Collecting data from a woodlot of York University (Keele campus)

Description:

Following experiment was taking on October 5th,
2016, at York University for Ecology 2050. The data was gathered in a woodland
area (~500 m away from Rexall Centre). The experiment took place from
3:00pm-4:30pm, in clear weather conditions. The temperature ranged from 19-21 °C.  

Methods :

Person 1 – Herbaceous
Plants (Diana Bleyan)

A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the
ground of the woodland area. Every 2 meters along the transect, a 1mx1m quadrat
was randomly placed along the transect (~1 meter from the transect). The
quadrat was placed in alternates on the left and right side of the transect.

Person 2 – Woody
Plants (Melinaz Barati)

A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the
ground of the woodland area. Every 2 meters along the transect, students have
looked for a tree on either side of the transect within 0.5 meters from the
transect.

Person 3 –
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian)

A 25 meter transect was placed in a straight line on the
ground of the woodland area, in order to provide the sense for a 25 meter
radius. Vertebrates and invertebrates were observed, using a naked eye. For
invertebrates, the length of the transect was shortened to a 5 meter radius.

Person 4 –
Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar)

·     
A 25 meter transect was placed in a straight
line on the ground of the woodland area and 6 pan traps were placed along the
transect (~1 meter away from each other along the length of the transect). Each
pan trap was strategically placed with respect to color (the colors varied from
blue to yellow to white). The soapy water was poured in each pan trap, covering
half of the pan trap’s volume. All the traps were left for 45 minutes.

·     
A 50m long transect was placed in a straight
line on the ground of the woodland area and a student conducted 10 sweep nets
along the transect. The sweeps were done in a shape of infinity sign, 1 meter
above the ground.

Meta-data:

Person 1 – Herbaceous
Plants (Diana Bleyan)

·     
Native
plants – a native plant was defined as a specie within an observed quadrat,
which occurs naturally in a given region

·     
Exotic
plants – an exotic plant was defined as an invasive specie within an
observed quadrat, which was introduced to the given region

·     
Flower
heads – were counted as total number of flower heads within an observed
quadrat. A flower head was considered to be at the top of the stem.

Person 2 – Woody
Plants (Melinaz Barati)

·     
Abundance
woody plants – a tree higher than 1.5 meters in height. If no tree was
observed within 0.5 meters from the transect, students recorded 0.

·     
Canopy
cover – was estimated in %, by holding a square (created by hands) and
measuring how much of the square area was filled with canopy of the tree.

·     
Ground
cover – was estimated in %, by holding a square (created by hands) and
measuring how much of the square area contains vegetation.

·     
Total
number of flowers – was counted, within 0.5 meter distance from the
observed tree/trees. A flower was considered to be any plant that contained a
flower head, attached to the top of the stem.

Person 3 –
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian)

·     
Invertebrate
– the variety of invertebrates observed, consisted of snails, mosquitos and
flies.

·     
Vertebrate
species observed, consisted of squirrels and birds (including Robins and
Gray jays)

·     
Abundance
of humans was separated from the rest of the vertebrate species.

Person 4 –
Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar)

·     
Invertebrate
species – the number of observed flies, snails and mosquitos

·     
Abundance
invertebrates pan traps – the number of invertebrates trapped in a soapy
water of a pan trap

·     
Abundance
invertebrates sweeps – the number of invertebrates trapped in a sweep net
(at the end of sweeping along the 50m transect)

Hypothesis:

Person 1 – Herbaceous
Plants (Diana Bleyan)

The number of observed native plants is significantly higher
than the number of exotic plants within a woodland area.

Person 2 – Woody
Plants (Melinaz Barati)

There is a negative correlation between the percentage of
canopy cover and the percentage of vegetative cover + number of flowers below
the observed tree/trees.

Person 3 –
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian)

The number of invertebrates observed with a naked eye is
higher than the number of vertebrates.

Person 4 –
Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar)

The abundance of invertebrates caught in a soapy water of
pan traps is higher than the number of invertebrates caught in a sweep net.

Prediction:

Person 1 – Herbaceous
Plants (Diana Bleyan)

The number of native plants is significantly higher than the
number of exotic plants because native species would successfully compete with
exotic species, since they are evolutionary better adapted to their environment
and have been present in that area for more generations.

Person 2 – Woody
Plants (Melinaz Barati)

There is a negative correlation between the percentage of
canopy cover and the percentage of vegetative cover + number of flowers below
the observed tree/trees, because as the percentage of canopy cover increases,
there is less sunlight available for growth of vegetation and flowers below the
given tree/trees. Sunlight is a major source of growth for plants and decreased
exposure to sunlight would result in reduced photosynthesis and growth of the
plants.

Person 3 –
Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian)

The number of invertebrates observed with a naked eye is
higher than the number of vertebrates, because the radius used to measure
invertebrates is much smaller (~5m) in comparison to invertebrates (~25m). The
invertebrates are more abundant in the woodland than vertebrates, since it is a
natural habitat for the invertebrates. Less vertebrates were observed, because
they are naturally more scared of large group of students and tend to run away.

Person 4 –
Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar)

The abundance of invertebrates caught in a soapy water of
pan traps is higher than the number of invertebrates caught in a sweep net,
because the soapy water naturally attracts invertebrates. Less vertebrates were
caught in a sweep net, because they are naturally scared of a human, which is
in motion.