User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
My data collection went fairly smoothly, similar to the collection we made of preliminary data. I did twenty replicates of 1M2 as planned to heighten the sample size. My sampling did however include some changes than what I proposed in my first small assignment because when I went to the pond to collect my data, I saw that one half of the pond had had all of the cattails completely levelled and removed. I was still able to space them approximately ten feet apart and maintained the sample size I wanted, however this means that one half of the lake was completely unsampled which is a shame because the two sides of the pond definitely differ in light as well as elevation from the pond and now I am not sure whether those are confounding variables that will influence the data.
Despite the fact that the collection process went smoothly, one thing I will note is that I can already see from the data that it did not progress as I predicted it would, and I am looking forward to analyzing it further and discussing why I think this was the case. One thing I also realized was that there are some large trees semi-nearby the pond that I did not factor into the abundance hypothesis, and I am not sure what effect if any they had on the data I collected.
Oh no, too bad about the cattails, what happened? At least it was only half the pond!