Relationship between abundance of Woody Plants, Animal and Plant Species

Meta Data:

1)
Abundance Native Plants: This is a discrete variable. A 50 m transect was
placed along the length of the forest/woodlot. The quadrat was moved every 2 m
along transect. Using a quadrat, the abundance of native plants was determined
by visually distinguishing between exotic and native and then counted the
amount of native plants within the quadrant. In ambiguous situation the
teaching assistant was consulted for further clarification. This was repeated
25 times and took on average 15 minutes to collect and record.

2)
Abundance Exotic Plants:  This is a discrete variable. A 50m transect
was placed along the length of the woodlot/forest. Every 2m along the transect,
a quadrat was placed alternating left and right, to visually determine the
number of exotic plants present within the quadrant.  To estimate the abundance of exotic grass
within a quadrant, an area of 0.0625 m2 sample of the quadrant was
counted and then multiplied by 4. This was repeated 25 times and the data was collected
simultaneously with dataset 1 by individual peers.

3)
Total Number of Flowers:  This discrete variable. A 50 m transect was
placed along the length of the woodlot/forest. Every two meters along the
transect, a quadrat was placed alternating left and right to determine the
total number of flowers within the quadrant. The number of total flowers was
counted within the quadrat. This was repeated 25 times and the data took 15
minutes to collect

4) Abundance woody plants:  This is a discrete
variable. A 50 m transect was placed along the length of woodlot/forest. Then
counted the number trees 0.5 m perpendicular to the transect on either side
every 2m. 
The tree had to be 1.5 m in height or greater to be considered as a
woody plants. 25 replicates were recorded and took 15 minutes to collect.

5) Canopy cover: This is a continuous variable. For
each respective replicate, the percentage of sky cover not visible due to
impeding canopy cover, directly above the observer was estimated. 25 replicates
were recorded and took 40 minutes to complete simultaneously with dataset 2
variables. 25 recorded and took 15 minutes to collect.

6) Ground cover: This is a continuous
variable. The vegetative ground cover was estimated as a percentage by the
observer directly looking underneath themselves.  25 replicates were recorded and took 30
minutes to collect simultaneously along with the other variables of dataset 2.

7) Total flower numbers: This is a
discrete variable. The number of flowers around the 50 m transect was measured
every 2 m around the woody plant area. 25 replicates were recorded and took 15
minutes to collect simultaneously along with the other variables of dataset 2.

8)
Abundance invertebrates pan traps: This is a discrete variable measured with
the usage of 6 pan traps (coloured plastic bowl with approx. 20mL of soap
water).  The 6 replicate pan traps were
placed 3 meters apart, along the transect, while alternating colours (blue,
yellow, white) in the woodlot/forest. 
After placement of the pan traps, a period of 25 minutes was elapsed, at
which point the abundance of invertebrates captured by the pan trap was counted
and recorded. 

9)
Abundance vertebrates: This is a discrete variable, which was measured with the
use of a point/observation survey while standing at the beginning of the 50m
transect.  Any/all vertebrates that were
visually identified within a 50m radius from the original position were counted
and recorded for a 15 min period. 

10)
Abundance Humans:  This is a discrete
variable, which was measured with the use of a point/observation survey while
standing at the beginning of the 50m transect. 
Any/all humans that were visually identified (whether on-foot, in motor-vehicle
or other modes of transportation) within a 50m radius from the original
position were counted and recorded for a period of 15 min.  

11)
Abundance Invertebrates observed: This is a discrete variable, which was
measured with the use of a point/observation survey while standing at the
beginning of the 50m transect.  Any/all
invertebrates that were visually identified within a 50m radius from the
original position were counted and recorded for a 15 min period. 

12) Abundance invertebrates pan traps:  This is a discrete
variable measured with the usage of 6 pan traps (coloured plastic bowl with
approx. 20mL of soap water). The 6 replicate pan traps were placed 3 meters
apart, along the transect, while alternating colours (blue, yellow, white) in
the forest/woodlot. After placement of the pan traps, a period of 25 minutes
was elapsed, at which point the abundance of invertebrates captured by the pan
trap was counted and recorded. The variables of dataset 4 were done in 25
minutes.

13) Abundance invertebrates sweeps:  This is a discrete
variable. Used the sweep net along the 50 m transect and swept 1 m
perpendicular to the transect. After thoroughly sweeping in the forest/woodlot
and counted the amount of invertebrates caught in the sweep net.

Hypothesis:

It
is hypothesized that the forest/woodlot will demonstrate a vast abundance of
woody plants that it will correlate with an increase in canopy coverage which
in cases of disturbance will depict a decreasing abundance of animal and plant
species because competition of light sources will increase.

Predictions:

1.  
Increase
in woody plants will correlate to an increase in canopy coverage percentile.

2.  
Increase
in woody plants will correlate to a decrease in abundance of native plants and
exotic plants.

3.  
Increase
in woody plants will correlate to a decrease in abundance of invertebrate and
vertebrate species .

Methods:

The experiment was conducted at the Danby Woodlot/forest at
York university Keele campus at 2:45 p.m. E.T and lasted approximately 1 hour
and 30 minutes.  The GPS coordinates of the Danby Woodlot are: longitude
-79.5079 and latitude 43.768756. The 50m transect was established by using two
30 tape measure and aligning it in a linear fashion. The tape was set as low as
possible without disturbing the area. For Dataset 1, quadrats (1m *1m) were
placed alternately left and right along the transect every 2 m. The quadrats
were placed 0.5m away from the transect. The number of flowers were then within
the quadrant. Then the abundance of exotic plants (i.e. grass, weed, etc.) and
native plants (i.e. white and purple flowered plants) within the quadrant were
counted. For calculating the abundance of grass, the number of grass in a
quarter (0.5m*0.5m) was counted and then multiplied by four. This process was
repeated 24 times along the 50m transect every 2m in the forest/woodlot. For
dataset 2, using the same 50 m transect, the abundance of wood plants (trees)
0.5m perpendicular to the transect were surveyed. Also, the canopy coverage and
vegetative ground coverage was estimated and the total number of flowers were
counted around the area. This process was done every 2 m along the transect 25
times in the woodlot/forest. For data set 3, we stood at the beginning of the transect
and surveyed along a 50 m radius for 15 minutes (trial 1) and observed the
abundance of humans that crossed by, without including lab group members. Also,
the abundance of vertebrates (crows, owl, etc.), number of vertebrate species
were o and the abundance of invertebrates (snails, spiders, ants, etc.) were
observed in this trail. Then in another 15 minute interval survey, the
abundance invertebrates were measured for trial 2 in the forest/woodlot. For
dataset 4, the pan test was conducted for 15 minutes and six pans were placed
with soap water. The pans were placed 3m away from each other along the
transect in the color scheme of blue, yellow, white, blue, yellow, white. Then
counted the abundance of invertebrates (i.e. ants, flies, spiders, etc.) caught
in pan traps for a total 6 trials. Then conducted the sweep test for 20 minutes
along the 50 m transect. Then, the abundance of invertebrate was counted caught
in the sweep test. A total of 10 trials were done.  The data was collected
across two notebooks among three group members/peer and later accumulated to be
digitally recorded on a excel document and saved as a .csv file. 

Study Site
Description: 

A field study was conducted at the Danby Woodlot/forest
located on York University’s Keele campus near Keele Street and York Boulevard
in Toronto, Ontario on October 24, 2016, around 2:45 pm. The temperature was
around 10 degrees Celsius, gloomy skies with overcast and little to no
sunshine.

Danby Woodlot/forest perimeter surrounded by grassland, and
contains vast abundance of somewhat barren trees. The woodlot also contains man
made/artificial objects including empty glass bottles, bench, garbage, etc. The
woodlot ground was covered with red, yellow, brown and orange leaves, below
which soil could be found.  As soon as we entered
the woodlot, an owl and two crows were spotted.