Naturally Occurring ecosystem "Trade-offs" affecting Solidago Canadensis & Symphyotrichum ericoides height and abundance on York University (Keele Campus)

Materials and Methods This study was conducted at the York University Keele campus in Toronto, Ontario (43.7731° N, 79.5036° W) at three different locations within the campus. The first location was the stong pond located within walking distance of The Pond Rd, the second location was Dan Iannuzzi Park Pond located on Cook Road and the final pond was the humber river- Black creek location within the black creek parkland found along Shoreham Dr. The three chosen locations consisted of similar vegetation and habitat characteristics. The duration of the study took place consistently over three weeks on October 1st, October 8 and October 15 with data collection once a week on Thursdays between 2:30 and 5:30pm. The average temperature in the month of October ranged from 14 to 18 degrees while weather conditions generally ranged from dry to mildly humid. All three of the ponds were visited in the designated three-hour time frame with data collection occurring for roughly thirty to forty minutes at each site and approximately ten to fifteen minutes were designated for travelling between the three locations. The two plant species studied were identified as Solidago Canadensis (Figure 6) and Symphyotrichum ericoides (Figure 5). The independent variables were abundance and distance from water and the dependent variable was the height of the plant. In preparing to sample solidago Canadensis and Symphyotrichum ericoides a transect was placed at the edge of the pond and measured out approximately 3 meters back from the edge of the water source. The intervals used were approximately 3 meters, 12 meters, and 15 meters. The quadrat was then placed at the 3-meter mark, subsequent repetitions involved moving the quadrant horizontally along the initially 3-meter mark (Figure 4). These repetition distances were calculated using a random number generator on Microsoft Excel, numbers 1 to 10 (measured in meters) were placed in the random generator to determine the next location of the replication. Using a second transect, distance of the second location was measured. A total of 3 reps were conducted at each measurement interval. The height of 5 different plants of the same species of solidago Canadensis and Symphyotrichum ericoides were measured using a transect and recorded. A total of 15 plants were measured per interval (n=15) per species over the course of 3 weeks. The abundance of both Solidago Canadensis and Symphyotrichum ericoides were counted, this was recorded. After each repetition, using a predetermined soil type guide, type of soil (qualitatively) was recoded (Figure 7). Next, the transect was measured from the edge of the water source back 12 meters and the same processes was repeated for 12-meters and 15-meters. The methods listed above were conducted at all three locations. After the collection of data, two different statistical tests were conducted on the data. Initially using a one-way ANOVA, the mean plant height (cm) in 3 different soil types (wet, weathered, dry) as a measure of distance away from a water source was measured. P values exceeding 0.05 were categorized as having no statistical difference. A two-tailed independent t-test was used to compare the mean plant height (cm) in 3 different soil types (wet, weathered, dry) between Solidago Canadensis and Symphyotrichum ericoides individually.