Effect of Sunlight Cover and Level of Crowding on Moss Coverage

Group members: Gamsayini, Mary, Shaneil, and Prachi The collection of data for this experiment was completed on Wednesday October 14 2015 and Wednesday October 21 2015 at approximately 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in Danby woodlot at York University. Although seven days apart, the temperature between both days lacked in variation, allowing for data consistency. On both days it was fairly warm, around 14-15 degrees. Although the temperatures were relatively similar on both days, prior to collecting data on Wednesday October 21st, it had rained, making the soil moist and altering the barometric pressure in the woodlot. Overall, both days were fairly consistent and noise pollution in the area was very low. In order to assess the effect of sunlight cover and level of crowding on moss growth, I, along with my group members, utilized 25 metre transects and 1m x 1m quadrats. The transects were laid down in the Danby woodlot for 25 metres, scattered randomly spanning the center and the perimeter of the forest. Every 5 metre mark on the transect was located and a 1m x 1m quadrat was placed around the 5 metre mark on the transect. This quadrated area was then visually observed for the presence of moss, and was recorded. If moss was present, an estimate of how much area the moss took up in the quadrat was observed and recorded in percentage form. If no moss was present, this value would be 0. Next, the level of sunlight was measured by standing close to the moss and making a diamond shape with the fingers and holding it up to the sky to measure sunlight cover. The area of sunlight observed in the diamond was also recorded in percentage form. Lastly, the level of crowding around the moss was visually observed and was assessed on a scale of 0-3, ranging from no crowding at all to highly crowded, many plants around moss in question. All data recorded during this experiment was obtained from visual estimates obtained by the group members. The transects were laid down 20 times in the Danby woodlot and 5 data points were collected for each transect (as every 5m mark was assessed), resulting in a combined total of 100 data points. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of sunlight cover and the level of crowding on the growth of moss. The purpose is to recognize and identify the factors that may restrict or promote the activity of another species in the ecosystem. This experiment allows students to make use of the data collecting tools and utilize them to study interactions between species in an ecosystem and observe the ways in which altering one aspect of the environment may consequently impact another area of the ecosystem.