The Abundance of Plantago major Plants and Density of Neighbouring Species at York University Grasslands

Data for this experiment was collected on September 21st 2015 at approximately 3:00 pm on the grasslands of Danby Woods at York University, Keele campus. The site conditions were sunny, clear skies with slight wind gusts, and a temperature of 21°C. The group collecting the data consisted of Aziza, Paula, Sahar and Shahana. In this experiment, a transect was used to measure the distance between 50 individuals of a specific species. This particular dataset examined the abundance of the species Plantago major, which were identified by their oval-shaped leaves. A transect that was 30 metres in length, was randomly placed on the grasslands. For every P. major that was visible, the distance on the transect was recorded. Additional features that were recorded were the height of the plant from the soil to the top of the stem, the number of leaves, the number of flowers, as well as the crowdedness or density of other plant species around the P. major plants. The purpose of this experiment was to apply various sampling techniques using tools such as quadrats and transects to sample plant populations. The data showed that the average height of the plants were 0.36 centimetres, and there was an average of 6 leaves per plant. None of the P. major plants had flowers, and most of the plants had quite a few other plants around them, or a crowdedness of 2. The first 32 individuals were found to be about one foot apart. After the 33rd individual, the plants were found farther apart. This suggests that the closer to edge of the grasslands you would approach, the fewer P. major plants would be found.

本实验所用数据采集于2015年9月21日下午约3时，采集地点为约克大学基尔校区丹比林地的草原区域。当日场地天气晴朗无云，伴有小幅阵风，气温为21摄氏度。本次数据采集团队由Aziza、Paula、Sahar与Shahana组成。本实验采用样带（transect）法测量50个特定物种个体间的间距。本次数据集聚焦于大车前草（Plantago major）的种群丰度，该物种可通过其卵圆形叶片进行识别。研究人员将一条长30米的样带随机布设至该草原区域，对每一株可见的大车前草，记录其在样带上的位置距离。此外还记录了多项附加特征：植株从土壤至茎顶的高度、叶片总数、花朵数量，以及该大车前草周围其他植物物种的拥挤程度或种群密度。本实验的目的为运用样方（quadrat）、样带等工具开展各类采样技术，以对植物种群进行采样调查。数据结果显示，植株平均高度为0.36厘米，单株平均叶片数为6片。所有大车前草均未开花，且多数植株周围分布有较多其他植物，即拥挤程度评分为2。前32个采样个体的间距约为1英尺，第33个个体之后，植株间距明显增大。这表明越靠近该草原的边缘区域，大车前草的分布数量越少。