User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
The graph was relatively painless to create as I had set up the data with clear predictor and response variables and had produced a graph predicting the results when I was developing the methods and determining the hypothesis. The most difficult part of creating the graph was coming up with a descriptive title for the graph and labels for the variables.
The outcome of the graph was as predicted and supported my hypothesis. In general, the data did not reveal anything unexpected with the exception of an insignificant result from four data points where the fern frond was eaten by something. When I was averaging my data, I removed these data points as they added factors that were outside the experimental design. It is interesting, however, that the eaten fronds were only found in the partial shade and shaded conditions, which leads me to think that maybe the organism that ate them only lives in shaded forest areas. To investigate further I would need to look at more fern samples and see there were more ferns eaten as well as look for the organisms that eat ferns.
