Effects of Density and Species Richness on Goldenrod Height in Grassland Habitat.

In York University Keele Campus, a grassland area was selected to study how the Goldenrods density and species richness affect the height of Goldenrods. A 1meter by 1meter quadrant was randomly placed 40 times in the grassland areas where Goldenrods were present. Sampling was carried out in two periods over the span of 2 weeks, and weather was not taken into consideration. Density of Goldenrod was obtained by counting the total number of living Goldenrods and dividing it by the area (1mx1m =1m2). Species richness was observed by counting the total number of plant species observed other than Goldenrod and Poa. Additionally, three Goldenrods that represent the average heights of Goldenrods in that quadrat were selected. Their height was measured with a transect tape from ground to the highest point (leaf or stem), and an average of these three heights per quadrat was calculated. This was done to estimate the average height of Goldenrods per quadrat.