User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Initial data was collected at Mission Creek Regional Park on March 21, 2021. Systematic plots (400m^2) were used spanning from the mission creek riparian bank to the uplands crest, 100m total distance with plots alternating 20m along the transect. The number of pine and total number of trees were counted in each plot, with pine diameters measured and the average recorded.
Several difficulties were noted when implementing the sampling strategy. The first being physical constraints due to the terrain and floor vegetation, the transect was difficult to pace and plots challenging to confine. Another difficulty arose with plot size; counting and measuring individual trees became tedious. The collected data was surprising, with the number of Ponderosa pine remaining consistent along the transect though a gradient was suspected.
Moving forward I plan to collect data using plots of a smaller area to ease sampling constraints and modifying my approach to include adjacent area(s) of similar site characteristics to the study. I think this modification will improve research by increasing the data pool and providing a method of comparison.
Yes, your plots are quite large! You could try 10 m diameter plots, that is a big enough size to capture tree data.