Kaitlyn, BSc student

Who am I and what is my fieldwork project?

I am a fourth-year BSc. student, who is working on a BIOL 537 undergraduate thesis project in the Eckert lab. My research studies the prevalence of turnip mosaic virus in the invasive mustard species, Hesperis matronalis (Dame’s rocket). Flowers of H. matronalis are polymorphic, with phenotypes that range from white to violet. Upon infection by turnip mosaic virus, these flowers display a striking colour-breaking/mosaic pattern. In the summer, I conducted fieldwork across 112 sites located throughout Kingston, ON to study how turnip mosaic virus infection prevalence changes along an urban to rural gradient.

What was the best part of fieldwork?

My favourite part about fieldwork was having the opportunity to conduct a research project of my own while working outdoors with a great field buddy (shoutout to Chloë). Having a graduate student with previous field work experience made me very eager to start my own project and I was able to learn a lot from her (such as how to remove 100 thistles from your boots).

What was the most challenging part of fieldwork?

For me, the most challenging part of field work was learning how to navigate around the wildlife that I encountered. I had some run-ins with birds (which can be surprisingly aggressive) and also an instance where a ground-hog unexpectedly ran into the side of my boot. That said, understanding how to avoid disturbing the environment where you are working is a crucial part of field work and despite my initial fear of the groundhog, I lived to tell about it!