The correlation between the abundance of exotic plant species and native plant species within a disturbed and grassland area near York University Keele campus.

Description: This experiment was a part of Campus-Ecology at York University. Undergraduate Ecology students obtained data in a grassland-area and a disturbed area under a temperate climate, (roughly 20 degrees Celsius), clear skies with direct exposure to natural light (sun), and clear weather conditions (no wind or precipitation).Hypothesis: There is a negative correlation between number of exotic species and native plant species within a grassland and disturbed area. Prediction: There is a negative correlation between the number of exotic species and plant species within a grassland and disturbed area. This is because the more exotic species there are (white carrot or artificially placed grass) there are fewer number of native plant species (purple heather, golden rods) because of an increase in competition of a shared resource (soil nutrient, sunlight, water). Referring back to the data collected areas where the quadrat landed on an exotic species there was a significant decrease in the number of native plant species observed. This applies to both the grassland and disturbed areas. Methods:Person 1-Herbaceous Plants(Raghavan"Ray") In a grassland area two transects were placed in a straight line- end to end to cover 50 meters. A 1m x 1m quadrat was randomly tossed (roughly 1 metre away from the transect). Place the next quadrat on the other side of the transect 2 meters down from the last quadrat and continue to alternate (left, right). For every quadrat that was tossed, count the total number of individual plant species, and count the total number of exotic plant species. Finally, count the total number of flowers observed in the quadrat. For areas where the quadrat only has grass put “1” in the exotic plant species for its 1 quadrat worth of grass. This method was repeated in a disturbed area. Person 2-Woody Plants(Mohamed)For the experiment that was conducted on October 4th 2016, the materials used were two transects that were 25 meters long. The transects were placed as straight as possible along a land that wasn’t leveled along a 50-meter distance. Every two meters on the transect on both sides 0.5 meters the following data were recorded: the abundance of woody plants and its canopy, the number of flowers and the vegetation ground coverage. In total there were 25 individual counts per data. For both grassland and disturbed area the same methods were used. Disturbed areas any place that is artificialPerson 3-Vertebrates & Invertebrates(Amir)2 Transacts were stacked one after each other in a straight line to cover a distance of 50 meters in the grassland area. At the tip of the 50 meters line a radius of 50 meters was calculated. This was then followed by calculating the abundance of vertebrates and the number of different species was also counted. The abundance of humans within the 50 meters radius was counted also at the same time. 2 trials of counting the abundance of vertebrates and humans and the number of different vertebrate species was performed within a 15 minute time frame. A similar performance was performed to calculate the abundance of invertebrates observed. This time a 5 meter radius from 13 meters to 8 meters on the transact was taken and the abundance of invertebrates was calculated within the 5 meter radius circle. 2 trails were performed within a 15 minute time frame. A similar procedure was performed in a disturbed area. The only difference in the procedures was that the distance on the transact to calculate the abundance of invertebrates observed was from 12 meters to 9 metersPerson 4-Invertebrates (Hamid)The experiment was done at York university grasslands on October, 4th, 2016 at 2:30pm. Two 25-meter transects were placed together to create a 50-meter long transect which was placed along a non- level land. The transect line was approximately a straight line. 6 pan traps filled with soup water were placed 3-meters apart starting at the beginning of the transect. There were three different colour pan traps; yellow, blue, and white. The plates were placed in order of color. The order that the cups were placed was blue, yellow and then white. This sequence of plates was repeated one more time with the same blue, yellow and white sequence giving us a total of 6 plates which were 3-meters apart on the transect. Using a net, the 50-meter transect line was sweeped and the number of abundance invertebrate sweeps were recorded. Every time a sweep was done, the abundance invertebrate pan traps was also recorded for all six pan traps. Every sweep was done approximately two minutes apart and pan traps were counted two minutes apart. The sweeping along the 50-meter transect was done ten times. The same experiment was repeated on a disturbed are.Metadata:Person 1:Abundance of native plants – A categorical number of native plant species within a quadrat. Native refers to flora that is historically and native to the region. 2) Abundance of exotic plants – Exotic refers to an invasive species that is introduced (intentionally or accidentally) to the region. 3) Total number of plant species- Is a discrete numerical number of total flower heads observed within a quadrat. A head would refer to the connecting stem that connects a bulb of flowers.Person 2: Abundancy of woody plants: The total number of trees that were observed both sides in a 0.5-meter distance. For a tree to be considered a woody plant, it must be greater than 1.5 meters in height. This data is numerical discrete. Canopy cover: The canopy percentage was taken at arm’s length. The tree’s canopy was determined by making a square with hands that were approximately 15cm width and 8 cm length. The percentage was an estimation based on the amount of leaves in the square to the sky. In other words, when watching the square, the estimation was made based on the amount of light that was seen through the leafs. This data is numerical continuous. Total number of plants: Of all plant species were recorded. This data is numerical discrete. Vegetation percentage: the ratio between all plant species and grass species were estimated. This data is numerical continuous. Person 3: -Abundance of vertebrates: The total number of vertebrates species observed within the 50 meters radius circle, data is continuous. -Number of different vertebrate species: The total number of different species observed within the 50 meters radius circle, data is continuous. -Abundance of humans: The total number of humans observed within the 50 meters radius circle, data is continuous. -Abundance of invertebrates observed: The total number of invertebrates observed within the 5 meters radius circle, data is continuous. Person 4: Abundance invertebrate pan traps: The total number of invertebrate individuals found in the 6 colored plates filled with soup water which was recorded every 2 minutes. This type of data is numerical discrete Abundance invertebrate sweeps: The total number of invertebrate individuals caught in the net sweeping along the 50-meter transect. This type of data is numerical discrete Pan traps: Plates filled with approximately 50ml soap water to trap insects. The colors were In order of blue, yellow and white. {P ffff2数据集描述：本实验为约克大学（York University）校园生态学项目的一部分。该校生态学专业本科生在温带气候（平均气温约20摄氏度）、晴朗无风雨且直接接收自然光的环境下，于草地区域与受干扰区域采集了实验数据。 实验假设：在草地与受干扰区域中，外来物种数量与本土植物物种数量呈负相关关系。 实验预测：在草地与受干扰区域中，外来物种数量与植物物种数量呈负相关关系。其原因为：外来物种（如白胡萝卜或人工种植的草本植物）越多，本土植物物种（如紫色欧石楠、一枝黄花）的数量越少——这是由于共享资源（土壤养分、光照、水分）的竞争加剧所致。此前采集的数据显示，样方（quadrat）落在外来物种分布区域时，观测到的本土植物物种数量会显著减少，该规律同时适用于草地与受干扰区域。 实验方法： 实验人员1：草本植物调查（拉加万“雷”） 在草地区域设置两条首尾相接的直线样带，总长度为50米。将1m×1m的样方随机抛掷在距离样带约1米的位置，随后在下一个样点沿样带向下移动2米，在样带另一侧抛掷样方，交替进行（左、右两侧轮换）。对每个抛掷的样方，统计其中植物个体总数、外来植物物种总数，以及观测到的花朵总数。若样方内仅存在草本植物，则将该样方的外来植物物种数量记为1。该方法同样应用于受干扰区域。 实验人员2：木本植物调查（穆罕默德） 本次实验于2016年10月4日开展，所用器材为两条长度为25米的样带。样带沿未平整的地面尽可能以直线形式布设，总跨度为50米。在样带两侧每间隔2米、距离样带0.5米的位置，记录以下数据：木本植物的多度、树冠盖度、花朵数量以及植被地面覆盖率。每组数据共采集25次。草地区域与受干扰区域均采用相同的实验方法。注：受干扰区域指所有人工改造过的区域。 实验人员3：脊椎动物与无脊椎动物调查（阿米尔） 在草地区域设置两条首尾相接的直线样带，总跨度为50米。以该50米样带的端点为圆心，划定半径为50米的圆形区域。在此区域内统计脊椎动物的多度与不同物种的数量，同时统计该圆形区域内人类的数量。在15分钟内完成2次脊椎动物与人类多度、脊椎动物物种数的统计。随后开展无脊椎动物调查：以样带上13米至8米的区间为圆心，划定半径为5米的圆形区域，统计该区域内的无脊椎动物多度，同样在15分钟内完成2次统计。受干扰区域采用相同流程，唯一区别为无脊椎动物调查的样带区间调整为12米至9米。 实验人员4：无脊椎动物调查（哈米德） 本次实验于2016年10月4日下午2:30在约克大学校园草地开展。将两条25米长的样带拼接为总长度50米的样带，沿非平整地面以近似直线的形式布设。在样带起点处开始，每隔3米放置一个装有皂水的诱捕盘（pan trap），共设置6个。诱捕盘共有黄、蓝、白三种颜色，放置顺序为蓝、黄、白，该序列重复一次，最终共6个诱捕盘，间距为3米。使用捕网沿50米样带进行扫网采集，记录扫网获得的无脊椎动物多度，同时每2分钟记录一次6个诱捕盘内的无脊椎动物数量。每次扫网间隔约2分钟，诱捕盘计数同样间隔2分钟。沿50米样带共完成10次扫网采集。该实验同样应用于受干扰区域。 元数据： 实验人员1： 1. 本土植物多度：样方内本土植物物种的分类数量。本土植物指该区域历史原生的植物区系。 2. 外来植物多度：外来物种指被有意或无意引入该区域的入侵物种。 3. 植物总数量：样方内观测到的总花头（flower head）数量，为离散数值。花头指连接花簇的茎结构。 实验人员2： 1. 木本植物多度：在样带两侧0.5米范围内观测到的树木总数。木本植物的判定标准为株高大于1.5米，该数据为离散数值。 2. 树冠盖度：以手臂长度为参照进行估算：双手组成约15cm宽、8cm长的方形区域，通过该区域中叶片遮挡天空的比例估算树冠盖度，即透过叶片可见的光照占比，该数据为连续数值。 3. 植物总数量：所有植物物种的个体总数，为离散数值。 4. 植被覆盖率：所有植物物种与草本植物物种的占比估算值，为连续数值。 实验人员3： 1. 脊椎动物多度：50米半径圆形区域内观测到的脊椎动物个体总数，为连续数值。 2. 脊椎动物物种数：50米半径圆形区域内观测到的不同脊椎动物物种总数，为连续数值。 3. 人类多度：50米半径圆形区域内观测到的人类数量，为连续数值。 4. 无脊椎动物多度：5米半径圆形区域内观测到的无脊椎动物个体总数，为连续数值。 实验人员4： 1. 诱捕盘无脊椎动物多度：每2分钟记录一次6个装有皂水的彩色诱捕盘中发现的无脊椎动物个体总数，为离散数值。 2. 扫网无脊椎动物多度：沿50米样带扫网捕获的无脊椎动物个体总数，为离散数值。 3. 诱捕盘（pan trap）：装有约50ml皂水用于捕获昆虫的盘具，颜色放置顺序为蓝、黄、白。