WK3 Experiment 1: Woodlot, Dataset 4

Method: Beginning with two 100ft transects in the middle of Saywell Woodlot at York University. From the path that runs through the center of the woodlot, scouted an area with a fair amount of trees if one were to walk in a straight line away from the path. Unravelled one of the transects and walked a relatively straight line from the path through a moderately dense area of trees. At intervals of about 8ft, selected a suitable adult balsam widow and, using the other transect, measured its trunk diameter at breast height(approximately 4ft 10in from the ground). Proceeded to find the nearest balsam widow sapling and measure the diameter of the trunk and the distance between the sapling and adult trees at the same height. For canopy coverage a makeshift square was created with experimenter's hands and raised to the sky while standing about 1.5ft from the adult tree. Canopy coverage was then estimated based on the ratio of leaves and branches to the sky that could be seen in the makeshift square. This process was then repeated at apporximately 8ft intervals until data was collected on 10 pairs of adult balsam widows and balsam widow saplings.