Fieldwork experimental design.

To study the effects of water stress on the white aster plant on greenways within the urban area,its height,its density,number of flowers and species richness were recorded in a powerline corridor which is located north of Steeles Avenue West (43.779291, -79.504367 ),Concord,ON L4K 3C8,across York University. Data collection occurred October 2nd, 9th and 16th, 2014, from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm. The weather on the first day was warm and sunny with a temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, on the second day it was cold (13 degrees Celsius) and sunny with some clouds, and on the last day it was cold (12 degrees Celsius) and it rained. The area where the experiment took place was a small drainage ditch in the corridor which was directly behind buildings along Steels Ave., separated by a fence. Sets of quadrats (1m x 1m) were taken along the edge of the drainage ditch at 1.5 meters apart, and they were taken at 3 different distances along a transect perpendicular to the ditch: 0 meters (at the very edge of the ditch), 10 meters from the ditch, and 20 meters from the ditch. This process was repeated until n = 21 quadrats were completed. For this experiment, we looked at how distance from the drainage ditch (main water source in the area) affects different features in quadrats. The variables measured in each quadrat were height of the white aster plant, species richness, density of white aster plants, number of flowers per white aster plant, and the soil temperature in the quadrat.The tools used in this dataset were: a quadrat made of metal (1m x 1m), a measuring tape,a Durac soil termometer. In each quadrat,every white aster height was measured in meters from the ground to the highest point of the plant using the measuring tape. Only the white asters whose roots were visually observed being in the quadrat area were measured ( If the stem was inside but the roots were outside,the plant wasn't counted). Plant species in the quadrat were differentiated observing the morphology and number of different species was recorded in each quadrat. Density of white aster was visually observed in each quadrat,looking from up to down. Number of flowers was counted for each white aster stem in a quadrat.Only the flowers that at the moment of sampling were open were counted. Soil temperature was measured burying the soil termometer in the middle of the area covered by the quadrat at the start of each sample and then the temperature was recorded at the end of the quadrat sampling. Plant species observed in the grassland included the following : Canada Goldenrob (Solidago canadensis), White Aster (Aster ericoides),Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota),Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale),Graminoids ( grasses).