YORK UNIVERSITY GRASSLAND LAB

The purpose of this lab was to observe and classify the plant life diversity in an open grassland near the York University Keele campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The grassland was extremely vast with a few trees to provide shade. The temperature ranged around 24°C with sunny temperatures. No clouds were seen. To forgo this experiment, 1 metre by 1 metre quadrats were placed in random areas across the vast grassland for a total of 25 times. Each quadrant acted as a restricted area where the total abundance of plants, number of species, percentage of land covered by grass, without plant life and with plant life were observed and measured. This lab took around 60 minutes to complete. <br>Meta-Data: 1. <b> </b><b>Total Abundance of Plants:</b> An estimation, using the naked eye, or any other feasible technique to determine the number of plants in the select 1 metre by 1 metre quadrant. <b>2. </b><b>Number of Species</b>: Determining the number of different plant species in the 1 metre by 1 metre quadrant. This could relate to different flowers, grass, etc. This is done using the naked eye by differentiating the plants by shape, size, colour and texture. <b>3. </b><b>Percentage (%) of Land Covered by Grass</b>: An estimation, using the naked eye, or any other feasible technique to determine the percentage (%) of land that is covered by grass <b>only</b> in the 1 metre by 1 metre quadrat. This is done by estimating how much grass covers land out of the number 1. If grass were to only cover half the land, it would be reflected as 0.5/1 multiplied by a 100, which is 50%. 4. <b> </b><b>Percentage (%) of Land Without Plant Life</b>: An estimation, using the naked eye, or any other feasible technique to determine the amount of land that is not covered by plant life including grass in the 1 metre by 1 metre quadrat. This is done using the same method as mentioned previously. 5. <b> </b><b>Percentage (%) of Land with Plant Life:</b> An estimation, using the naked eye, or any other feasible technique to determine the amount of land covered by plant life <b>not including grass</b> in the 1 metre by 1 metre quadrat. This is done using the same method as mentioned previously. 6. <b>Quadrat:</b> A 1 metre by 1 metre frame that acts as a sample for assessing plant and animal life in ecology. · Flowers were rarely seen. If they were seen, however, they came in scarce numbers. An indigo-coloured plant was seen and was identified as the Late Purple Aster specie. · There were not many trees to be seen. There were about 2 to 3. The trees have not been identified. · There were many leaves on the grassland. The most prominent being the bur oak.本实验旨在观测并分类加拿大安大略省多伦多市约克大学基尔校区附近开阔草原的植物群落多样性。该草原面积广袤，仅点缀少量树木以提供遮荫。当日气温约24℃，天气晴朗无云。 为开展本实验，研究人员在这片广袤草原的随机区域布设了总计25个1米×1米的样方（quadrat）。每个样方均为限定采样区域，需观测并记录以下指标：样方内植物总丰度、物种数量、草本植物覆盖土地百分比、无植被覆盖土地百分比以及非草本植被覆盖土地百分比。本实验全程耗时约60分钟。 元数据： 1. **植物总丰度**：通过肉眼观测或其他可行方法，估算1米×1米样方内的植物个体总数。 2. **物种数量**：统计1米×1米样方内的不同植物物种数，可涵盖不同种类的花卉、草本植物等。通过肉眼区分植物的形态、大小、颜色与纹理完成计数。 3. **草本植物覆盖土地百分比**：通过肉眼或其他可行方法，估算1米×1米样方内**仅由草本植物**覆盖的土地比例。估算方式为：以1为总土地面积基准，若草本植物覆盖一半土地，则比例为0.5/1×100%，即50%。 4. **无植被覆盖土地百分比**：通过肉眼或其他可行方法，估算1米×1米样方内**不含草本植物在内的无植被覆盖**的土地比例，估算方法与前述一致。 5. **非草本植被覆盖土地百分比**：通过肉眼或其他可行方法，估算1米×1米样方内**不含草本植物的植被覆盖**的土地比例，估算方法与前述一致。 6. **样方（quadrat）**：生态学中用于评估动植物群落的1米×1米采样框架。 - 花卉较为罕见，即便出现，数量也极少。观测到一种靛蓝色植物，经鉴定为晚紫菀（Late Purple Aster）物种。 - 草原上树木稀少，共计约2-3棵，尚未完成物种鉴定。 - 草原上散落大量落叶，其中最具优势的物种为大果栎（bur oak）。