Effects of Sunlight Availability and Soil Moisture on the Abundance of Plants in Grasslands

In order to determine the most sustainable conditions for grasslands Savannah Wales, Sumerra Sidiqui, and I conducted an experiment in the York University grasslands. The factors studied were sunlight availability and soil moisture. After randomly placing the quadrats we first counted the number of individuals. Sunlight availability was determined by observing the shadow casted within the area and was recorded on a scale from 0- 4(0=complete shade, 1=25% sunlight availability, 2= 50% sunlight availablity, 3=75%, 4=100% sunlight availability). In order to determine the soil moisture we observed the colour and texture of the soil. Soil moisture was also recorded on a scale from 0-3 (0=completely dry, 1=slightly dry,2=slightly moist, and 3= moist). In order to increase the sample size we performed 120 replicates and recorded the number of plants, sunlight availability, and soil moisture for each replicate. Analysis of this data will allow us to determine the conditions required to sustain grasslands on campus, and help with the growth of new grasslands.为明确威尔士萨凡纳草原（Savannah Wales）的最优可持续培育条件，我与苏梅拉·西迪基（Sumerra Sidiqui）在约克大学的草原实验区域开展了一项实验。本实验的研究因子为光照可获得性与土壤湿度。我们先随机布设样方（quadrats），随后统计样方内的植株个体总数。光照可获得性通过观测样方内投射的阴影情况判定，采用0-4级评分标准：0代表完全遮阴，即无光照；1代表25%光照可获得性；2代表50%光照可获得性；3代表75%光照可获得性；4代表100%光照可获得性。土壤湿度则通过观察土壤的颜色与质地判定，采用0-3级评分标准：0代表完全干燥，1代表轻微干燥，2代表轻度湿润，3代表湿润。为提升样本规模，我们共完成120次重复实验，并记录了每次重复实验中的植株数量、光照可获得性与土壤湿度数据。对该数据集的分析将帮助我们明确校园内草原可持续培育所需的环境条件，同时为新草原的种植与培育提供科学参考。