Lab Techniques for finding traits of plants: Woodlot data set 4 Silver Maple mature trees and saplings

The data was collected on Monday September 21, 2015 from 3:00pm to 5:30pm at York University’s Danby Woodlot. It was a sunny day, very little cloud and hardly any wind. Data that was collected was diameter at breast height of mature trees and saplings, canopy coverage of trees and distance to nearest sapling. My partners Mustafa Alan and Krystal Nguyen and I collected the data. Discussion of how to proceed with the collecting the data took place in the lumbers building at York University, room 119. I chose woodlot data set 4 using the transect method and Mustafa chose grassland data set 2, we both helped each other collect data for both sets. My partners and I walked to Danby Woodlot with the rest of Lab 1, we found a clearing with minimal trees and labeled this the middle of the woodlot. From this mid-point Mustafa placed a transect down and measured out to the other end straight across till it reached the opening of the woodlot facing York University. The types of trees were observed and silver maple trees were the most abundant so this was chosen as the sample. 10 randomly selected silver maple trees found along the transect were used. Mustafa Alan took measurements and I observed and recorded the data. Starting with tree one closest to the middle of the woodlot, diameter at breast height (inches) was measured with another transect. The second step was making a square with our hands and determining the coverage (%) that the sample tree gave off (note: that the tree could have had over 100% coverage as some of the canopies of the trees overlap). We then observed where the nearest sapling was located to the mature sample tree and Mustafa measured the distance between the two (note: less than the height of two average people, determines a sapling). The last step was taking down the diameter of the sapling as well using a transect. These steps were repeated for all 10 silver maple trees selected along the transect. Data was recorded on a table in my notebook and then transferred to a Microsoft excel spreadsheet that also displayed meta-data for each variable. The data was collected for Ecology 2050 Lab 2 group 1 and the purpose of collecting this data was to gain skills in ecological experimentation and methods of collecting field data, displaying this data, and communication through descriptions and meta-data.

本数据集采集于2015年9月21日周一，当日15:00至17:30，采集地点为约克大学（York University）丹比林地（Danby Woodlot）。当日天气晴朗，云量稀少，几乎无风。本次采集的数据包括成熟树木与幼树的胸径（diameter at breast height）、树木冠层覆盖率（canopy coverage），以及目标成熟树与最近幼树的空间距离。本次数据采集由我与搭档穆斯塔法·艾伦（Mustafa Alan）、克里斯塔尔·阮（Krystal Nguyen）共同完成。数据采集流程的前期讨论在约克大学兰伯斯大楼119室开展。我选取了采用样线法（transect method）的林地数据集4，穆斯塔法则选取了草原数据集2，二人相互协助完成了两套数据集的数据采集工作。我与搭档随同生态学2050课程第1实验小组的其他成员一同前往丹比林地，找到一处树木稀疏的开阔地带，将其标记为林地中心点。穆斯塔法从该中心点布设一条样线，沿直线延伸至林地朝向约克大学的出口处。本次调查的树木种类以银枫（silver maple）最为丰富，因此将其选为核心采样对象。我们沿样线随机选取了10株银枫作为最终采样样本。采集过程中，穆斯塔法负责实地测量，我负责观测与记录数据。以距离林地中心点最近的1号银枫为起始，第一步使用样线测量其胸径（单位：英寸）；第二步以手搭正方形框架，估算该样本树的冠层覆盖率（百分比）——需注意，由于不同树木的冠层存在重叠现象，单棵样本树的冠层覆盖率可能超过100%；第三步定位距离该成熟样本树最近的幼树位置，穆斯塔法测量二者之间的直线距离（注：高度低于两名普通成年人身高的植株可被定义为幼树）；最后一步同样使用样线测量该幼树的胸径。上述测量流程沿样线重复进行，直至完成全部10株银枫样本的全部数据采集工作。原始数据首先记录于我的实验记录本的表格中，随后被录入微软Excel（Microsoft Excel）电子表格，该表格同时为每个变量附带了元数据（meta-data）。本数据集为生态学2050课程第2实验小组第1组的官方采集成果，本次数据采集的核心目的在于让参与者掌握生态学实验设计、野外数据采集技能、数据可视化展示方法，以及通过文字描述与元数据开展学术交流的能力。