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.