Bio2050 Lab 4.csv

Meta Data:

Site:  Denotes the site the
belt transect data was collected from. Specifies the location in which the
transects were placed.  The two sites for
this experiment were Grassland and Danby woodlot next to York University.

Species/RTU: An educated guess was made using the RTU
(recognizable taxonomic unit) of each bird spotted along the transect to
identify the specie.  RTU was used as a way
to deduce the species of the organism using quick observance of its
morphological features or sound made. This is a method of identifying the
birds, since they were often far away and flew quickly.

Abundance: This describes the number of birds spotted while
walking along the transect. Each transect were observed for 5 minutes to see
how many birds would move into the area, so as to take into account the
mobility and therefore inconsistency of bird population at a particular time.
The birds were counted if they were within 10meters of the transect.

Wind speed:   Wind speed was
determined each time a bird was spotted along the transect. For this particular
experiment the wind scale ranged from a scale of 2-3.     Estimated with the observer’ eyes and without any reference to
any published scale.

Distance: The distance could range from 0 to 10 metres. Each time
a bird was spotted within the radius on either side of the transect, they were
recorded and the distance from the transect to the bird was estimated. The
distance estimates were made by the observer in other to be as accurate as
possible.

Description:

The
purpose of this experiment was to measure the abundance and species of birds in
Danby woodlot relative to its nearby grassland The experiment took place on
September 28th, 2016, from 3:00-4:30 pm. Data were collected at the woodlots
and grassland nearby York University at an approximate coordinate of 43.77,
-79.49 according to phone GPSs.  The temperature
was approximately 20˚C, windy and clear skies.

Methods:

The experiment was replicated a total of ten times, with
five at the woodlot site and five at the grassland site.  A transects measuring out 25 foot was placed
randomly in each site five times. After laying down the transect, a designated
observer was asked to walk along the transect. The observer simply walks along
the transect, recording all birds detected along the way or nearby. In order to
be consistent each observer covered each transect in the same amount of time of
approximately five minutes. We recorded the birds seen or heard along and
nearby the transect. To obtain the species name, an educated guess based on
prior knowledge and an identification key was used. For example, we were able
to identify a blue jay by the sound it makes. We made sure the transect
location were as random as possible to maximize the chance of seeing more birds
and to get a more diverse set of data.

Hypothesis: I hypothesized that there would be fewer bird
sightings in the grassland compared to the woodlot because woodlots provided a better
nesting area and food source than the grassland. More trees to pollinate in the
woodlot area and trees to grow their nest in.

Prediction 1: There will be more birds in the woodlots as
opposed to grassland

Prediction 2: More species will be found in which ever site
has the most abundance of birds.