User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I decided to study vegetation diversity with increasing distance from the creek in my home town. My hypothesis was that proximity from the creek would effect the variety of plant life growing in the area. I predicted that, as distance from the creek increased, the variety of vegetation would also increase. I predicted the heardier plants like the Cows Parsnip and grass would survive closer to the creek because they are typically able to survive in a variety conditions. They can grow in shade or direct sunlight and in damp areas as well as drier areas. Other species, such as the wild rose, needs to have a bit of shade as well as not be in areas that are too damp or too dry.
I focussed on the portion of the walking trail starting at 15th street and ending near the public library because the whole creek would be too large of an area for me to properly sample. I stratified the area by the creek into five different sections (t1-t5) as shown on my map below. I took eleven samples from each section. I used a random number generator app on my phone to determine how far I would have to walk in each section before placing my 1m^2 quadrat and sampling.
I stuggled with collecting my data for the areas closest to the creek as some areas were very steep and difficult to walk on. I was forced to estimate where I would be placing my quadrat from the top of some of the inclines because I couldn’t actually get down the slope to place it.
I counted how many different species types I found in each section:
T1-8
T2-8
T3-12
t4-8
t5-4
I was surprised to see that the first two sections didn’t have a higher number of species than the third. I wondered if this was due to the mowing and spraying the city does near the walking trail. This also could be due to the plants near the trail being in direct sunlight.
I think that my method of sampling is working for the most part. I would like to think of a more accurate way to smaple the areas nearest the creek but have yet to come up with a solution (if anyone has one, please let me know). Also, I will need to take more samples in each section. Some of the rarer species I listed didn’t get sampled even once. I found myslef walking past some common species every time due to random luck with the number generator. Taking more samples would give me a better idea of the diversity and abundance of the species in each transect.
