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The organism I plan on observing is English ivy (Hedera helix)
Since observing this vine-like plant last time I visited my study site, I researched the name of it and see that it is an invasive species in southwestern B.C.
When observing my study site, there is not a gradient of elevation, but there is a gradient of sunlight. There is a densely forested area that has lots of branch cover and little sunlight. Here the Ivy grows thick and covers stumps, fallen trees and the ground where the trail is not. Moving closer to the beginning of the trailhead, there is less branch cover and the ground is slightly drier. There are small patches of the Ivy, but the leaves are much smaller, and they grow in groups. Along the length of the open trail, there is no trail cover and the ground is much drier. Long grasses grow here, and there was no sign of the Ivy. It appears that sunlight is the underlying process for where the Ivy grows. Perhaps the plant is not so picky about where it grows/what species it is growing around but is more dependant on sunlight. This leads me to hypothesize that the English Ivy grows in shaded, damper areas.
The response variable here could potentially be the abundance of English Ivy growing (continuous) and the explanatory variable could be access to sunlight (categorical).
Hello!
I think that your hypothesis is clear and falsifiable in that you would be able to measure dampness in certain areas and in comparing that to the amount of growth you would be able to determine their relationship. However, that leads me to wonder how you plan on measuring these variables, and setting up a baseline to compare your data to. Perhaps you could assess dampness in terms of how much precipitation each respective area receives. Do you plan on measuring abundance of ivy as percent coverage or individual plant numbers? You also mention sunlight as an explanatory variable but don’t mention how you plan to collect data on how much or how little light an area receives, that may be a tough thing to measure in the field. I think you have a clear piece and an easily identifiable pattern, but your methods of measurement may require some thought!
Hello!
Thank you for the feedback and insight! sunlight will be measured as a presence/absence variable that is associated with tree cover. so whether an area is covered or not and whether the area receives sunlight or not. I am measuring the abundance of Ivy as percent cover but I am still figuring out the logistics of that, I may switch to point count!