Summer adventures and thesis project

Since finishing final exams in late May, life has been a bit of a whirlwind over here on the Emerald Isle. After finishing exams, I was excited to have two more friends from home come over and visit me here in Ireland! We rented a car and used Killarney as our base of operations while we explored the West coast of Ireland. We explored Muckross Abbey, Blarney Castle, Cork, Rock of Cashel, and many other sights in the area. One of highlights was exploring the Dingle peninsula and going horseback riding in the mountains overlooking the sea. The weather was a bit drizzly, but we made the best of it and had a great time! Both Katie and Jessica also visited Scotland for a few days mid-trip, and upon their return to Dublin, we were joined by another friend from home, Krystal! It was so nice for the four of us girls to catch up, explore Dublin, and enjoy a few pints and good food :)

Another more recent trip was to the Isle of Wight to visit a friend who was living there for a short time. The Isle of Wight is off the south coast of England, but to me was like a tropical paradise. The weather was beautiful and hot all weekend, and we camped, went sea kayaking, ate great seafood, swam through ocean caves, and visited the Needles Park at Alum Bay. It was great to have a weekend away and lots of fun.

Trips aside, my summer so far has been primarily spent doing research for my thesis project. The last week of May we all received our final research topics and details. I was lucky enough to be placed in Killarney National Park for the summer. Although Killarney is a long ways from Dublin (3 and a half hours by train), its worth making the trip twice a week to be spending time in the national park.  The national park has graciously supplied us with accommodation for the time we are working so we've been staying in a cute little picture-perfect cottage by the lake. Another girl from my program, Meriel, is also doing her research in Killarney on the protected Kerry slug. Her and her husband Craig have been really great to work with and its made the whole experience so much better to have the two of them there to discuss ideas, project logistics, and work together on our field work. They have also both been very generously driving me to my research sites, picking me up from the train station, etc.

 So, as to what I am doing my research on... I have to do a bit of explaining first...Killarney National Park is home to one of the last remaining areas of native oak woodland in Ireland. Although once plentiful across the country, increased timber harvesting beginning in the industrial revolution quickly decimated oak populations and left only small patches of native woodland intact. Their uniqueness makes the oak woodlands of Killarney of very high conservation value. In addition to their rarity, these oak woodlands also face two great threats. The first is an invasive species, Rhododendron ponticum, which has taken over as the dominant forest understory plant in many parts of Ireland as well as the British Isles. First introduced as an ornamental plant in Victorian gardens, it quickly escaped and spread to cover huge areas of land. Although very beautiful, once established, this rhododendron completely shades out the native ground vegetation, creating a monoculture which is devoid of diversity and poor habitat for wildlife. Complete shading also prevents the growth of oak seedlings which are necissary for forest regeneration to occur. Control efforts have been, and continues to be made, but significant Rhodo populations continue to persist in much of the region.

This leads us to the second threat facing the woodlands; over-grazing by deer. Again, a non-native species, the Japanese Sika deer is the primary culprit in the suppression of oak seedling regeneration. With an overabundant population, deer browse beyond levels which are sustainable for vegetative health and survival. Oak seedlings are eaten before they ever grow much higher than 20 cm tall. The National Park has constructed fences around large plots of land where Rhodo control has occurred, to hopefully encourage regeneration where the deer are excluded. My research is studying the difference in vegetative diversity and seedling regeneration between the deer-excluded and deer accessible areas of forest. To do this I am conducting vegetation surveys by identifying all species within my plots, measuring seedling height, canopy cover, and counting seedlings. It was a steep learning curve, and I had lots of new plants to learn, but so far its going well, and I love spending time outside! The only drawback are the horrendous midges, ticks and horseflies...Even kitted out with a head net, long sleeves, pants, and slathered in DEET, they still manage to get to you in droves!

Only a few more weeks of field work to go before its time to buckle down and get to writing! Our final thesis is due August 18, so in the meantime I still need to carry out data analysis and write write write! Can't believe how quickly this summer (and whole year) has flown by!!

Until next time! :)