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Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations
I have decided to do a presence/absence study of frogs, in 5 locations in a 251.54 km² area of Prince Edward Island.
Prince Edward Island has been farmed for over 200 years, removing over 90% of its natural Acadian forest throughout the 20th century. Since the 1990s, there has been more of an emphasis on restoring native, Acadian species to the land, increasing buffer zones to protect waterways, and increased monitoring of the native species on the island. Many areas have undergone restoration to increase native species and restore fish passages that had been previously cut off from poor management practice like hanging culverts and filling in ponds. The field of study are five locations within the south shore of Prince Edward Island. All these areas are under some kind of management, and some have had considerable restoration work. Others have been left alone; however, they are all near active farming sites, as farming makes up a third of the industry on Prince Edward Island, covering 42% of the island. Based on location to farming sites, I expect to see/hear more frogs the farther they are from active farming sites. Heavy nitrogen and phosphorous levels may impact the number of breeding individuals at a site. I fully expect to see/hear frogs throughout the breeding season, however, I predict they will be more abundant in sites with less effluent from farming. I plan on returning after sunset for 5 locations every two weeks to collect audio and other data from the sites.
assignment 1-data set
Response Variable: Presence of frogs
Explanatory Variable: Categorical next to farms; Continuous-time and date of study
Reference:
https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/agriculture-and-land/agriculture-on-pei
Your project plan sounds fun and in-depth doing field surveys to look for and listen to frogs. Very cool!
I have a few suggestions for you based on the information provided. It’s unclear to me if you will be documenting effluent or testing for nitrogen and phosphorous as you predict a higher abundance of frogs in sites with less effluent, and impacts to breeding individuals from nitrogen and phosphorous.
If you are conducting a presence/absence survey – will you be gathering information on breeding pairs?
Your predictions are clear but I’m unsure how you will prove them to be falsifiable. You might have some confounding variables in your study that you may want to assess. Are there current reports that can help explain effluent and current effluent status in PEI? I’m not familiar with the biology of frogs either, and I wonder what are some known limiting factors of frog biology and if that would help clarify your hypothesis? I hope this information helps. All the best with your surveys!
Many thanks for your astute comments. My study has changed a bit and I am sorting out the fine details-there are a lot of confounding variables that occur in nature!