User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
My project is around fern growth in relation to varying amounts of sunlight. I have broken the areas I am sampling in to either be shaded, partially shaded or no shade. My hypothesis is that ferns will be more abundant in shaded areas. This is something that I have observed while finding suitable sites for sampling. From my initial sampling the partially shaded areas have the most ferns. Likely there are several other variables influencing the growth of ferns. The amount of water, human disturbances, intraspecific competition, change in gradient which can influence water. The human disturbances occur from one of my sites which is cut every several month by the gas pipeline owners. In this one sites there are almost no ferns possible because they can’t compete with the faster growing prickle bushes and grasses. I plan on taking more samples to provide a more clear picture as to what lighting conditions are optimal.
Keywords: Fern abundance, light adaption, light gradient.
