The effect of age and urbanization on canopy coverage of Juglans Nigra

The study was conducted at the York University woodlot on both October 19th and 26th 2015 between the hours of 2:30 and 5:30 pm (ET). The temperature was 11˚C, with slightly cloudy skies. The experiment consisted of sampling a total of 56 trees from the species Juglans nigra. Each replicate consisted of measuring the diameter at breast height, obtained by placing a transect horizontally on the tree trunk at breast height (1.2 meters off of the ground) and obtaining a measurement in meters. This determines if the tree is a sampling (<0.10 meter diameter) or an adult. Next, one would make a square using their thumbs and forefingers and look through it at the leaves on the tree. This gives a discrete rank of the trees canopy coverage, with 0 meaning no coverage and 5 meaning full coverage. The final step consists of using a transect to measure the distance of the tree from urbanization in meters. This indicates if the tree is affected by urbanization (<10 meters from the road) or not affected by it (>10 meters from the road). The materials used consisted of two transects. Results seem to indicate that saplings and trees affected by urbanization have smaller canopy coverage, while trees that are adults and ones unaffected by urbanization have greater canopy coverage. This experiment was conducted in the fall and therefore there may be bias as the Juglans nigra is a deciduous tree and canopy coverage may be affected by seasonal loss of leaves.