The Effects of Human Activity and Whether an Area is Mowed or Un-mowed on the Total Abundance of Goldenrod Species

Group Members: Loyal Tran, Anisa Amin, James Quach, Iiman Darman The purpose of this lab was to determine the effects of human activity, and whether an area is mowed or unmowed on the abundance of Goldenrod species (Solidago). The group was split into two as to save time. The data was collected on the grassland next to the Danby Woodlot at York University on October 14 and 21, 2015 from 14:45-16:35 on both days. The equipment used to collect this data was 2 1m x 1m quadrats, and 2 30m transects. The grassland is sandwiched between 2 major areas for human activity: Keele Street and York University. These were labelled disturbance 1 and disturbance 2 respectively. The shortest distance from disturbance 1 to disturbance 2 was 100 meters; to keep the data consistent it was used as the standard transect length in collecting data. Transects, totalling 100m’s, were laid from disturbance 1 to disturbance 2. A total of 5 100m transects were laid in largely random areas of the grassland. A quadrat was laid every 5 meters and the following was determined and recorded: total abundance of Solidago, Condition: whether the area was mowed or unmowed, and distance from disturbance 1 and distance from disturbance 2. A total of 105 samples were collected and numbered in the order in which the data was collected. The weather on those days was moderate to chilly with moderate wind. It was sunny as the sky was largely clear. All the plants in the grassland including Solidago were withering away due to the colder weather. The grassland was very diverse in terms of plant species. Solidago had a clustered distribution. Total abundance was defined as the total number of Solidago individuals and was determined by counting the number of individuals that could be seen in a single quadrat. It was generally easy to visually determine the condition of the grassland as parts of it had been mowed recently. The distance from disturbance 1 & 2 was defined as the distance from the sample to the edge of the grassland closest to the disturbances (1 or 2) measured using a transect. Solidago species were identified based on the characteristics of their leaves (i.e. shape, waxiness), and the colour of their flowers. The later characteristic was difficult to determine because the flowers had begun to wither and lose their colour due to colder weather. Since majority of this experiment was done mainly based on visual observations, the chances of errors in the data are high. Species of other plants may have been misidentified as Solidago; the total abundance of individuals in a sample may have been miscounted as smaller individuals may have been overlooked. It was more difficult to identify the target species in mowed areas of the grassland. Due to the clustered nature of the distribution of Solidago, collecting samples in a straight line may have slightly misinterpreted the general trends of Solidago distribution and abundance. For example, the absence of Solidago in one quadrat overlooks the clusters of Solidago in close proximity, and so those individuals aren’t accounted for.