Happy Meal

Sampling Project

Plant Ecology



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 Thanks very much for your help in this sampling effort. I’ve done a fairly good job of collecting samples from in and around the Salt Lake metro area, i.e. the Salt Lake Valley. I’m really interested in collecting samples from places other than Salt Lake, for example: southern Utah, Arizona, California, the east coast, etc. The goal is eventually one sample per state.

If you’re traveling home for Thanksgiving and would be willing to collect for me, sampling instructions follow. Note that I will be out of the country from 11/17 to 12/03/2007 and will be checking e-mail infrequently.

Instructions:

1. Buy a children’s Happy Meal from a McDonald’s restaurant with a plain hamburger and fries.
2. Sample the meal:
     a. If you are an omnivore and hungry, tear off a quarter-sized piece of the hamburger patty and a quarter-sized piece of the hamburger bun. Place each sample in a separate zip-top plastic bag. Into a third bag, collect two French fries. Proceed to eat the remainder of the meal.
     b. If you are a vegetarian or simply not hungry when you visit McDonald's, stuff the wrapped burger in one zip-top plastic big and the container of fries into another.
3. Write the sampling location (city and state) on the outside of one bag.
4. Keep the samples in the freezer (preferably) or refrigerator after collection.
5. Return to the samples to Kelley Burtch in Plant Ecology or, alternately, drop by Dr. Ehleringer’s lab (ASB 520) to return the samples to Kelley. (Please make sure you know Kelley’s work schedule before you drop by!)
6. E-mail me, Lesley Chesson, with any sampling questions (or questions on the collection in general).

**Please Note: This project has nothing to do with the Plant Ecology course. Participation in this project done by students is done on a strictly volunteer basis. There is no extra-credit available for participation in this project.**
Biology 5460 - Plant Ecology (Fall 2007)