I would have to say that the ecological process for this would be competition. The Canada Thistle is in constant competition with all the other vegetation for both root space and leaf space. The keywords that I would choose for this project would be root spreading/reproduction, competition, canopy cover thistle.
Category: Nancy Elliot
Blog Post 8: Tables and Graphs
When it came to creating my graph for my final results of my field data I really wanted to represent my data in a way that was very straight forward and clear. This was important for me to do because I wanted the “reader” to be able to look at my graph and quickly understand the results that were concluded. Because I did 5 different point count stations that all had varying degrees of urbanization I wasn’t able to show this data through a line graph. So, instead I decided the best way for me to present the data was through a simple but very useful bar graph. The final data was not exactly what I had predicted it to be. I had predicted that I would find the greatest number of birds using an area that had the most shelter (no urbanization) compared to areas with little shelter (fully urbanized) or areas with intermediate amounts of shelter (intermediately urbanized). This did not actually end up being the case. Instead the data suggest that the largest number of birds using an area were the intermediately urbanized areas. These were the areas where there was about half forest area and half urbanized areas (lawn/house area). Because these areas had some urbanization, there were bird feeds and even bird baths present. This seems to be a favorable circumstance for the birds; they are provided shelter through the trees, as well as food and water from the provided baths and feeders.
Another thing that caught my eye when examining the data was the surprisingly high amount of birds using the area that was just lawn space. This is the only area that has complete urbanization. No trees, all man-made shelter areas and lots of bird feeders around. This area had almost the same number of birds using the area as did the areas of all forest. Once again though, I’m curious if this is due to the large amount of bird feeders that area around the completely urbanized area.
One other thing that I did wonder about when looking at my final data was if the smokey weather had anything to do with the lack of birds I observed under those conditions. The days of heavy smoke from the wildfires was on the same day that I went to the point count station 1 and 2. At location 1, had observed 3 fewer birds from the previous times I visited the site and at location 2, I once again observed 3 fewer birds than previous times I had visited. This will be something I take into consideration when composing my final project.
Blog Post 2 – Sources of Scientific Information
I chose a paper from the TRU library: Assessment of atmospheric pollution with heavy metals and nitrogen using Pleurozium schreberi mosses as bioindicator in Latvia: spatial and temporal aspects. It is written by an expert in the field, it includes in-text citations, and it also contains a bibliography. It is ACADEMIC MATERIAL. It was reviewed by at least 1 referee before publication. It is PEER REVIEWED. It describes “methods” in details and also reports all results of the field/lab study completed by the authors. It is RESEARCH MATERIAL.
Reference:
Tabors, G., Nikodemus, O., Dobkeviča, L., Kļaviņa, L., Ajanoviča, A., Viligurs, K., & Krūze, I. (2017). Assessment of atmospheric pollution with heavy metals and nitrogen using Pleurozium schreberi mosses as bioindicator in Latvia: spatial and temporal aspects. Environmental & Experimental Biology, 15(2), 143–150. https://doi-org.ezproxy.tru.ca/10.22364/eeb.15.
Blog Post 1 – Observation
In the city, green spaces tend to be limited. Luckily, my apartment’s backyard is one that I could only dream of as a renter. I live on the ground floor of a 5 story apartment building. My apartment has a small, fenced patio which faces a shared green space between all the tenants.
Behind the green space, there is a beautiful path that leads a very large forested area (large for being in the city). In that forested area, there is another path that goes on for kilometres, winding through the trees, following a river. Very close to home, in the forest, there is a 2 square km area that I’ve been conveniently using as an off leash dog park. It is a place I go to almost every day. This is the area that I have decided to observe for this experiment.
I call it the peninsula in the woods, which is very accurate. It is an area that is surrounded by a river and is only connected to the land by one very small portion. The best way to describe it would be “wild”. There are as many live, healthy trees as there are dead ones. It seems that the main beings tampering with the land are deer, carving random trails through the brush, laying down and leaving concentrated spots of flattened grass. There are broken branches scattered everywhere. I’ve observed two areas where humans may have been recently. The first one being a couple of wood planks nailed to a tree, a possible tree house in the making? However, it hasn’t changed in a year. The second being a couple of large tree trunks laid down horizontally surrounding an area where there seems to have been a fire pit at some point. Once again, this place hasn’t changed in a year. Vegetation of all sorts can be found here. I’ve seen various types of moss, tall grasses, small bushes, large bushes and trees of all kinds. I would have to spend some time specifically to identify the vegetation, it isn’t my forte. I have seen many beavers in the water. There is a dam in the river that’s been flooded. That dam was built over the summer. As well, during the night, it is very common to hear coyotes howling nearby. Almost too close for comfort. It is precisely the reason why I don’t let my cat out in the night.
Potential Subjects:
- As the cold temperatures arrive, the shallow river will begin to freeze. It could be interesting to try measuring wildlife activity as it gets colder. I could walk through and note all the signs of animal activity. Then, over the next while keep track of any changes in the ecosystem all while keeping in mind the temperature.
- Moss has always been an interesting topic for me. It is said that moss grows on the north side of trees. I have always wondered if that was true. This could be a great opportunity to go through and record the location of moss on trees to see if it demonstrates accurately the cardinal points.
- Just by listening to them, it seems the coyotes are dangerously close to the buildings. I would like to find out how daring they actually are by tracking them and finding the closest signs of their presence. With that, I could search the peninsula, but also other parts of the forest surrounding my building. I could look for feces, fur, tracks, etc.
Blog Post 6
I have sampled twelve replicates. There have been a few issues with collecting data, such as implementing the sampling strategy, systematic sampling. When sampling, there was two instances in which I had to turn around and find another spot to continue, unless I wanted to fall down a cliff. Another issue I have run into is that the past two months, there has been quite a bit of precipitation. This has made it difficult to obtain soil samples that are not uncharacteristically wet.
While collecting my data, I noted that the distribution of sagebrush on hill tops is approximately what I expected. However, there was one quadrant in the valleys where there were more sagebrush than expected.
Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections
My field research project aimed to observe the impact a remediated landfill has on the surrounding environment through the measurement of percent yellowing of Polystichum munitum and Pteridium aquilinum and topsoil quality along the anthropogenic gradient.
Implementation of the field experiment was straightforward once an effective sampling strategy was conducted. A potential future replicated study would greatly benefit from having a larger sample size, since some of the soil nutrient quality results had larger than expected variations along the entire anthropogenic gradient.
With regards to selecting a plant organism to monitor if any physiological change in plants is present along the anthropogenic gradient, although P. munitum and P. aquilinum were sampled due to their large abundance along the entire area, these fern species are known for their resistance and resilience. As a result, perhaps less resistant species could have been measured to potentially observe a greater physiological change as a result of the anthropogenic impact.
Photo 1. Yellowing and/or wilting on P. aquilinum (bracken fern) frond.
However, percent yellowing of P. munitum (sword fern) was noted to be greater in locations closer to and encompassing the remediated landfill site. For both fern species, in some instances it was difficult to distinguish between yellowing and potential wilting (Photo 1), with different light discolouration patterns found (ex. tinted vs. spotted/patchy yellowing)(Photo 2). Perhaps a future experiment could accommodate for the two types of yellowing. Percent yellowing of P. aquilinum (bracken fern) was more difficult to define due to seasonal wilting already present at the time of sampling (Photo 1), therefore, it formulated a smaller role in the project than expected.
Photo 2. Tinted yellowing (left) vs. spotted/patchy yellowing (right) on different P. munitum (sword fern) fronds.
Once all soil and fern data was collected, further researching the impact of landfills on soil nutrient constituency and that impact on surrounding aboveground plants greatly helped in interpreting the found results. Moreover, at first data appeared to refute results from other research papers, particularly with soil nutrient levels being lower in the remediated landfill site than at the historically forested site, even though landfill leachate is known to have high levels of nitrogen. However, once the data was interpreted incorporating the impact of the landfill cover present underground in the remediated landfill area, the found results became more interpretable to current research.
Overall, by engaging in the practice of ecology, I have attained a much greater appreciation for the work required to organise and implement a field study, and the rewarding experience of being able to relate ecological theory to the real world environment. Through the inspiring hard work of many individuals and their field research, a valuable framework of ecological theory is developed, paving the way for future scientists and students alike to engage in learning about and appreciating the natural world around us.
Blog Post 6: Data Collection
I went out and sampled 5 plots of 1m x 1m each at my site. I did not have any problems implementing my sample design. I did notice that the less grass there was the more thistle there was. The taller the grasses were the less there was of thistle. And in plots that did not have a lot of grasses there appeared to be significantly more amounts of thistle present. This goes well with my hypothesis.
Blog Post 5: Design Reflections
I did not have any difficulties implementing my sampling strategy. The data I collected was not surprising as I’ve done a bit of work with Thistle in the past. I will not be collecting any further data or modifying my approach.
I have done this type of sampling in the past with work but on a bit of a larger scale so I was comfortable with this and I based everything on what was done for my work sampling.
Blog Post 4: Sampling Strategies
For this blog I looked at haphazard, systematic and random along with area-sample method and distance-sample method. While looking at the virtual forest tutorial I determined that the fastest way to do the sampling was with the haphazard distance method. This method could say several hours in sampling time.
When comparing the percentage error of the different strategies for the most common and rarest species the accuracy did change with species abundance. I found that using the random/systematic area method of sampling to have the lowest percent error the majority of the time. However, there were two different sample of the most common species for the different sites that had a lower percent error using the distance haphazard sampling method.
Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observation
I plan to look at the Canada Thistle in the open field in the natural preserve area in St. Albert, Alberta.
I looked at three different places across this field. One in the middle and one at either end of the field. I noticed that in the areas that had more natural grasses that there was less thistle than there was in the areas that had less natural grasses and vegetation. It appears that the bigger/taller the grasses were the less thistle that there was. The first spot I looked at had a large abundance of thistle with little growth of any other vegetation. The second spot in the middle of the field I looked at had small growth of thistle (approximately 4 plants of medium growth). The last spot I looked was at the other end of the field and the thistle growth appeared very stunted compared to the other locations I had looked at.
The hypothesis that I am looking at is that when there is an abundance of tall grasses growing there is a limited amount of thistle that grows. The less grass and other vegetation apparent, the more thistle there is.
The response variable is the growth rate of the thistle and the explanatory variable may be the amount of natural grasses and other vegetation in the area.
