After the field…

The fieldwork is only part of it. What good is all that data if you don’t do anything with it.  This is pretty much where I am right now. Drowning under the mountains of data I have collected over the years.

When I come back from the field I have the rather tedious task of transcribing my voice recordings and coding my videos, first onto sheets of paper so they can be added to my physical data folder and then copied into my master data sheet (which is now getting so big it often causes my laptop to crash when I open it, yes probably an indication that I need a new computer!). This is painfully slow work and easily my least favourite part of science. BUT I do understand how necessary and important it is. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can offer anyone starting out in behavioural science is keep on top of your input. There is nothing worse than having to input months and months of data all at once.

Gala is my data input and analysis buddy.

As we use Garmin GPS units at PLT I use a program called basecamp to store and organise my GPS data. I have two maps, the raw points and the adjusted points. Because I cannot always get to the exact point where the monkeys are (anyone who has ever dealt with bamboo patches in a forest or experienced “wasp season” will understand why) when I record a GPS point I record how far the monkeys are from the point and the degrees from north. This allows me to adjust my point on the computer to allow for a much more accurate picture of where the monkeys spend their time.

Our GPS unit with trail maps and monkey sightings. 

When I was at home over Christmas I spent four days in Aberdeen at my university learning from my supervisor, Dr. David Lusseau, how to use multinominal log linear models to analyse my first data set – the feeding data. This was a brand new experience for me, statistics and data analysis have never been my strongest areas and I have never used R before. It turned out to be a really enjoyable experience (although I have never suffered a headache like the one I had after those four days!). Seeing my first results after 6 years of work was really emotional, particularly with the data from Laguna Blanca. For a long time I never believed that I would get usable data from the Laguna Blanca capuchins and seeing it work (especially after the horrible way in which we lost access to that site) definitely made me bubble a couple of times.

I am now working on a publication on the diets of the capuchins across the two sites and I am so excited to hopefully share the results once this is finished!

Mate gives you a boost to get through.

When people are starting out in field biology they often forget that the “boring” or “difficult” part at the computer is just as necessary as chasing your animals around, measuring habitat variables or setting your camera traps. Without this part of the work we are unable to share our findings with the wider community – an essential part of the scientific and conservation process!