User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Organizing my data into graphs was not too difficult and the data appeared to be presented most clearly in bar graph format. It may have been clearer to integrate all the data into one graph however due to the range of values and variations in units, the data was clearer to interpret when presented in two graphs.
The outcome was not as I expected, but in reflection I can understand the results. The number of ferns was greater in the shaded location compared to the sunny location which was what I predicted, however the frond size and number of fronds per crown was greater in the sunny location. I did not expect there to be a difference in frond size, or fronds per crown between sites.
One thing that I did notice that came up in my data, was that at the sunny site, the presence of ferns increased as the distance from the road increased. It was not clear if this is due to an increase in shade as the distance from the road increased, or due to the impact of the presence of the road. To further investigate this, it would be interesting to sample at locations close to the road, but with high canopy cover.
