User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I collected data from 6 sites, Figure 1 shows the number of ferns per site; with each site being broken down into light gradients (no shade, partially shaded and shaded. From my observations I anticipated that the shaded areas would have the most ferns. This was not confirmed since the partially shaded areas have more ferns.
Figure 2 shows the light gradient going from shaded to no shade. The results show that the partially shaded have the most ferns. The areas with no shade had barely any ferns. There are several potential reasons that the ferns are almost not present in the non shaded areas. Two likely reasons are the ferns preference for wetter shadier areas and the other is that the sites are partially managed. Every several month or years in some sites the non shaded areas which do not have trees have the bushes and other plants cut. I think that after the disturbances ferns are not able to compete with early pioneers such as grasses and thorns.
