Today Ella Hayman is back on board as part of the Landcare Research team bringing Ahi Pepe MothNet to a primary school near you. Welcome back Ella!!

Ella is one of Landcare Research's best technicians (I know I'm a bit biased) among Ella's many skills is plant identification and organizing for fieldwork campaigns. She's currently drawing together a folder full of resources for our Ahi Pepe MothNet champions to take back to their family, friends and schools so that we know everyone in the Ahi Pepe MothNet Network is collecting the same data in the same way.

What is a protocol?

Clear, efficient protocols are one of the main ways scientists make sure that data is reproducible. A protocol is a fancy way of saying a set of instructions. If we were baking a cake the 'protocol' would be the recipe. In fact science is a lot like baking.

We usually start with a list of ingredients (the equipment we need for the experiment). This is followed by a step-by-step set of clear instructions in a logical order. Just like recipes, some protocols are clear and easy to follow, and some less so. Ahi Pepe MothNet is lucky to have Ella making sure all our recipes are clear and easy to follow.

Science is a lot like baking - the protocol is the recipe