Study of Human Disturbance and Canopy Coverage on Plant Abundance and Species Richness at York University

On October 19, 2015 and October 26, 2015, an experiment on the abundance and richness of species was conducted in the Saywell Woodlot and Stong Pond Grassland, located at York University. The experiment was conducted between 2:45pm and 4:30pm. The average temperature on both days was 16 degrees Celsius with cloudy skies and a low humidity. The objective of the study was to determine whether Human disturbance and Canopy coverage would affect species richness and plant abundance of the various organisms found in each habitat: Grassland and Woodlot. The experiment was conducted for each habitat; total of 30 replicates per habitat. A 10 m transect was laid out in both the Grassland and Woodlot. Experimenters walked along transect and counted the total abundance of species and the different types of species found within a 1 m reach of transect. The Canopy coverage along transect was recorded by creating a box with fingers and estimating the percentage of sky that can be seen. The amount of Human activity was also noted on a scale from 0-2: zero to be no disturbance, one being light human activity, and two being heavy human disturbance. Human trafficking was also taken into consideration. Experimenter’s recorded all observations found in both habitats. Ron Kleiman, Gurjot Muker, and Mohammad Imrit helped with obtaining this raw data. Once the experiment was complete, transect was collected and returned.

2015年10月19日与2015年10月26日，实验团队于约克大学（York University）的塞韦尔林地（Saywell Woodlot）与斯唐塘草原（Stong Pond Grassland）开展了物种丰度与丰富度相关野外实验，实验时段为每日下午2点45分至4点30分。两日平均气温均为16摄氏度，天气多云且湿度较低。本研究旨在探究人类干扰与冠层覆盖率（Canopy coverage）是否会对草原与林地两类生境中各类生物的物种丰富度与种群丰度产生影响。实验针对两类生境分别开展，每个生境设置总计30次重复采样。在草原与林地中各布设10米长的样线（transect），实验人员沿样线行进，统计样线1米范围内的物种总丰度与不同物种类型。冠层覆盖率通过手指围成方框估算可见天空占比的方式进行记录。人类活动强度按0-2级划分：0代表无干扰，1代表轻度人类活动，2代表重度人类干扰。研究同时纳入了人类活动相关的其他观测项。实验人员完整记录了两类生境中的全部观测结果。原始数据由Ron Kleiman、Gurjot Muker与Mohammad Imrit协助获取。实验结束后，回收并归还了样线布设器材。