The Abundance of Plantago major Plants and Density of Neighbouring Species at York University Grasslands

Data for this experiment was collected on September 21st 2015 at approximately 3:00 pm on the grasslands of Danby Woods at York University, Keele campus. The site conditions were sunny, clear skies with slight wind gusts, and a temperature of 21°C. The group collecting the data consisted of Aziza, Paula, Sahar and Shahana. In this experiment, a transect was used to measure the distance between 50 individuals of a specific species. This particular dataset examined the abundance of the species Plantago major, which were identified by their oval-shaped leaves. A transect that was 30 metres in length, was randomly placed on the grasslands. For every P. major that was visible, the distance on the transect was recorded. Additional features that were recorded were the height of the plant from the soil to the top of the stem, the number of leaves, the number of flowers, as well as the crowdedness or density of other plant species around the P. major plants. The purpose of this experiment was to apply various sampling techniques using tools such as quadrats and transects to sample plant populations. The data showed that the average height of the plants were 0.36 centimetres, and there was an average of 6 leaves per plant. None of the P. major plants had flowers, and most of the plants had quite a few other plants around them, or a crowdedness of 2. The first 32 individuals were found to be about one foot apart. After the 33rd individual, the plants were found farther apart. This suggests that the closer to edge of the grasslands you would approach, the fewer P. major plants would be found.