Condition of trees in Danby Woodlot at York University using a transect

The purpose of this experiment was to determine conditions of trees near the edge of Danby Woods vs. trees in the centre of Danby Woods while learning techniques of collecting field data using a transect. Data was collected at Danby Woods at the York University Keele campus on Monday, September 21, 2015 from 3:30-4:30pm by two researchers named Sahar & Aziza. Sahar would take all the measurements and Aziza would note the measurements. At a temperature of 18°C, the weather was sunny and partially cloudy. At Danby Woods, given the time of year, there were many trees to study as the leaves had not fallen for Autumn, however the woodlot was not in great condition as there were many signs of human littering. First the researchers observed the woodlot for placing the transect tape in a location that would represent the whole woodlot. A 30m transect tape was placed in a straight line from the edge of the woodlot to the centre of the woodlot. Beginning from the edge of woodlot on the right side of the transect tape, the researchers chose 20 trees for 10 pairs that were above 12 feet. Each individual tree’s height was not measured, the trees that were double Sahar’s height would be approximately 12 feet tall. Then using a different transect tape, Sahar measured the distance in between each pair of trees, distance breast height (DBH) of each individual tree. Also, the condition of each individual tree was observed by the naked eye. After the data was collected, the transect tape was retrieved by the researchers. The data indicates that the trees near the edge of the Danby Woods are farther apart and are healthier with either living or large canopy trees. However toward the center of Danby Woods, the trees become closer together with some dead trees.