User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I revisited my chosen area on August 4th 2019 at 13:37. I have decided to conduct my field research study on the plant species Trifolium repens (common name White Clover). Specifically, the distribution and abundance of Trifolium repens across the three locations I identified along the environmental gradient.
Trifolium repens is a small plant which appears to mainly grow in clusters. Most often they are found to have three balloon shaped leaves which are approximately 0.5 – 1 cm long and their stem is approximately 1-3 cm long.
The 3 locations I chose each differed in the amount of shade/coverage that was provided to the clovers. The 3 locations were as follows; shade, no shade and partial shade. The clovers did grow in each of the three locations, however there was a distinct difference in the abundance of clovers across the locations. The “no shade” location appeared to have the highest abundance of clovers, the “shade” location had the lowest abundance and the “partial shade” area was in between.
Furthermore, in the “partial shade” location I noticed that the phenotypic expression of the clovers differed. The clovers I studied in that location had much larger leaves, approximately 5mm longer than the leaves found on clovers in other areas. At a far glance it appeared that the abundance was highest in this location, however with closer inspection I noted that apparent abundance was most likely due to the larger clovers.
Hypothesis : Plants need sufficient access to many natural resources, including sunlight. With lack of sunlight the plants cannot thrive.
My prediction is that Trifolium repens will grow in higher abundance in sunlight, therefore the abundance will be highest in the “no shade” location.
One potential response variable is the abundance of Trifolium repens (continuous). One potential predictor variable is the amount of access Trifolium repens has to sunlight (categorical).
Based on the experimental design tutorial I deduced that my experimental design would be classified as ANOVA
I like your hypothesis idea of observing Trifolium repens over various gradients. It will be interesting to see if the plant prefers full sun areas in your location, similar to what other research and texts describe. I also have come across the white clover (it is one of my replicates) in my New Zealand backyard landscape.
Since you are analysing across gradients, there may also be different nutrients or moisture available in each of these areas. For example an area where the ground is slightly lower may contain more moisture Or, perhaps, the area that has large trees may be lacking soil nutrients as the mature trees would uptake a vast amount of essential nutrients.
Is there more human traffic (biking/walkers) in the shaded area?
Hope this gives you some more ideas.
Adrienne