Paddy McCleave gives us the inside scoop into a project that looks at the internal composition of lichens
What is the project you are doing? – My masters project on the lichen microbiome. My project aimed to understand the effect of geographic distance and tree species on the composition of the lichen microbiome.
Where are your field sites, what are they like and what are the goals for these sites? – I worked at Taynish Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Knapdale Woods SSSI and Kilchoan estate, all of which are located on the west coast of Scotland. They are all pretty similar sites, comprising temperate rainforest habitats with some pretty hefty inclines and rough terrain. Taynish and Knapdale are owned by NatureScot, and Forestry and Land Scotland respectively and therefore both have the goal of conserving nature and providing accessible green spaces. Kilchoan is a privately owned estate with the aim of conserving nature and creating as natural a habitat as possible at the site.
A lovely lunch spot at Kanpdale SSSI with a view through the trees which would house the target species – and a stunning place to gather data from. Photo by Paddy McCleave.
How long were you in the field when carrying out fieldwork and how did you get there? – As my sample collection was relatively simple, I only needed to go to these sites across two days. I visited Taynish and Knapdale in one day and Kilchoan on another, which was a lot of driving across two days.
What data did you gather at the sites? – While at the sites I needed to collect 40 samples from the lichen Lobaria pulmonaria growing across the sites on different tree species. It was a pretty simple protocol; I took the samples using tweezers and put them in samples tubes and then onto ice.
Knapdale SSSI is a green space being restored for nature and provides a refuge for temperate rainforest species. Photo by Paddy McCleave.
What have you learned from being out in the field? – Planning and carrying out this fieldwork definitely taught me a few things, the main one being that you can’t be picky. Things will not go exactly as you planned, and you need to be flexible so that you can still collect the data you need, even if not quite exactly as you planned. From this, I would recommend that you know your site super well before you head out, so do some site visits beforehand to make the fieldwork go as smoothly as possible.
The second important lesson I learned is to bring yourself a little treat to help you get through the day. Fieldwork can consist of very long tiring days, so having a wee piece of cake or some chocolate to keep your motivation up is essential in my opinion!
Knowing your site well might also involve knowing and planning for potentially hazardous organisms, such as ticks. Photo by Paddy McCleave.
Do you have any final pieces of wisdom from your field experience? – This was my first time planning and carrying out fieldwork on my own, so the days were quite stressful, and it was easy to get bogged down in sample collection and not appreciate where you are. So, to anyone who is carrying out fieldwork for the first time like I was, remember how lucky we are to get to do research outside in some stunning places. You are going to spend enough time inside reading papers and analysing your data, so while you are in the field, take a chance to appreciate being outside in nature!
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Paddy for submitting a fieldwork diary to Naturally Speaking and shedding some light on the work that was carried out. The responses to the questionnaire were edited by Max Hadoke.
If you are within the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine and would like to submit a fieldwork diary, please download the questions using the following link and follow the instructions in the document.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e5C8NUew5xFpEl_OPgH-yAjekmoc84OTLol0_eVoDL0/edit?usp=sharing
Banner image of Loch Melfort from Kilchoan Estate taken by Paddy McCleave.