User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
After another visit, I decided that 3 or 4 attributes of the disturbed vs. original site might be interesting to measure and contrast.
- Different species of plants that might be found in the 2 different areas.
- Abundance of individuals of each of the different species, especially the dominant species.
- Amount of ground that is open and/or covered by some of the unique parts of the community such as the crust made up of lichens and mosses.
In the paper by Lee, they used three different techniques to sample, which I also used to record and sample for my field study:
- “walkabout” – in order to assess plants species which occurred at low population densities
- transects – that would allow them to systematically collect information about the abundance of species
- quadrats within those transects – to provide a visual estimation of the amount of ground covered by different species using a Daubenmire frame sized at 50cm x 20cm
In addition, since the paper pointed out that physical characteristics were important, I decided to also sample:
- temperature – using a digital probe
- soil pH – by collecting a soil sample and using a digital pH meter
- soil conductivity – by collecting a soil sample and using a chemistry lab at TRU.
Finally, I measured the slope of the area using clinometer, which was a grade of 10%.
This site represents an ecotone, where there is a rapid change in character between the two areas. The clear difference is the presence of sagebrush in the old area and lack of sagebrush in the burned area. There was the presence of bunchgrass in both areas but also the presence of particular species that are non-native “weedy”/invasive species in the burned area.
Hypothesis: The more recently assembled plant community in the burned area should have a greater species richness (number of species) than would a climax community in the unburned area. This would be due to the absence of ground-shading sagebrush.
Prediction: If I collect quantitative data then I will be able to record the presence of more species in the burned area than the unburned area.
I would expect similar patterns with respect to the abundance and other measures of diversity. On the basis of Hanna, there would be more annual grasses in the burned area than in the unburned area.
Categorial variable: burned vs. unburned
Response: measures of abundance, species richness, diversity index (indices)
