effect of sunlight exposure and crowding level on moss growth

The experiment was conducted in York university woodlot area. The experiment was divided into two weeks with a 100 replicates as the dataset. The group members, Ghamsayani, Mary, Shaneil and Prachi laid out transects at 25m starting from the edge of the woodlot for week 1. A 1m x1m quadrant was placed every 5 m on the transects. Within the quadrant, firstly, presence or absence of moss was determined by moving the leaf litter around, uncovering moss patches and recording thepercentage of abundance of moss cover in the 1mx1m quadrant. Presence of moss is categorical data while percentage of moss cover was recorded as continuous data. After recording the abundance of moss cover, the amount of leaf litter and other plants present around the moss were determined as the level of crowding which is categorical data. The scale for measuring the crowding level was from 1-3, where 1 was the lack or very little leaf litter and other plants around the moss patches and 3 was where the moss was covered with leaf litter and other plants in the surroundings. Another factor determined was the percentage of sunlight exposure which was continuous data. This was determined by making a square with the index finger and thumb of both hands and determining the amount of sunlight visible through the leaf canopy. The weather on the first week of the experiment was 15 degrees. The ground was cool to touch, the skies were clear and birds were chirping at a distance. There was presence of human activity in the woodlot. The experimental design was repeated the second week with firstly laying down the transact at 25m by each group member named above and using the 1mx1m quadrants to determine the presence or absence of moss, abundance of moss coverage in the 1mx1m quadrant and crowding level if leaf litter and other plants within the quadrant as well as the percentage of sun exposure using hand squares. The weather on the second week was 14 degrees and the ground was cool to touch. It was humid but with clear skies and birds chirping at a distance. Also human activity was present.