The Islands

The Island is a virtual environment where the original intention was for students to collect data for addressing questions in epidemiology. However, the Island has since been updated to include field stations that allow for plant growth. The plants can represent any plant species, either an agriculturally significant plant, an indigenous significant plant, a species of conservation concern, or a pest species. You will decide on what plant it is and how it is related to your topic.

Note, the plants grow in real time, and typically take 14 days to fully grow, depending on the local climate.

Access ‘The Island’ from myMurdoch Learning under the ‘Group Project’ tab

**Fig. 1**. Layout of the islands with locations of the field and weather stations.

There are three islands in this world, all occupied by human settlers with a plant field and weather station (Fig. 1):

Ironbard: Ironbard is the most northern island and has a temperate climate (equivalent to Tasmania’s climate). The plant field station in Ironbard is called Hofn Field Station. The local weather station is called Abramsen Climate Station.
Providance: Providance is the island located on the east and has a semi-arid climate (equivalent to Perth’s climate). The plant field station in Providance is called Biruwa Field Station. The local weather station is called Kennedy Climate Station.
Bonne Sante: Bonne Sante is the most southern island and has a subtropical climate (equivalent to Brisbane’s climate). The plant field station in Bonne Santr is called Mutalau Field Station. The local weather station is called Nanu Forest Climate Station.

Altogether, there are three field stations from three islands with differing climates. Each station has 36 plots.

Design your project

You can manipulate Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) levels in the soil prior to growing the plants. The level of N and P are represented by ‘blocks’. Two blocks are the default settling, so we would consider this normal level of N and P (Fig. 2). No blocks means no N or P, four blocks means twice the concentration of normal levels, and five blocks is the maximum allowed (represents 2.5 times normal levels). Give the blocks some values (e.g. milligram nitrogen per kilogram of soil; mg/kg). Use realistic values based on the literature and what is considered normal for the plant of interest.

**Fig. 2**. Example nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) block manipulation, where no blocks mean no N or P, two blocks is the default/normal N or P levels, four blocks means twice the concentration of normal levels, and five blocks is the maximum allowed (represents 2.5 times normal levels).

Because there are three stations that span across different climates, you can compare the effect of temperature or rainfall on plant growth, fruit production etc. All stations provide the date, maximum temperature in degrees Celsius and rainfall in millimetres (Table 1). You can use this data to correlate with your dependent variables. You have the option to look at the interaction of N or P with temperature or rainfall (factorial design).

**Table 1**: Example table output from the Kennedy Climate Station on Providence Island. Date is based on the simulation and presented by day, Max Temp is the maximum temperature (°C) recorded on the day, and Rainfall is the cumulative rainfall of the day (mm).
Date	Max Temp (°C)	Rainfall (mm)
01/064	18.8	1.0
02/064	23.7	0.8
03/064	25.3	0.8
04/064	29.3	0.0
05/064	29.7	14.1

For the 36 plots per site, it means you can have 18 replicate plots/treatment if you have two treatments, 12 replicate plots/treatment if you have three treatments, 9 replicate plots/treatment if you have four treatments, and 6 replicate plots/treatment if you have five treatments. Balance between number of treatments and number of replicates.

What you can measure?

**Fig. 3**. Example plant after 10 days since germination.

Your plant will look like this (Fig. 3). The green parts represent leaves, the purple circles represent fruits, and the white circles represent flowers. You can measure the following as response dependent variables:

1. Height: You can use a ruler to measure height on your screen.

2. Growth rate: If you measure height over time, you can calculate absolute growth rate (AGR) as:

\[ \text{AGR}=\frac{H_{2}-H_{1}}{t_{2}-t_{1}} \] where \(H_{1}\) is the initial measured height at time \(t_{1}\), and \(H_{2}\) is the final or next measured height at time \(t_{2}\). Note, make sure your screen is the same size to ensure consistency in your measurements over time.

3. Number of leaves: Count the number of green parts at specific time point.

4. Number of fruits: Count the number of purple circles at specific time point.

5. Number of flowers: Count the number of white spots at specific time point.

6. Branches: Count the number of diverging branches from the main stem at specific time point.

7. Time to first flowering: The time difference from the start of the experiment to the first observed flower in the experimental plot.

8. Time to first fruit: The time difference from the start of the experiment to the first observed fruit in the experimental plot.

9. Yield: Once harvested, you will get a number in the “Harvest” tab (Table 2). The data table will include Date of harvest, the row and column of the plot, and the yield or biomass (g). Once harvested, the plant doesn’t grow again (ONE time, destructive). So, be careful on when you plan to harvest the plant.

**Table 2**: Example yield table output from Hofn Field Station on Ironbard. Date is based on the simulation and presented by day, Row and Column are the positon of the plant in the field grid, and Yield is total biomass value (g).
Date	Row	Column	Yield
01/064	1	1	320
02/064	1	2	269
03/064	1	3	327
04/064	1	4	390
05/064	1	5	307

I have no idea what the red circles are. You can count them and assign a name to them if you like (e.g. berries, fungal pathogen).