Examining the Effect of Different Types of Ecosystems and Edge Effects on Plant Abundance

The purpose of this observational study was to test whether plant abundance will change with different types of ecosystems (i.e., grassland and woodlot) and through edge effects (i.e., from edge-to-center location within an ecosystem). This observational study was conducted in both the grassland and woodlot areas near/in Danby's Woodlot at York University on October 15, 2015 (in week 1) and on October 22, 2015 (in week 2), from 2:45 pm to 4:05 pm by group members Gajamugan Rajavarothayan, Gopaul Parbatie, Albert Lin, and Hannan Fayyaz. In both week 1 and 2, ten 1 m by 1 m quadrats were placed, on each of the two days that sampling occurred, in a straight-diagonal line systematically with a 5 meter separation between the quadrats starting at the edge of the ecosystem (i.e., at the North-West, North-East, South-West, or South-East corner of grassland or woodlot area) and sampled towards the center of the ecosystem with the aid of a transect tape that was placed on the ground from the edge-to-center of the ecosystem in a straight-diagonal line that covered a span of ~45m in length. The distance on transect tape was recorded in meters according to the position of the quadrat within each edge-to-center location per ecosystem site whereby the number on the transect tape corresponded to the top edge of the quadrat to test the effect of whether plant abundance will change with different types of ecosystems through edge effects (i.e. from edge-to-center within an ecosystem). Sampling took place on two days, one day in week 1 (i.e., October 15, 2015) and another day in week 2 (i.e., October 22, 2015), and the same sampling methods were used on both days, with the only difference being that in week 2, the placement of the quadrats and transect tape per edge-to-center location per ecosystem was shifted 1 m to the right, from observer's point-of-view in the field, from the original sampled positions so as to reproduce new replicates for each edge-to-center location per ecosystem. Hence, sample size, n = 20 quadrats sampled per edge-to-center location (i.e., North-West, North-East, South-West, or South-East corner) per ecosystem (i.e., grassland or woodlot). Plant abundance was visually counted within each 1m by 1m quadrant, 10 of which were placed systematically in week 1 and 2 per edge-to-center location (i.e., North-West, North-East, South-West, and South-East corners) per ecosystem (i.e., grassland and woodlot) to test the effect of whether plant abundance will change with different types of ecosystems (i.e., grassland and woodlot) and through edge effects (i.e., from edge-to-center within an ecosystem). The weather conditions in week 1 (day October 15, 2015) was 17 degrees Celsius, cloudy with a few drizzle of raindrop, wind speed was 26 km/h blowing from the South-West, humidity level was 37%, pressure level was 100.9 kPa, and visibility was 16 km. The weather conditions in week 2 (day October 22, 2015) was 16 degrees Celsius, sunny with few clouds, wind speed was 25 km/h blowing from the North-West, humidity level was 46%, pressure level was 102 kPa, and visibility level was 16 km. The quadrats placed in the grassland area were in an area fully exposed to the sky, under cloudy with a drizzle of raindrops (in week 1) and sunny with some clouds (in week 2) conditions, i.e., had no canopy coverage from trees. The grassland vegetation in the areas we placed the quadrats ranged from plant heights of 0-1.5 m and had more moisture in its soil in week 1 due to a few raindrops reaching the ground, and less in week 2 as it was sunny. In both week 1 and 2, insects like lady bugs and flies flew around the grassland, while some flies and birds flew around in the woodlot area. The quadrats that were placed in the woodlot area were in a shaded area as all the trees prevented direct sunlight from reaching the pans but the area overall was still somewhat light up as it was during the day where we conducted this observational study. The woodlot vegetation contained more soil, which had more moisture in week 1 than in week 2 due to a slight rain in the former week and sunnier conditions in the latter week, but the woodlot had fewer number of plants on the ground compared to grassland.