Effects on Plant Height in Disturbed (Exterior) and Undisturbed (interior) of Danby Grasslands

The data was collected at Danby Grassland at York University Keele Campus on Thursday October 15 2015 and Thursday October 22 2015 at approximately 3:00pm. The duration of the experiment took approximately 2 hours on day one and approximately 1.5 hours on day two and spanned a duration of 2 weeks. The temperature on day 1 was 7°C and it was chilly with light showers. The temperature on day 2 was 13°C and was windy with clear skies. The sampling site within Danby grassland where the data was collected was divided into the exterior boundaries and interior portion. Both portions were visually determined. The exterior were the surrounding boundaries separating the cleared mowed down area from the dense vegetation area and as a result was easy to access. The interior was the centralized portion with think, dense vegetation. This area was harder to access and had to manoeuver through the plants in order to reach and measure the desired plant species. Both areas of the site were large, open and dry and the vegetation increased as you went further into the site. The experiment was done in groups of four and was equally divided amongst the group members, Azeb, Eman, Bava and Saraswatie. On day one 40 plants were measured for each species in both the interior and exterior of the grassland. On day two 10 plants were measured for each species in both the interior and exterior. The total sample size for the experiment is 300. The 3 plant species measured were Purple Aster, White Aster and Goldenrod. This lab was meant to determine the effects on plant height in disturbed versus undisturbed areas of the same location. We speculated that areas with more human interference and environmental disturbance (exterior) would be substantially shorter than those isolated from human interference and environmental disturbance (interior). Also, the purpose of this lab was to devise and preform our own experiments and learn the process in collecting and publishing data to later use in writing a lab report. On day one, the data was collected by initially distinguishing the exterior and interior portions of the grassland by visually scoping the area. Once doing so, the three most common plant species were determined by using the plant guide book. Purple aster, white aster and goldenrod were the most common plant species. We started with the exterior of the grassland and using a tape measured we randomly chose 40 purple asters and measured them from the base of the plant up to the highest point of the plant. We crouched down when measuring the plants so we could see the measurements at eye level and the measurements were recorded in feet. We attempted to choose plants evenly across the boundaries for a more accurate representation of the exterior boundaries. If there was more than one plant branching from the same stem, the tallest one was selected. The results were documented with pen and paper in an organized chart. The same process was repeated for white aster and goldenrod. After completing the exterior we moved into the interior of the portion of the grassland. Again, we randomly selected 40 purple aster and measured the plant height and recorded the measurements. We attempted to span the interior equally for a more holistic representation. This was repeated for white aster and goldenrod as well. We alternated group members when measuring plant height but kept the method of measuring the same. Dead plants were excluded from the experiment and were determined dead if they were unable to remain upright on their own or were trampled on. On day two, when examining the area there was a significant decline in plants making it much more difficult to find living plants to measure. The same process was preformed but we reduced the sample size to 10 plants for each species in both the interior and exterior for a total of 20 samples for each species. Areas where we previously measured were avoided in attempts reduce the probability in measuring the same plants from day 1. Lastly, data was compiled on to a spreadsheet.