Collecting data in the pond area and impermeable space for York University 2016

Description:

·     
Following experiment was taken on October 26th,
2016, at York University for Ecology 2050. The data was gathered in both pond
and impermeable space. The experiment took place from 2:45pm-4: 15pm, in clear
weather conditions. The temperature ranged from 6-7 degrees Celsius. Data was
collected in the pond area, followed by being collected in impermeable space
(Baseball diamond). (The pond: 2:45-3:30pm, impermeable space: 3:30-4:15pm).

Methods :

Person 1 – Herbaceous
Plants (Diana Bleyan)

A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the
ground of the pond and impermeable space. Every 2 meters along the transect, a
1mx1m quadrat was randomly placed (~1 meter from the transect) and number of
exotic and native plants, and number of flowers was counted. The quadrat was
placed in alternates on the left and right side of the transect.

Person 2 – Woody
Plants (Melinaz Barati)

A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the
ground of the pond and impermeable space. Every 2 meters along the transect,
students have looked for a tree on either side of the transect within 0.5
meters from the transect.

Person 3 –
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian)

A 25
meter transect was placed in a straight line on the ground of the pond area and
impermeable space, in order to provide the sense for a 25 meter radius.
Vertebrates and invertebrates were observed using a naked eye. For
invertebrates, the length of the transect was shortened to a 5 meter radius.

Person 4 –
Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar)

·     
A 25 meter transect was placed in a straight line
on the ground of the pond area and impermeable area and 6 pan traps were placed
along the transect (~1 meter away from each other along the length of the
transect). Each pan trap was strategically placed with respect to color (the
colors varied from blue to yellow to white). The soapy water was poured in each
pan trap, covering half of the pan trap’s volume. All the traps were left for
45 minutes.

·     
A 50m long transect was placed in a straight
line on the ground of the pond area and impermeable area and a student
conducted 10 sweep nets along the transect. The sweeps were done in a shape of
infinity sign, 1 meter above the ground.

Meta-data:

Person 1 – Herbaceous
Plants (Diana Bleyan)

·     
Abundance.native.plants
– native plants were defined as species within an observed quadrat, which
grow naturally in a given region (Ontario, Canada). 

·     
Abundance.exotic.plants
– exotic plants were defined as invasive species within an observed quadrat,
which were introduced to a given region (Ontario, Canada).  

·     
Total.number.flowers
(quadrat) – were counted as total number of flower heads within an observed
quadrat. A flower head was considered to be at the top of the stem.

Person 2 – Woody
Plants (Melinaz Barati)

·     
Abundance.woody.plants–
 a woody plant was considered as a tree
higher than 1.5 meters in height. If no tree was observed within 0.5 meters
from the transect, students recorded 0.

·     
Canopy.cover–
was estimated in %, by holding a square (created by hands, approximately
3cmx3cm) and measuring how much of the square area was filled with canopy of
the tree.

·     
Ground.cover
– was estimated in %, by holding a square (created by hands, approximately
3cmx3cm) and measuring how much of the square area contains vegetation.

·     
Total.flower.numbers
(transect)– was counted, within 0.5 meter distance from the observed
tree/trees. A flower was considered to be any plant that contained a flower
head, attached to the top of the stem.

Person 3 –
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian)

·     
Abundance.invertebrate.observed
– the variety of invertebrates observed, consisted of mosquitos, bugs and
snails.

·     
Abundance.vertebrates
observed, consisted of birds (including Seagulls and ducks).

·     
Abundance.human
was separated from the rest of the vertebrate species not part of our lab.

·     
Vertebrate.richness
is the number of different species represented in a given landscape or
region.

Person 4 –
Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar)

·     
Abundance.invertebrates.pantraps
– the number of invertebrates trapped in a soapy water of a pan trap

·     
Abundance.invertebrates.sweeps
– the number of invertebrates trapped in a sweep net (at the end of
sweeping along the 50m transect)