The Effect of the Amount of Light and the Abundance of Buckthorn on Native Saplings

The data for this lab was collected at York University's woodlot on Ocober 14, 2015 from 3:11 - 5:00 P.M and October 21, 2015 from 3:05 - 4:09 by Reena, Ratiba, Farka, Huda and Olivia. The temperature for both days were around 10 degrees celcius and was cold with a slight breeze. The second day however had more fallen leaves on the ground than the first day. The sampling began by starting at the edge of the woodlot (station 0) and walking 5 meters along a 120 meter transect towards the centre of the woodlot. At this point, a 2x2 meter measuring tape was used to form a quadrat. Three quadrats were placed to the right of the transect tape at the 5 meter mark, adjacent to it, and 3 quadrats were placed on the other side (left side) of the transect, also adjacent to it. The abundance of the native sapling (Acer) and the Buckthorn plant within each quadrat were recorded by counting each one individually. In addition, the percentage of light reaching each quadrat was recorded. To determine the percent light, an individual's hands are used to form a box. Then standing in the centre of each quadrat and looking up towards the sky, one's judgement was used in order to determine the amound of light penetrating through the canapy above, only looking though the area formed by one's hands. The percentage of light was recorded as continuous data whereas the number of quadrats and the abundance of plants and stations are discrete data. These steps were repeated every 5 meters for a total of 21 times (21 stations - every 5 meters counts as 1 station) for an overall distance of 100 meters into the centre of the woodlot. On the fist day, 0 - 50 meters were completed and on the second day, 55 - 100 meters were completed. This allowed for 126 quadrats to be sampled. The importance performing such an experiment was to observe the effect of of the abundance of Buckthorn, an invasive species, and the percentage of light available on the abundance of of the native plants (saplings) in the woodlot. The data also inspires further research into the effects of invasive species and how they are able to adapt and survive.