YorkU.Grassland.Disturbed.Oct3-2016

<b>Meta data: </b>Census: represent the sampling week. Which may be either week 5 = census 1, week 7 = census 2 or week 8 = census 3Calendar date: its a continuous variable which represents the date that the data collection took place. Campus: represents the campus and the university that the data collection took place Group-ID: Represents each group’s significant number, which is used for identification within different groups. Habitat: it’s a categorical variable that represents the location used for data collection; either grassland or disrupted open space.Rep: which represents replicates and indicates the total number of times a specific measurement was conducted. Abundance.native.plants: it’s a continuous variable, which shows the total number of native plants counted that are originally from that location Abundance.exotic.plants: it’s a continuous variable that shows the total number of plants counted that are not originally from that grassland and they normally grow somewhere else. Abundance.woody.plants: It’s a continuous variable that shows the number of trees counted that are 1.5m or higher in height Total.number.flowers (quadret): It’s a continuous variable, which shows the number of individual flowers counted from different species within the quadrats.Canopy.cover: It’s a continuous variable that shows the coverage leaves and branches take up in a certain frameGround.cover: It’s a continuous variable, which shows the area in which small plants such as mosses, grass and low shrubs grow Total.number.flowers (transect): It’s a continuous variable, which shows the number of individual flowers counted from different species along the 0.5 range of 50m long transect.Abundance.vertebrates: It’s a continuous variable, indicating the total number of vertebrates visualized and counted in the range of 50 meters radius from transect for 15 minutes Vertebrate.species: It’s continuous variable, which shows the number of different species of vertebrates visualized in the range of 50 meters radius from the transect, for 15 minutes Abundance.invertebrates.observed: Its a continuous variable, which shows the total number of insects observed in the range of 5 meter radius from the transect, for 15 minutes Abundance.human: Its a continue variable, which shows the total count of people who are not members of the lab present in the 50m range from the transect, for 15 minutes.Abundance.invertebrate.pantraps: it’s a continuous variable, indicating the total number of individuals visualized and counted in the bowl, after 40 minutes.Abundance.invertebrates.sweeps: it’s a continuous variable, indicating the total number of individuals visualized and counted in the sweep net.<br><b>Methods:</b> The data was collected on a cloudy day with the temperate of 16°C, on Monday October ,3rd 2016. The grasslands and the disturbed open space near Stong Pond of York University campus were chosen in order to collect data; using the same procedure for both. This was done with the collaboration of Mera Sritharan and Fatin Anwar; separating the data collection to four distinct parts. A 50 meter transect was placed in parallel with other students’ transects. Firstly, a quadrat was placed randomly every 2 meters, for 25 times, along the transect. The number of native and exotic plants and flowers were measured by dividing the quadrat to parts and sum the areas covered. For the second part of the data collection, the number of woody plants was measured every 2 meters along the transect within the range of 0.5 meters. For each tree, the ground and canopy cover was measured again by dividing the visual area to parts and adding the areas covered. In addition, the total number of flowers was measured by direct visualization. For the third part, the first 15 minutes was spent to walk a 50m radius around the transect and the abundance of vertebrates, the different types of species and number of humans was measured through visualization and counting. Another 15 minutes interval was spent to measure the abundance of invertebrates visually. Lastly, 6 bowls with three different colours of blue, yellow and white were placed, 3 meters apart, with alternating colours; filled with soapy water up to an inch. The number of invertebrates was measured 40 minutes after placement. Then, the sweep nets were conducted along the 50m transect, repeating it for 10 times. The numbers of invertebrates were measured by counting the number of insects caught. <b>Hypothesis: </b>There will be more invertebrates present in grasslands than on the lands disturbed by human beings, specifically on grasslands with higher diversity of plants. This can be due to change in environmental conditions, which decreases the number of suitable habitats for these organisms. In addition, the conditions in the grassland is more suitable for invertebrates to live and reproduce, comparing to disturbed open spaces.<b></b> <b>Predictions:</b> The highest number of invertebrates caught on pan traps and sweep nets would be found in the locations with highest abundance of native and exotic plants. Moreover, these locations consist a higher frequency of woody plants, canopy and ground cover. The reason is that more invertebrates are found in these environments since it’s similar to the habitat that these organisms live. In addition, the lowest number of invertebrates caught on pan traps and sweep nets would be found in the locations with the disturbed open space, which lack the diversity of native and exotic plant spices. Moreover, the trees would be more scattered and their canopy and ground cover would be low, if present. The reason is that, disturbances in the physical and ecological habitat causes invertebrate species to either migrate to other locations or experience an increase in mortality rates due to accidents. The grasslands provide a safe habitat, which is rich in nutrition.