MAR 303 Long Island Marine Habitats Spreadsheets and Figures August 29, 2013 As part of this course,

you will be collecting data on the physical and biological aspects of marine habitats. You will be required to analyze these data and report your findings in a paper written in scientific format. The objective of this exercise is to acquaint you with how to manage and present your data. DATA MANAGEMENT AND PRESENTATION Learning to use a spreadsheet and making computer-generated graphs is a requirement of this course. Excel is available for use by all students on this campus at the SINC sites, and most personal computers come with this program. These instructions are based on my own approach to using Excel, while students who are already familiar with Excel often have a different (better) way to arrive at the same end point. Constructing Spreadsheets Spreadsheets will be useful for managing your field data for several reasons: 1) Instead of having many sheets of paper to organize and pour over, raw data can be compiled into one easily read file; 2) Formulas (e.g., mean, standard deviation, linear regression) can be utilized; and 3) Spreadsheets can be used to construct figures. For example, some of the data you will be collecting (e.g., Peconic Estuary) will be obtained at several stations and numerous water depths. Moreover, at any given depth, replicated samples may be taken for some parameters (e.g., n = 2 for chlorophyll a determination). There are many ways to accomplish data management and presentation using Excel. Getting Started. Log in with your Net ID and Password Microsoft Office Start Excel Type in the data from the Spreadsheet Exercise Data labeled Temperature. Formulas. There are numerous statistical functions provided in Excel. To view them go to Formulas on the menu bar More functions Statistical. The statistics you are most likely to use will be average (mean) and stdev (standard deviation). To enter a formula in a cell I prefer to type in the command. Calculating the mean and standard deviation of temperature of the water column on each of three dates. As an example for March 26, at the bottom of the column, type in =average( and drag the mouse from the cell containing the temperature at 0 m to the cell at 3 m and hit return. Repeat this procedure but use stdev instead of average in the cell below. Copy both cells and paste under the columns containing April 2 and April 11 data.

You can write more complex calculations. Some symbols for various calculations often used include: / = divide * = multiply log = convert number to log 10. Guidelines for Preparing Figures 1. Titles are not necessary to include in a figure because any necessary information [e.g., parameter being graphed, station number] should be included in the figure description. All figures in a scientific paper must be accompanied by a figure description (also referred to as a figure legend). 2. Figures should be presented only in black and white, and the background should be in white. 3. Data legends are only necessary if more than one data set is on the figure. 4. Label both the x-axis and y-axis using appropriate units [e.g., Depth (m) or Temperature (oC)]. Plotting water-depth profiles of field data presents a special problem with Excel. Firstly, in a depth profile, water depth (independent variable) is always shown on the y-axis and the parameter being measured (e.g., water temperature) is plotted on the x-axis (dependent variable). (Normally an independent variable is plotted on the x-axis and the dependent variable on the y-axis). Secondly, the depth data should be presented in reverse order with 0 m (surface waters) starting at the top of the y-axis. Preparing a Depth Profile. Using the temperature data, highlight cells Insert Scatter, then select the straight line with data points. At this point, depth is the x-axis and temperature the y-axis, the wrong format. To fix this, you must change the data recognized as the x-values and y-values for each date; to do this, select the design tab select data 26-Mar edit series x and highlight appropriate data on spreadsheet, then series y and highlight data ok. Repeat this procedure for 2-Apr and 11-Apr. The depth data are still not displayed correctly, the 0 value must be at the top of the yaxis; to correct this go to layout axes primary vertical more primary vertical values in reverse order. In the layout tab you can make other changes to a figure such as adding axis labels, getting rid of grid lines, and changing points and lines to black and white. Appropriate symbols (e.g., micron = , degrees = o) should be used for axis labels and can be found in insert under symbol. Adding error bars. Using the second set of data of mean Chlorophyll a concentration (g chl a l-1), create a 2-D column graph. In the initial construction of the figure, do not highlight the data from 0.071 to 0.354. These data are the standard deviations for mean

chl a at 0.5 m (first column) and 2.5 m (second column) over the three dates. In this example, your bar chart should only have three dates showing on the x-axis; if this is not the case select layout axes primary horizontal axis more primary horizontal axis options text axis. To add error bars, in this case + 1 standard deviation, first make sure the graph is clicked on, then click on the first data series, 0.5 m , layout error bars more error bar options custom specify value, click on positive error and highlight row of data on spreadsheet from 0.071 to 0.212; repeat for negative error using the same data ok. Repeat this process for the 2.5 m data series using data on second line, 0.071 to 0.354.

Your figures should look something like this.

Temperature (oC) 0 0.0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

0.5

1.0

Depth (m)

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

26-Mar 2-Apr 11-Apr

3.5

7 6 5
-1 g chl a l

0.5 m 2.5 m

4 3 2 1 0 14-Mar 28-Mar Date 11-Apr

Spreadsheet Exercise Data

Temperature 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

26-Mar 5 5 4 4 4 4 4

2-Apr 10 9.5 9 6 6 6 6

11-Apr 16 14 12 9 9 9 8

Chlorophyll a Date 14-Mar 28-Mar 11-Apr Stdev

0.5 m 1.25 2.45 6.05 0.071 0.495 0.212

2.5 m 1.25 2.55 3.85 0.071 0.071 0.354