Category: Nancy Elliot

Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

TRU Open Learning 1 Comment

The subject of my studies is sagebrush, also known as Artemisia tridentata. I visited the Valleyview Nature Park on June 28th between 1:00 and 1:40.  On this day I only visited the east side of the park. The weather was partly sunny and mostly cloudy. The gradients I have chosen to observe the distribution of sagebrush are at the top of a hill, the slope of a hill and a valley.

The first two photos are of the side of a hill. It was noted that there are some sagebrush growing out of the side of the rock. There seems to be no clear pattern of sagebrush distribution on the hillside. The next two photos were at the top of a hill. In the third photo (facing North), there is a large number of sagebrush per unit area. The fourth photo was taken in the same position as the third, but this time facing South-West. It was noted that the amount of sagebrush in the area drastically reduces compared to the third photo. Finally, the fifth photo was taken facing North-East approximately 30 metres east of the third and fourth photos. There is a greater amount of sagebrush at the bottom of the valley versus on the hillside.

A few general observations I noted are:

-the soil in the valleys is slightly darker than the soil on the hill tops suggesting a higher water content.

-there are more trees and less sagebrush on the south side versus the north side of the park. This is not because of the amount of exposure to the sun; maybe there is a bit more water because the north side is beside the hillside whereas the south side is flat? Perhaps water travels down the hillside and therefore the north side of the park gets slightly more water?

-there are bundles of grass everywhere in the park (Bluebunch wheatgrass)

-there are areas that have a moderate/high amount of individuals and there are areas that have no individuals. It was very rare to see one individual on its own without other individuals close by. Perhaps competitive exclusion (one species dominates and removes the other species)?

 

I hypothesize that Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate) will be have similar abundancies on hill tops versus valleys and Bluebunch wheatgrass (Psuedoroegneria spicate) will have similar abundancies on hill tops versus valleys in Valleyview Nature Park. The response variable is the number of sagebrush and bluebunch in a 4 meter by 4 meter quadrant. The predictor variables are elevation and soil moisture content. The response variable is continuous and the predictor variable is categorical, suggesting that I will have an ANOVA design for my experiment.

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

The information source evaluated is available through Thompson Rivers University Article Database:

Lehosmaa, K., Jyvasjarvi, J., Ilmonen, J., Rossi, P., M., Paasivirta, L., Muotka, T. 2018. Groundwater contamination and land drainage induce divergent responses in boreal spring ecosystems. Science of the Total Environment 639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.126

 

This information source is academic peer-reviewed research material.

 

The information source is academic material, including authors that are part of departments specialising in the areas of knowledge the paper is focused upon. The research paper aims to observe the effects of groundwater contamination on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, including authors part of the Department of Ecology and Genetics at University of Oulu, Finnish Environment Institute, and Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Research Group at University of Oulu.

 

 

The paper includes in-text citations and a bibliography, allowing for information stated in the paper from other sources to be verified.

 

 

This source is peer-reviewed academic material, including an acknowledgement of two anonymous referees, in addition to providing the date the article was submitted, revised, and accepted on the article’s first page.

 

                   

 

This source contains results from a field study conducted by the authors, containing “Methods” and “Results” sections that contain details of their research. Hence, the information source is academic peer-reviewed research material.

 

      

 

 

Blog Post Three: On-going Field Observations

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Hello Class & Professor Elliot,

I continued my field observations at my chosen site (Coldham Regional Park) on June 23, 2018. I noticed that the wildflowers (Tiger lily) that I had originally observed had since finished blooming and their stems were nearly gone. One of my main observations for this trip was that the small meadow area on the western side of the creek had much less large woody trees than the eastern side of the creek. I have decided to switch my study focus and plan to study the abundance of large woody trees across an environmental gradient for my field research project.

Noting that the creek is within a shallow ravine, I decided to take three observations along the environmental gradient on the eastern side of the creek:

  1. Observation 1: Approx. 30 metres from the creek
    – At the base of a small hill, rural private lot to the east
    -Noticed a few common riparian plants (e.g. soapberry, bebbs willow)
    -The soil was generally dry
  2. Observation 2: Approx 15 metres from the creek:
    -A few more larger trees, relatively flat terrain
    -Noticed several spruce trees that were unhealthy / standing dead
    -Mixed grasses and rocky soils
    -Disturbance areas of recreational fire pits were present (burnt logs)
  1. Observation 3: Approx 3-5 metres from the creek:
    -Top of bank from creek
    -Very steep slope leading to the creek
    -Larger woody trees present, holding soil and slope together
    -Larger bushes more abundant
    -Soil seemed dry but had more ground cover / rocks

It seems that the patterns here are that the flat meadow area had less forest canopy cover, less large woody trees and more sunlight / shrubs. The processes or environmental factors I think that may be causing this is amount of sunlight and landscape type. It appears that there are greater numbers of larger woody trees on the eastern side of the creek (western facing mountain), this may be due to aspect.

Hypothesis:If the landscape is steep and western facing, then large woody vegetation will be present.

Prediction: Large woody vegetation will be present in western facing slopes.

Response Variable:Large woody vegetation abundance

Explanatory (predictor) Variable:Landscape (gradient) and aspect

Based on my hypothesis and prediction, the response and explanatory variables are both continuous (e.g. time and temperature/sunlight). I have included pages from my field journal as supplementary material to this blog post.

On-going Field Observations at Site

Blog Post 4: Sampling Strategies

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

For this assignment, I used the area systematic, random, and haphazard sampling strategies in the virtual forest tutorial. The technique with the fasted estimated sampling time was the area systematic sampling strategy (12 hours, 5 minutes). I compared the percentage error of the different strategies to the two most common species (Eastern hemlock & sweet birch) and two rarest species (Striped maple & white pine).

I found that as the species abundance increased so did the percentage error. For example, in the systematic area sampling method 228 species were counted and there was a 1.6 percentage of error for Eastern hemlock. Comparing this to the haphazard area sampling method, which had a species abundance of 297 samples, the Eastern hemlock percentage of error was 39.2%.

It appears the random sampling strategy was the most accurate. Below is a summary of the data collected during the three sampling strategies I tested.

Area – Systematic: Area sampled 2400m2, 24 samples

Two most common species:
Eastern hemlock – Density 462.5 –1.6% error
Sweet birch – Density 170.8 – 45.4% error

Two rarest species
Striped maple – Density 8.3 – 52.6% error
White pine – Density 4.2 – 50% error

Species abundance: total species sampled 228

This sampling strategy had the Fastest estimated sampling time

Area – Random: Area sampled 2400m2, 24 samples

Two most common species:
Eastern hemlock – Density 462.5 –1.6% error
Sweet birch – 158.3 – 34.7% error

Two rarest species
Striped maple – Density 4.2 – 76% error
White pine – Density 12.5 – 48.8% error

Species abundance: total species sampled 216

Area – Haphazard: Area sampled 2400m2, 24 samples

Two most common species:
Eastern hemlock – Density 654.2 –39.2% error
Sweet birch – Density 120.8 – 2.8% error

Two rarest species
Striped maple – Density 50.0 – 185.7% error
White pine – Density 8.3 – 1.2% error

Species abundance: total species sampled 297

Post 1 – Observations

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

The area I chose to do my study on is the Valleyview nature park in Kamloops. There are many hiking trails that run throughout the hills between Valleyview and Juniper Ridge. The particular area that I looked at is approximately a 45 minute walk away from the main trail entrance. The area has many rolling hills. The vegetation in this area is mostly sagebrush, a few types of grasses, fir trees and pine trees. The trees are mostly located in valleys between hills, though some are on the hilltops as well. The area is approximately 2.5 km long and varies in width.

I visited the area 10:15 – 11:15 on June 6, 2018. It was sunny and then around 11:00 it became slightly cloudy. I saw a coyote (Canis latrans) and have also seen many white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in this area before.

  1. Is the size of the sagebrush affected by its location relative to the hills?

2. Why are there more trees at the base of hills versus the top of hills? Is it because the rain water travels down the hills and collects there, that there is less exposure to the sun or another reason?

3. Why is there a greater density of trees at the east side of the park versus the west?

Sources of Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

This blog post evaluates the following source:

Santos CC, Coelho R (2018) Migrations and habitat use of the smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena) in the Atlantic Ocean. PLoS ONE 13(6): e0198664. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198664

 

This article is academic peer-reviewed research material.

 

Catarina C. Santos is employed by the Portuguese Institute for the Ocean and Atmosphere, I.P., a government research institution in Portugal. Rui Coelho works at the University of Algarve’s Center of Marine Sciences in Faro, Portugal. They would therefore be considered experts in their field.
https://www.ipma.pt/en/oipma/
https://www.ccmar.ualg.pt/en/page/general-information

The article contains in-text citations throughout and a bibliography containing the relevant reference material.

 

The journal, PLOS ONE, is a non-profit publisher that sets high standards for the quality of material they accept. Every article they publish has been anonymously peer-reviewed by at least two external reviewers. (The details of their review process can be found at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/editorial-and-peer-review-process)

Santos and Coelho outline their procedure for tagging the sharks and measuring the depth of fishing gear used during this study as well as their methods of analyzing the data. The article discusses the results of the authors’ own research.

Blog post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Hi Class and Professor Elliot,

I tried to choose a paper that was related to my field research interests and study area. The paper I chose to evaluate, “Riparian vegetation communities of the American Pacific Northwest are tied to multi-scale environmental filters,” was published online on August 25, 2014 in the Journal River Research and Applications.  The authors, who are specialists in their field, provide a report indicating the results of a field study based on the comparison and correlation of riparian vegetation to different environmental filters such as elevation, precipitation, and temperature (Hough-snee, Roper, Wheaton, & Lokteff, 2014). The authors ask a specific question, formulate and test a hypothesis, and provide methods and results.

Based on what I learned in the scientific information tutorial, this source is classified as academic, peer-reviewed research material. It is clear the paper is academic as it was written by experts in their field (e.g. hydrology, ecology, forestry) as noted in the subscript under the authors names. In addition, it has in-text citations referenced throughout the entire document and concludes with an extensive list of references. Finally, the paper includes a clear methods and result sections, including data analysis.

This paper is classified as peer-reviewed because it was reviewed by at least one referee in the field. I could tell this was the case by reading the paper and it noted it was received, revised, and accepted prior to it being published in the journal. I also use the library search engine from Royal Roads University and ensure to check the box for ‘peer-reviewed’ articles.

Image of Scientific Information (Hough-snee, Roper, Wheaton, & Lokteff, 2014).

Thanks,

Brittany Lange

Bibliography

Hough-snee, N., Roper, B. B., Wheaton, J. M., & Lokteff, R. L. (2014, August 25). Riparian vegetation communities of the American Pacific Northwest are tied to multi-scale environmental factors. River Research and Application, 31, 1151-1165.

 

Blog Post 1: Observations

TRU Open Learning 2 Comments

Hello Classmates and Professor Elliot,

I chose an area that is relatively close to home for my study area, it is also an area I am generally familiar with as I hike frequently in the park. The location is just north of Peachland in the Central Okanagan along the Trepanier Bench within Coldham Regional Park. I chose this study area because there is a fish-bearing stream (Jack Creek) running through the park and is a densely vegetated and largely intact riparian forest. I am interested in studying riparian areas and the overall functionality of the riparian ecosystem in relation to freshwater streams.

I visited the site to gather initial data on June 2, 2018 at 12:00. The weather was overcast, approximately 22 degrees Celsius. The site is higher in elevation, but was void of any remaining snowpack as it is in-between the spring and summer season. Jack Creek was well into spring freshet and flowing typically for this time of year. The ground was moist in most areas and densely vegetated with mixed grasses, shrubs, wildflowers, and riparian forest (e.g. cottonwood trees, trembling aspen). The area is a sloping valley with a carved-out creek ravine running north to south.

General Study Area (Orthophoto Image)

I set out with a field journal, 200ft measuring tape, compass, cellphone, Nature BC Common Plants and Animals book, 24inch flex ruler, and a 2ft by 2ft PVC pipe cut into a square. My plan was to stake out an area of interest and generally notice any trends in vegetation.

Items Brought on Field Observation Trip
Field Journal

I staked out a 22 metre by 13 metre study area (286m2) using the 200ft measuring tape and tied orange flags to mark the boundaries. I then used my phone to generate random numbers which would dictate how many steps I took. I had my partner there giving me random bearings (north, south, east, west) so as not to create bias in the data.

Based on my observations, there was a large presence of wild tiger lilies (Lilium columbianum). What I noticed while walking around was that some of the lilies had multiple flowerheads on a stem, while others had only a single flowerhead on a stem. I gathered data from 15 quadrates using my PVC pipe as the quadrate area. I looked at the following criteria within each quadrate:

  • Were tiger lilies present or not? How many?
  • Measured the height of tiger lilies and width of petals.
  • What other species are present? How many of each?
  • What type of soil / forest floor is present?
  • Other general observations / disturbance.
Measuring length of petals
Example Quadrate with Tiger Lily Present
Gathering Field Data (me)

Based on my initial observations at the site, I left with the following questions which may help form my research subject:

  1. What causes the tiger lilies to have multiple flowerheads on a stem?
  2. Do the tiger lilies with multiple flowerheads show different characteristics (e.g. larger/smaller petal size, greater height)?
  3. There is less sunlight on the eastern side of the creek. Is the distribution of tiger lilies greater on this side?
  4. How common are tiger lilies in riparian forest areas? Is this a rare occurrence?

Blog 2 – Sources of Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

The source of scientific information that I chose for this assignment is an article from Nature (cited below). This is an academic paper because it has in-text citations and a references section. The website for Nature states that articles are peer-reviewed (https://www.nature.com/authors/policies/peer_review.html). Also, the article has different dates for when it was received, accepted and published.

Soliveres, S., van der Plas, F., Manning, P., Prati, D., Gossner, M., Renner, S., Alt, F., Arndt, H., Baumgartner, V., Binkenstein, J., et al. (2016). Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality. Nature [Internet]. [cited 2018 May 31]; 536: 456-459. Available from: http://www.nature.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/articles/nature19092

Post 1: Observations

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Island Lake is located in Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area in the Thompson-Nicola Jurisdiction outside Kamloops, BC. The site can only be accessed via walking trail as motorized vehicles are prohibited in the area. This lake and surrounding bodies of water are breeding sites for waterfowl such as ducks, coots, and scaups.  I chose a study area that is approximately one square kilometer of rolling hills around the perimeter of the lake. The vegetation in this area ranges from wetland reeds to grasses, sagebrush, and cacti. There are various species of wildflowers, some bushes, and a few trees. These plants appear to grow in patterns along the hills, with reeds growing in the valleys, grasses and flowers on the hillsides, and sagebrush and cacti on the peaks. The bushes, I noticed, were growing in well defined lines in areas where I presume rainwater collects.

Looking west over the lake
Looking south over the lake

 

Field Journal Page

My first visit to the site was on May 18, 2018 at 15:00. It was sunny with some cloud cover and 23 degrees Celsius, which is normal spring weather for this region. After initial observations, my questions are as follows:

  • How is elevation affecting the distribution of plants here? (Factors to consider are soil moisture, wind, and sun exposure)
  • What causes the distribution patterns of a particular (unidentified) species of bush in this area? Is it following watershed?
  • Why are cacti present on some hills but not others? (Competition? Soil moisture?)
Bush distribution at lower elevations
Near-barren hilltop overlooking the lake