User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Date: 18 May 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, no wind, no precipitation
Temperature: 12°C
I returned to my field study site and made my way to Mundy Lake. Mundy Park has lots of western Sword Ferns throughout the park yet near the lake there were very few. As I made my way away from the lake, I noticed the soil became drier and the number of Sword Ferns slowly increased. This environmental gradient sparked my curiosity and I decided that this area would be my location for my field study. I used Google Maps on my cellphone to mark GPS coordinates in order to map out this environmental gradient.
1. Identify the organism or biological attribute that you plan to study.
Western Sword Ferns.
2. Use your field journal to document observations of your organism or biological attribute along an environmental gradient. Choose at least three locations along the gradient and observe and record any changes in the distribution, abundance, or character of your object of study.
Near Mundy lake it is marshy, and the soil is consistently wet. This area had very few Western Sword Ferns. As I moved away from the lake the elevation increases slightly and the soil becomes more dry and solid. Along this gradient, the number of western sword ferns increased with increased distance from the lake. The greatest number of sword ferns were found in the dry soil and the lowest amount was found in the swamp area.
3. Think about underlying processes that may cause any patterns that you have observed. Postulate one hypothesis and make one formal prediction based on that hypothesis. Your hypothesis may include the environmental gradient; however, if you come up with a hypothesis that you want to pursue within one part of the gradient or one site, that is acceptable as well.
Process
The underlining process that may be behind this pattern is the amount of water in the soil. The soil I observed across this gradient included dry, muddy, as well as standing water.
Since sword ferns are preferentially located farther away from the lake, I hypothesize that soil moisture is a determining factor in the concentration of sword ferns in this area of Mundy Park.
Hypothesis
Sword Fern density is greater in soil that relatively dry and solid rather than saturated mushy soil or standing water.
Predictions
Sword Ferns are more likely to develop in areas wherein areas that are not marshy.
Sword Ferns are more likely to develop farther away from the lake.
Sword Ferns are more likely to develop in nutrient-rich soil.
4. Based on your hypothesis and prediction, list one potential response variable and one potential explanatory variable and whether they would be categorical or continuous. Use the experimental design tutorial to help you with this.
Potential response variable: occurrence of Sword Ferns (Categorical).
Potential explanatory variable: Soil moisture defined as solid, spongy, standing water (Categorical).
This study would be tabular since both variables are categorical.
