Impact of Sunlight and Soil Moisture on Plant Abundance and Surrounding Ecosystems

This experiment was conducted over the span of two days: October 13th 2015 and October 20th 2015 in the Danby Woodlot and the Danby Grassland at York University Keele Campus from approximately: 2:50-5:00pm both days, with group members Houra, Alexandera and Kathy. The weather was approximately 18°C on both days. On the first day the experiment was conducted it was severely overcast with a lot of cloud coverage while on the second day there was some cloud coverage and light showers towards the end. All the grassland replicates were collected by Houra and I, in order to keep data/measurements reliable and consistent. The overall purpose of this lab was to develop collaboration skills in field ecology & data collection, but specifically to collect data to find a relationship between sunlight and soil moisture and how they affect plant abundance (and ecosystems) respectively. A total of 160 trials were conducted over the span of two separate days, 80 in both the grassland and woodlot. A random number generator app was used to ensure random sampling. A random number of steps were taken in a a specific direction and the 1x1 meter quadrat was placed on the ground. The total number of plants were recorded, along with the moisture levels of the soil, and exposure of sunlight. The moisture of the soil was tested with a paper towel wrapped around a popsicle stick and being pushed into the ground, and was given a number from 0-2. The amount of sunlight the quadrat was being exposed to was given a number from 0-3. Both size classes are further explained in the meta data. This procedure was repeated 79 more times for both the grasslands and woodlot, 80 replicates for grassland and woodlot collected in each field day. It was concluded that due to the poor weather conditions: cloudy and rainy) the exposure to sunlight may not have been accurately depicted.

本实验于2015年10月13日及2015年10月20日两日内在约克大学基尔校区（York University Keele Campus）的丹比林地（Danby Woodlot）与丹比草原（Danby Grassland）开展，每日实验时段约为下午2:50至5:00，参与组员包括Houra、Alexandera与Kathy。两日实验期间气温均约为18℃。首日实验时天空重度阴云密布，云层覆盖率极高；次日则有部分云层覆盖，且实验后期出现零星小雨。所有草原样方均由Houra与本人完成采集，以保障数据与测量结果的可靠性与一致性。本实验的整体目标在于提升野外生态学与数据采集的协作能力，同时具体采集数据以探究光照与土壤湿度的关系，以及二者分别对植物丰度（及生态系统）的影响。两日实验共完成160组采样，其中草原与林地各80组。实验采用随机数生成器APP进行随机抽样：按照特定方向行进随机步数后，将1×1米样方（quadrat）放置于地面，随后记录样方内植物总数量、土壤湿度及光照暴露程度。土壤湿度通过缠绕于冰棒棍上的纸巾插入土壤进行检测，并按0-2级进行评分；样方的光照暴露程度则按0-3级进行评分。上述两个分级标准的详细说明详见元数据（meta data）。本实验在草原与林地各重复采样79次，两日实验分别完成草原与林地各80组样方采集。最终实验结果显示，受多云及降雨的恶劣天气条件影响，光照暴露程度的测量结果可能存在偏差。