User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Did I have any difficulties implementing my sampling strategy? Yes!
- I manufactured a simple 1mx1m frame from cardboard in order to accurately find my quadrats. I will say that a cardboard frame is not the best piece of equipment when its a rainy, gusty day at the beach…
- The tide was all the way in when I visited the site, which made access to the lowest gradient quite difficult at times.
- I found access to one of my gradients (the slope with boulders) to be more of a problem than I expected. It was physically difficult to reach the quadrats I was to sample in this area, and I had to resort to looking from a distance which was difficult at times due to the blackberry, snowberry, and other plant material in the same area.
Was the data I found surprising? Yes.
- Yes, only in that I did actually find a single juvenile Alnus rubra when I expected to find none.
Do I need to modify my approach? Yes.
- Once I put my sampling method in action it become clear to me that it’s not as accurate as I want or that it needs to be. I could not use the 1mx1m frame at every quadrat like I planned. I can’t use the frame for the accessible quadrats and then alter my strategy by eyeballing a 1mx1m quadrat for the inaccessible ones.
- I need to review different sampling methods, particularly options of sampling from a distance.
- Finding the single juvenile Alnus rubra brought more variables to mind such as; how exactly am I defining what a juvenile Alnus rubra is and do I need to factor in the harsh exposed conditions that may slow their growth so significantly that what looks juvenile is actually much older?, could the red alder I find be from seed washed up from somewhere else?, how can I 100% determine if alders near a mature specimen are not vegetative growth?
How will modifying my strategy improve the research?
- Clearly identifying what a true individual alder with defined juvenile characteristics is will reduce the chance of misleading or recording false data.
- If I can find another sampling strategy that I can do from a distance with a monocular (once the tide is out!)I can have access to more shoreline and therefore more sample plots and improve the accuracy of my data.
