Normality

What's normal?

Is my life normal?  is my extended family normal?  is my thought process normal?

Most definiately NOT.

I've spent all of today trying to make my data normal. You know what, it just isn't NORMAL. I've tried the log, the square root, the unthinkables such as Arsine (it caused SPSS to go into warning mode) and made Q-Q plots and Lilliefors Significance Corrections only to reassure me that my data and my existence is not normal. So rather than conform to the straight line I'm accepting non-parametric analysis into my stats and chilling out about the lack of normality in my home life.  

The big red circle is almost a straight line but the outliers destroy the significance of the normality. So be it, life is not normal, neither is erosion.

North Era Bushwalk

Spent a lovely couple of days bushwalking with the hubby and kids. We decided to JFDI (Just F*&king Do it) AND GO. So I arrived home from Adelaide, Sol got back from Orange, we caught one nights sleep then headed off.  The kids amazed us walking 9k there and back with minimal complaint. Normally just walking from school to the car is problematic. The two older ones carried their sleeping bags and Sol and I lugged the rest. Catering was minimal with only two lollies and half a jar of honey returning home.

Campground at North Era

Of course I spent numerous hours checking out the track erosion, rainsplash and fuel loads wondering what a match would do to the flame height. Obviously I avoided temptation, no fires started near me in Royal National Park that day.

Great PhD news the scholarship will be extended for 6 months. This takes some of the deadline PhD worries away.

Ant mounds

I'm working on the intro for my prescribed burn paper and came across some work written by Cerda and Doerr (in press) The effect of ant mounds on overland flow and soil erodibility following a wildfire in eastern Spain. Ecohydrology

I have a soft spot for this topic due to my honours research. A severe fire occurred in the Blue Mountains back in 1994. At that stage I was studying “what is a beach” for my honours in Geomorphology. I loved surfing and really wanted to move into coastal geomorphology. After riding through and seeing the post fire lunar landscape my topic preference changed. At the time I lived in the Blue Mountains and decided to swap topics due to the fire being right on my doorstep. 

Cut a long story short the ant mounds were causing havoc with my study site stirring up the sediment and increasing the amount of erosion occurring. A staff member suggested I put petrol down the hole to fix the problem.  Luckily I ignored that suggestion and chose to separate the measurements to work out how much sediment the ants were adding. It was all done on a budget of $120. Prices were cheap as I was a crazy, enthusiastic student who could travel anywhere on a mountain bike. This was in the days prior to students using the internet for researching.

It was a fascinating project resulting in numerous publications thanks to my supervisor with a gift for writing. What has been intriguing is watching how science develops from a new idea. It has been a buzz watching the scientific community grab the research and run with it. According to ISI Web the paper now has 14 citations not including the new publication in press by Cerda and Doerr. I’ve created a graph showing the citation growth. I’m trying to master graphing in the latest version of excel. It’s so different to my old Office 2003 version. As for this graph will it keep going up or level out in the future?

Ant mounds at the sediment trap located at Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains

References

Cerda and Doerr (in press) The effect of ant mounds on overland flow and soil erodibility following a wildfire in eastern Spain. Ecohydrology

Dragovich D, Morris R (2002) Fire intensity, slopewash and bio-transfer of sediment in eucalypt forest, Australia. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 27, 1309-1319

Morris R (1994) Soil erosion in the post-fire landscape. Honours, 89pp

Thesis outline

Ye ha! today I was told I have too much for the thesis. I’m sure that’s better than too little. But it was suggested I remove my favourite publication. The paper accepted and appreciated by engineers. It tells so much of my story. Alas the stuff that is meant to be kept in still requires lots of work. So lots of work I shall do… 

   

A great before and after shot of a destroyed sediment trap at Mount Bold

Here is the publication reference so it’s never forgotten

Morris R., Calliss S., Frizenschaf J., Blason M., Dragovich D., Henderson M. and Ostendorf B. (2008) Controlling sediment movement following bushfire - a case study in managing water quality, Mount Bold, South Australia. Proceedings of Water Down Under 2008 incorporating 31st Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium and 4th International Conference on Water Resources and Environment Research. 14-17 April 2008, Adelaide, Australia., 1937-1947.

Wombat knocking

A wombat came to say hi this morning. He curled up and went to sleep at our back door for six hours. Very cute. Maybe we are doing something right towards creating a natural habitat in the backyard for Australian natives.

He reminded me of the worst talk I ever gave. My boss asked me to do a presentation for him about wombats and erosion to a group of farmers. Slightly hung over from too much partying after a birthday I foolishly said of course I would present. Hey I knew about erosion I just had to learn about wombats. Well I was introduced as Rowena from National Parks who was going to talk about rabbits. I knew nothing about rabbits so I prattled on about wombats and erosion regardless. The nerves won resulting in a thumb down presentation. You’ll be glad to know presenting for the PhD has been much more successful.