yorku.grassland.disturbed.oct19-2016

Meta-Data:
census:  specifies the number of our data set with respect to the four trials that we have to do. This data set is the second in a series of data collection.
Calendar.date: Corresponds to the date that we conducted the experiment on.  All measurements were taken on October 19, 2016.
Campus: Indicates the campus we conducted our experiments on. Our sampling took place at York University Keele campus.
Group ID: specifies the section and the group number of our team among BIOL2050 lab sections and groups. Our section is 03 and our group number is 04.
habitat: lists the different habitats we collected our data from. Our team collected the data from two habitats, Danby disturbed area and Danby Grassland at York University Keele Campus.
 Lat: corresponds to the latitude of the site we were collecting the data from.
 Long: corresponds to the longitude of the site we were collecting the data from.
 Elevation: The height of the location that we collected our data from. Elevation is the height above sea level.
 rep: The number of replications conducted for each experiment. Each experiment was conducted with different number of trials.
 abundance.native.plants: The number of individual native plants we counted in each quadrat that we placed along a transect that is 50 meters long. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 100-900 in the grassland while it is 0 in the disturbed area.
 abundance.exotic.plants: The number of individual exotic plants we counted in a 1m2 quadrat that we placed along a transect that is 50 meters long. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 0-20 in the grassland and between 300-1100 in the disturbed area. 25 replications were done.  Exotic plants were identified by comparing them with exotic plant sample that was given by our teaching assistance.
 total.number.flowers: The number of flowers we counted in a 1m2 quadrat that we placed along a transect that is 50 meters long. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 0-60 in the grassland while it is 0 in the disturbed area. 
 abundance.woody.plants: The number of woody plants we counted every two meters on a 50 meters transect and within half of a meter to either side. A tree was identified to be taller than 1.5 meter. Trees shorter than 1.5 meters or farther that 0.5 meter were not counted. A total of 25 replications were done. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 2-8 in the grassland while it is 0 in the disturbed area.
 canopy.cover: The percentage of how much sunlight is blocked by the canopy. This was determined by making a square by hand and looking up to estimate the percentage of how much of the square is covered by the canopy. This was done by walking along a 50 meters transect. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 5-50 % in the grassland while it is 0 in the disturbed area. There was only one outlier for the canopy cover in the grassland which is 75%.
ground.cover: The percentage of vegetation covering the ground within 0.5 meter along a 50 meters transect. This was determined by making a square by hand and looking down to estimate the percentage of how much of the square is covered by the vegetation under each tree. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 5-50 % in the grassland while it is 0 in the disturbed area. There was only two outliers for the ground cover in the grassland which are 75% and 60%.
total.flower.numbers (transect): Total number of flowers counted within one meter on either side of a 50 meters transect.This is a numerical continuous data. No flowers were observed in both habitats.
abundance.vertebrates: The number of individual vertebrates observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes. This was done simply by standing at the end of a randomly set transect and counting the number of vertebrates. This is a numerical discrete data that is 3 in the grassland while it is 8 in the disturbed area.
vertebrate.species: different species that were observed. After observing the abundance of vertebrates, these vertebrates were assigned to be individuals of the same species or individuals of different species. The number of different species was recorded. This is a numerical continuous data that is 1 in the grassland while it is 2 in the disturbed area.
abundance.people: The number of people observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes. This was done simply by standing at the end of a randomly set transect and counting the number of humans without considering other members in our lab.  
 abundance.invertebrates.pantraps: Total abundance of insects captured using six different pan traps. There were three different color: White, yellow and blue. These traps were filled with soap water and were placed 2 meters apart along a 50 meters transect. The pattern was as follows : white, yellow, blue, white, yellow, blue. We waited about an hour after filling the traps in order to count the abundance. 
abundance.invertebrates.sweeps: Total abundance of insects captured using the sweep nets walking along a 50 meters transect ten times. 
abundance.invertebrate.observed: The number of individual invertebrates observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes.
 abundance.invertabrates.observed: The number of individual invertebrates observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes.
Site description: Danby grassland and disturbed area. The data collected was at York University Keele campus on October 19th 2016 from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. The weather was 180 Celsius and it was mostly sunny with slight wind. Experiments were conducted at both locations and it took roughly 2 hours to gather all the necessary data needed. There were no trees in Danby disturbed area with low number of terrestrial plants. Danby grassland was full of dead dry leaves on the ground. Some parts of the grassland contained large trees while other parts contained short plants and grass. 
Methods:
During the first experiment, a quadrat was randomly placed every two meters along a 50 meter transect, alternating from left to right. The process involved identifying the number of native plants, exotic plants, and the total number of flower heads within each quadrat. The process was repeated 25 times and the total numbers were recorded in the data sheet.  The prediction made here is that there will be a greater number of native plants found in the grassland than flowers. Quadrats were places randomly to ensure random sampling. After placing the quadrat, we had to distinguish between native plants and exotic plants, then each set was counted separately. The quadrat that was used was a 1 m2 quadrat.The second experiment was conducted in order to determine the amount of woody plants in the grassland and the disturbed area, and the subsequent canopy cover, ground cover and total number of flowers. The experiment was repeated 25 times. A straight line of 50 meters was measured using the transect and within 0.5 meters of either side of the transect, trees that were 1.5 meters in height were considered as woody plants. The abundance of trees in that region was recorded numerically and 0 was assigned to regions without any wood plants. Furthermore, for every meter across the transect, we measured the amount of canopy and ground cover in percentages through observation. The same process was used for recording the total number of flowers in each quadrant. The third experiment was conducted in order to determine the abundance of vertebrates, vertebrate species, abundance of invertebrates and the abundance of humans. A transect was used to measured 50 meters of open space in the grassland. We observed the surrounding visually for fifteen minutes for the abundance of humans at the grassland who were not part of the BIOL 2050 lab, the abundance of vertebrates and the abundance of number of species.The fourth experiment, pan traps and sweeping methods were used as the main tools for the experiment. 6 bowls were randomly placed 3 meters apart from each other at the grassland and 6 bowls were randomly placed 3 meters apart from each other at the disturbed area. The respective bowls were filled with soapy water and were placed in a blue, white, and yellow pattern. After an hour, the abundance of invertebrate species in the pan were observed and recorded in each bowl. The second part of this experiment was conducted using sweep nets. After walking 50 meters along the transect, the abundance of invertebrates was observed and recorded in the data sheet. The experiment was repeated 10 times. 
Hypothesis: (herbaceous plants)
The abundance and variety of herbaceous native plants will be higher in the grassland than the disturbed area because native plants are better adapted to the grassland environment than a disturbed environment.
Predictions:
- Prediction 1: There will be a greater number of native plants than exotic plants found in the grassland.
-  Prediction 2: There will be no flower heads in the disturbed area.