User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
There were no major difficulties in implementing my sampling strategy in the field. Using the quadrat method, I subjectively chose 5 different locations, 2 grazing and 3 non-grazing, in order to observe the damaged caused to Ryegrass by geese feeding habits. I laid out a 100cm x 100cm grid and estimated the amount of damaged area by measuring it and estimating area. The only difficulty experienced was that getting an exact measurement of the damaged area is tough as it is not always in a square shape. However, I do not expect this to be a major detriment to the effectiveness of the experiment as the estimates will be fairly accurate and it appears that the data still shows accurate trends. The data trends were close to expected, but the total area of damaged grass was slightly higher than I originally expected. I plan on continuing to collect data using this technique as it is effective as well as time efficient. Overall, I think the sampling strategy was highly effective.
