User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Conducting the field experiment was challenging, but mostly due to labour, otherwise it was fairly uncomplicated. The point centred quarter sampling method was very efficient and I think it produced accurate results since it takes that average distances from four quadrants rather than the distance from one point. If I were to conduct this field experiment again, I would use more than 5 samples for each elevation gradient because accuracy increases with elevation. Engaging in the practice of ecology did alter my appreciation for how ecological theory is developed because it involves studying nature and things that cannot be easily controlled by humans so it involves thinking of different ways to test data and then deciding which one is the most accurate.
