Category: Post 6: Data Collection

For my data collection I used transects as a sample unit and 1×1 foot quadrants as my subunit.  I had 10 replicates of each sample.  Each transect was 10 meters apart and each began at the edge of the foot path, followed the gradient down the mound of the hilling and ended in the peatland.  The transect was interrupted at 5 m intervals.

I did struggle implementing my design a little because it was harder than I expected to walk that far off the pathway and into the peatland area.  I also ran into a little more soil water-logging than I had expected but that may be due to the time of year I took these samples.  I used an EXTECH pH Module to take the pH from the centre of each quadrant.  It was a little difficult walking through the peatland with all my supplies and taking the pH sample from the centre of each quadrant.  Some of the quadrants had large plants in the middle that I had to work around to reach the soil below. 

I will be reflecting on the water moisture, pH, and soil composition.  I also might think that there is something to be said for how hard it was to walk in there and so how less disturbed it must be by humans overall. 

First day of sampling occurred on Saturday, Feb 27th at approximately 9:30am within the headland island of Pipers Lagoon, in Nanaimo B.C. 

Study Hypothesis: Broadleaf Stonecrop abundance is determined by substrate drainability.

For my first day, I sampled three replicates on the Western portion, and one replicate on the Northern portion of the headland island. Each replicate consisted of a 40m long transect with the starting point randomly placed above the high water mark along the backshore. I originally planned to do a 50m length but felt it was redundant to sample that far into the inland forest. I chose the heading of each transect to be approximately towards the center of the headland island. Each transect, therefore, covered the full environmental gradient from coast to inland forest.

Along each transect, I placed a 1m2 quadrat starting at 0m and then every 3m, for a total of 14 subsamples per transect. Within each quadrat, I recorded the elevation above sea level, the substrate type, the sloping characteristic (gradient), the percent cover of my study subject (Broadleaf Stonecrop), and the distance along the transect. I also made note of the amount of sun exposure specifically whether it was an open space, or shaded by other vegetation.

Overall my study design was effective, albeit somewhat time-consuming. To speed things up a bit I may take pictures of each quadrat and from those assess the percent abundance and substrate type. I did have to adjust the starting locations of a couple transects slightly to allow for safer access to points along the transect.

Generally, my data collected thus far does tend to agree with my hypothesis, although based on patterns observed, sun exposure does seem to also play an important role in the Broadleaf Stonecrop abundance.

I will continue to implement this study design throughout the remaining area of the headland island. This will require 2 more transects in the Northern portion and 3 each in the Eastern and Southern portions for a total of 12 transects (replicates).

Because the natural park that I was sampling from is located almost directly next to my place of work, I was able to sample each morning for an hour before heading to work. I sampled from 7-8am each week day starting from January 11^th, until February 5^th. This meant that I sampled on 20 separate occasions. It was made extremely easy in that it is so close to my work place. With my markers set up for my three testing locations, I spend twenty minutes at each location observing the bird species that I see. I created a tally sheet including any species that have already been identified, with room for any new varieties. Sampling at the location itself went quite well and was relatively easy. Some mornings were quite cold, but it was interesting to observe how different weather conditions seemed to influence the presence of bird species. There were species which I was unable to identify. In those cases, I would take a few pictures of the bird and then identify at a later time. That was challenging at times, thought with the resources I have and the expertise of the staff on site at the natural park, I was able to identify all birds that were observed. The ancillary patterns which I observed did not consistently support my hypothesis. Other considerations such as temperature, precipitation, and hiker presence seemed to contribute to the presence or lack or presence of bird species variety and abundance.

I would have liked to be able to get further into the forest for at least some of my sample areas but the season and level of snow made that option unavailable. Sampling trees that do not have human interference in their immediate environment would help minimize the impact of some confounding variables. I chose the trees using the haphazard technique and sampled at least three replicates in each area. In total I sampled trees from five different and distinct locations in the local area. I did notice that the results seemed to be dependent on more than just the direction of the sun. It seems other factors could be influencing the location of the green color. It could be that there are more variables than I originally thought. I hope to find some other possible explanations after compiling all the observations.