york cities piled on top of eachother in only a quarter of the space. no matter where you go in the city, you are surrounded by people at all hours of the day and night. no matter how far you ride the subway or bus, the highrises keep popping up, towering overhead, dwarfing you and making your life feel incredibly insignificant. not being a city girl, i cant understand how people could live in a place so overwhelmingly loud and bustling all the time. but to experience it for this summer has been wonderful.

another great part about hong kong is that 2/3 of the territory is actually undeveloped. meaning big beautiful mountains, deserted beaches, and untouched plains. the problem is getting to them. i joined a hiking club last week called the Hong Kong Trampers. we meet up and go on different hikes every week. last weekend we went to Lantau island and climbed to its peak, and then back down to some waterfalls, with big pools in rock basins perfect for swimming. floating in the clear pools looking up at the sky, i couldnt believe i was in the same city that kicked my ass the night before while trying to push my way onto a crowded subway train. again, its these stark constrasts that make hk such an interesting place, and make me want to explore as much of it as possible.

the nightlife here is unlike anything ive ever experienced. my first time out with my friends was shocking. we climbed out of the subway station at central to go to the lan kwai fong district, and i was floored. the streets were packed with people for a 4 square block radius round the main street. bars lined each side, all blaring music and flashing lights. it took some getting used to, but now i feel like i understand the appeal of this atmosphere, even if it can get overwhelming sometimes.

what keeps me grounded in this massive, crazy city is the research im doing. the professor i work for, dr. qiu, is so smart and helpful, and his grad students are as well. im doing a study on the coral reef communities surrounding Sharp Island, a small island off the east coast on hk. after doing research (reading papers and books) for 2 weeks, i finally got to go see the site on monday. it was incredibly beautiful, and im so excited to work there! we took a boat from the Sai Kung harbor to the island. i snorkeled at several spots around the island to take some preliminary observations, and decide which sites i wanted to focus on. there is a large contrast in the coral communities around the island, which is great for my study. i will be looking at local environmental factors that control the density and diversity of the coral communities at 4 sites around the island. this requires several snorkel trips to take photos of quadrats along transects at each site. i will then identify the species of coral based on the photos, and estimate the percentage of coral cover in each quadrat. im excited about this study not only because it means i get to work in beautiful waters, but because it gives me an opportunity to help the hk environment. the waters surrounding Sharp island are not protected as a marine park or reserve, like many other islands in hk, but there is a movement to create a marine park surrounding it. im hoping that the research we do this summer will support the push towards protecting the fragile ecosystem around the island.

phew. ok. sorry about the novel i just wrote. il post more often from now on and keep them shorter….