YorkU.Grassland.Group04.Oct03.2016

We hypothesize that an undisturbed grassland site will be diverse in species as well as carry bigger species abundance because there should be less stress from humans and more uninterrupted resources (ex. Sheltering from canopy cover) to support their populations. Based on our hypothesis, we predict a higher species (invertebrate, vertebrate, flowers, trees, etc.) count will be higher in the undisturbed grassland sites than the disturbed grassland sites. Observations were made between 3:15 and 4:45 on October 3rd 2016. The research group (GroupID: 04) consisted of Meg, Jasneet, Faras and Ying. The day was overcast: 20°C, calm wind. At undisturbed grassland site, the transect was placed on a strip between Nelson Road and Stong Pond, perpendicular to the road and 10 metres (estimated, not measured) from it’s edge. At the disturbed grassland site, the transect was placed on a strip running roughly beside Library Lane, 10 metres from the path edge (estimated, not measured). <b>Table 1 and 5.</b> Survey conducted using pan trap and sweep nets to record abundance of invertebrates. 6 pan traps (colours: white (2), yellow (2), blue (2)) were placed 3m apart from each other right alongside the transect (50m). The pan traps were left sitting for approximately 35 mins at each grassland site before counting and recording the number of invertebrates. Sweeps (10 replicates) were performed alongside transect (50m) and at the end of each 50m sweep, number of invertebrates were counted and recorded. Replicate (continuous): number of pan traps placed and number of sweeps performed. Pan trap colour (categorical): bright (yellow), neutral (white), and dark (blue) pans placed in alternating series. Abundance.pantraps (discreet): number of species in each pan counted and recorded. Abundance.sweeps (discreet): number of species counted and recorded at the end of every 50m sweep. Abundance.invertebrates: Invertebrate abundance reference from table 2 (or Table 6 in case of Table 5).<b></b> <b>Table 2 and 6.</b> Survery conducted by placing two 25m transects end to end where TA had directed. A 15 mins timer on Jasneet’s cell phone was used to time the observation period. Once the timer had begun, Meg slowly walked the length of the transect, stopping roughly every two metres to look at the ground more carefully. Vertebrates and humans were counted when seen within 50 m of the transect, invertebrates with 5 m. Counts were tallied in a lab notebook until the timer went off. This was done twice in each area. Replicate (continuous): the 15 mins period. Vertebrate abundance (discreet): Number of individual vertebrates observed within 50 m of the transect within a 15 mins period. Vertebrate species (discreet): Number of vertebrate species observed within 50 m of the transect within a 15 mins period. Human abundance: Number of individual humans (discreet) observed within 50 m of the transect within a 15 mins period. Invertebrate abundance (discreet): Number of individual invertebrates observed within 5 m of the transect within a 15 mins period. <b>Table 3 and 7. </b>Survey conducted by randomly placing quadrant every 2m along the transect (50m), alternating the left and right side. Survey repeated 25 times. Replicate (continuous): referring to the number of times experiment was repeated. Abundance.native.plants (discreet): number of native species inside the quadrant area. Abundance.exotic.plants (discreet): number of exotic (not native to the land) species inside the quadrant area. Abundance.flowers (discreet): number of flower heads present inside the quadrant area. <b>Table 4 and 8.</b> To measure the abundance of woody plants, canopy cover, ground cover, and total number of flowers, a 50m transect was setup. For every two meters along the transect, the measurements were taken within 0.5m of the transect. Abundance.woody.plants (numerical discreet): measurements was taken by observing either side of the transect at every two meters. Each woody plant that is greater than 1.5m in height and within 0.5m of the transect was counted. <i>Canopy.cover</i> (continuous): At every two meters, measurement was taken by making a rectangle with the hands and looking up to see how much of the rectangle was covered. The measurement canopy cover is an estimated percentage. Ground.cover (continuous): measurement taken at every two meters using the same method aforementioned. This measurement is also an estimated percentage. Abundance.flower (discreet): As with all the previous measurements, this was taken at every two meters as well. Flowers that are within 0.5m of the transect are counted for. While table 1. Pan trap data shows that there is greater invertebrate abundance in undisturbed grassland sites, sweep survey on average yielded similar result in invertebrate abundance. Table 2. Point surveys revealed that while undisturbed grassland sites had 7X lower human abundance (disturbance) than disturbed site, it also had significantly lower invertebrate abundance. Vertebrate species were found at undisturbed grassland site, however, while none were spotted at the disturbed site. Table 3. Greater abundance of native and exotic plants was found at undisturbed grassland site compared to disturbed site. However, overall, greater abundance of flowers was found at disturbed site instead. Table 4. More woody plants with greater canopy cover as well as greater ground cover were found at undisturbed grassland site while greater flower abundance was found in undisturbed grassland site. While some of the data does support our hypothesis, the polarity in results of invertebrates, plants and flower head abundance suggests our hypothesis, inconclusive.