Plant and Animal Species Activity in a Forest Setting

Study:
This study examines the relationship
between the number of herbaceous plants, woody plants, vertebrates and
invertebrates within a forest setting. This field study was conducted at
Saywell Forest near Osgoode between 3:00 PM-3:45 PM at York University's Keele
Campus on Tuesday October 25th, 2016. The temperature was approximately
7°C with clear skies and brisk wind chill.

Hypothesis:
There is a negative correlation
between the abundance of woody plants and groundcover. To be specific, the
abundance of woody plants, canopy cover, ground cover and total number of
flower head. All of these categories will increase/decrease in number in a
particular setting. In the case of the Saywell Forest, there will be a decrease
of ground cover will occur in the forest setting.

Prediction:
The prediction relates to the
hypothesis in the sense that the the abundance of woody plants, canopy cover,
ground cover and total number of flower heads increases/decreases in a
particular setting in the Saywell Forest. To be specific, there is a negative
relationship between the ground cover and the abundance of woody plant. There
will be a decrease of ground cover when there will be an increase number of
woody plants due to competition of resource belowground. For the canopy cover,
the coverage will be random, there is no increase/decrease relative to other
categories.

Herbaceous Plant

The study was conducted at the Saywell
Forest at approximately 3:00 pm in York University. The overcast was clear and
vey windy. The temperature was 7°C.  The
quadrat was the survey method used to observe the abundance of both native and
exotic vegetation in the area. A 50 m transect line was placed on the area of
study. The quadrat was randomly placed on the left side of the transect, so to
not disturbed the pan trap being conducted in the other study. It was placed
every 2 meters along the line. Within each quadrat, the number of native plants
were counted as well as exotic plants. The total flower heads were also counted.
It was replicated 25 times and every time a quadrat. If there is no plant in
the quadrant, a blank was noted.

Woody plants
The study was conducted Saywell Forest near
Osgoode at approximately 3:00 pm in York University. The transect was the
second survey method used to observe the abundance of woody plants, the canopy coverage
of the woody plants, the ground cover and the total number of flowers in the
area of study. In every 2 meters along the transect line, a tree was recorded
within 0.5 meters from the line. The canopy coverage of those trees were
recorded by estimating its coverage of its outer layer. The ground cover was
recorded by estimating the vegetation present, excluding grasses. The total
number of the flower-heads was also recorded. 25 trials were conducted.

Vertebrates and
Invertebrates

Two transects were
used to cover 50 meters of land in order to perform the different methods of
observations. A particular point on the transect was chosen to perform all
methods of observations, which was at 0 meters, being the beginning of the
transect. A 50 meter radius from the beginning of the transect was observed for
any vertebrate species, which was further classified into abundance of vertebrates
and abundance of species. At the same time, a 50-meter radius from the
beginning of the transect was observed for the abundance of humans that do not
belong to the lab. All of the above was performed within 15 minutes. In the
next 15 minutes, the number of individual invertebrates within a 5 meter radius
from the beginning of the transect was observed using a magnifying glass and
recorded as abundance of invertebrates. All data was recorded in an Excel sheet
and uploaded to Figshare.

Invertebrates

Two transects were used to
measure 50 meters (25 meters each) in the forest setting. The two transects
were placed parallel from other group’s transects. Six pan traps of alternating
colors (blue, yellow, and white) were placed 3 meters apart along the transect.
Sweep nets were used to capture insects along the 50 meter transect line. The
total number of invertebrates found at the end of each sweep was counted and
recorded in a table. Ten trials were conducted. After conducting the sweep
nets, the total number of invertebrates found within the pan traps were counted
and recorded. Data was recorded in an Excel spreadsheet and uploaded to
Figshare.

Meta-data:

Habitat- The Saywell Forest near the grasslands near
Osgoode. The data is categorical.

Abundance in quadrats- The number of native and exotic
plants present in both grassland and the disturbed open space. The native
plants are naturally occurring in that specific area in a given time. In the
other hand, exotic plants are plants that are living outside its native area,
in which human activity introduced these species or just by chance. Daucus corota, an invasive species was
considered as an exotic plant that was present in the study. The grass within
the quadrat was counted approximately by divide the area within the quadrat as
squares. Per side consist of 6 equal squares times it by the 4 sides of the
quadrat. Each square is counted by 10. In other words, one quadrat consists of
240 grass blades in general. However, the shape of the quadrat is folded
randomly per toss but the data is continuous.

Latitude- is a geographic coordinate that tells the
distance of the area from north to south. The data is continuous.

Longitude- is a geographic coordinate that tells the
distance of the area from east to west. The data is continuous.

Elevation- is how much the altitude or height of the
location relative to ground level. The data is continuous.

Census- is the count or survey of the population. The
data is continuous.

Total number of flower heads- Within the quadrant, the flower
heads from the separate was counted individually if its head is distinct. As
for plants that had flower bearings that are arranged in clusters on a stem,
those were counted in multiples of 10. The data is continuous.

Abundance wood plants- In both the pond and in the
impermeable area, what considered as a woody plant are trees near the transect
lines. The trees recorded were doubled the height of the observer, which is 5
foot 4 inches. The data is continuous.

Replications- Each study was replicated 25 times in both
pond and impermeable area. The data is continuous.

Canopy cover- The canopy coverage was measured on how much
coverage the outer layer of the tree provides. The data is continuous.

Ground cover- Any vegetation that grows over an area of
ground. However, in the forest setting, the amount of dead leaves covering the
ground made it difficult to quantify the coverage of the ground. The data is
continuous.

Total number of flower heads (transect)- Within the quadrant, the flower
heads from the separate plant was. As for plants that had flower bearings that
are arranged in clusters on a stem, those were counted in multiples of 10. The
data is continuous.

Abundance
invertebrates pan traps-Through visual inspection, the number of
invertebrates within each pan trap was observed. Pan traps were left out in the
forest area along the transect line between 3:15PM-3:35PM before the number of
invertebrates were counted and recorded. Data is continuous.

Abundance
invertebrates sweeps-Through visual inspection, the number of invertebrates
found in the sweep net at the end of each sweep was observed. Data is
continuous.

Abundance of Vertebrates-Through visual inspection, the abundance of vertebrates within a
50 meter radius from the beginning of the transect were observed. Observations
were recorded. Data is quantitative and numerical.

Vertebrate Species- Through visual inspection, the number of vertebrate species
within a 50 meter radius from the beginning of the transect were observed.
Observations were recorded. Data is quantitative and numerical.

Abundance of Humans- Through visual inspection, the abundance of humans (not from the lab)
within a 50 meter radius were observed. Observations were recorded. Data is
quantitative and numerical.

Abundance of Invertebrates- Through visual inspection (with the help of a
magnifying glass), abundance of invertebrates within a 5 meter radius from the
beginning of the transect were observed. Observations were recorded. Data is
quantitative and numerical.

Side note:

-Due to weather conditions,
vertebrate and invertebrate activity may not have been at its regular level.

-Humans were excluded in the count
of abundance/species of vertebrates.