User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Overall, the graph results from my data collection accurately represent what I have visually noted at my sampling sites, & I am pleased with the final outcome of the visual bar graph. The data collection was the easy part, since I have had to change my final project a few times & I feel pretty well versed in collecting data samples “in the field” now. However, it was a challenge for me to learn how to create a visual chart using Excel, as I would typically sketch my results by hand, but I managed to find helpful videos online to aid in the structure of creating a proper graph.
As the winter hits our little island in the Pacific & the temperature drops, taking more plants into the ground, I find that this last data collection resulted in less plants observed than my last sample session, about a month & a half ago. I half expected this to be the result as the colder temperature kills off certain plants, but I was not expecting to count as many grasses as I did. That part surprised me.
If I were to recreate this scenario, I would like to have taken samples at different times throughout the year, to truly observe what is happening to the plant abundance throughout the whole year. For fun, I might just take that on as a project of further exploration & interest! I would like to see if the abundance of grasses, shrubs & forbs remains the same throughout the year, especially here in Victoria, our temperate little hub of Canada.
