Effect of Shade on Abundance and Diversity of Plant Species in a Grassland

Data was collected on October 17th, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. and October 24th, 2014 at 2:45 p.m. at the grassland located between Chimneystack Road, York Boulevard and Keele Street, at the East end of York University, Toronto, ON. On October 17th, 2014 it was raining and cloudy, and the temperature was 17°C; on October 24th, 2014 it was sunny, and the temperature was 16°C. The purpose to collect this data was to determine the effect of shade on the abundance and diversity of species in a grassland by comparing number of individuals, number of different species, percent plant coverage and percent grass coverage of the center of grassland (no shade) and the edge of the grassland/woodlot (shade). It is predicted that there will be greater diversity and abundance of plants in the center of the grassland compared to the edge because only shade tolerant species would be able to thrive on the edge in the shade. On each day, a 1m x 1m quadrat was placed at the edge of grassland/woodlot and another quadrat was placed in the center of the grassland, 15 meters away from the quadrat at the edge, measured by using a transect tape. In each quadrat, number of individual plants were counted and recorded as a number; number of different plant species were counted and recorded- without the use of a species guide; percent plant coverage was estimated by seeing what proportion of the quadrat the plants occupy; and percent grass coverage was estimated by seeing what proportion of the quadrat is occupied by grass. This data was counted as a pair, and the next pair data was obtained by repeating this method 1 m away from the first pair. This was repeated for a total number of 20 pairs on each day, and 40 pairs in total over the two days. This experiment was carried out by Rajbir Ghuman, Alexander Karakatsanis, Arlene Tran and Jenna Teixeira.