User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
In the virtual forest I chose to use Area Based sampling. No sampling method showed much efficiency over the other in terms of time spent.
The most accurate method overall was the random sampling method. For the most common species random sampling was the most accurate. For the least common species random sampling was somewhat accurate, although random sampling failed to return any samples of the least common tress, striped maple. Accuracy was better for the common species of trees due to lower percentage errors.
I would want to sample more areas in a random fashion to lower % error rates.
| Tree Species | Actual Density | Area Systematic | % error | Area Random | % error | Area Haphazard | % error | |
| Most Common | Eastern Hemlock | 469.9 | 320.0 | 31.9 | 341.7 | 27.3 | 550.0 | 17.0 |
| 2nd Most Common | Red Maple | 118.9 | 84 | 29.4 | 137.5 | 15.6 | 162.5 | 36.7 |
| 2nd Least Common | Chestnut Oak | 87.5 | 36.0 | 58.9 | 58.3 | 33.4 | 41.7 | 52.3 |
| Least Common | Striped Maple | 17.5 | 52.0 | 197 | 0 | N/A | 29.2 | 66.9 |
| Time to Sample | 12h37m | 12h47m | 12h31m | |||||
