Category: Nancy Elliot

Blog Post 9: Reflections

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Conducting my field project did present a number of challenges, but none of them were insurmountable. As my project progressed and I researched relevant literature, I broadened my hypotheses. Originally, I was focussed on competition but as I did more reading, the importance of facilitation within forested communities became part of my study. This feels like valuable knowledge and I’m already looking at forests and plants in a different light.

There were no issues with implementing the project, although I did try both randomized and strategic experimental designs before settling on a strategic one.

Certainly engaging in practicing ecology has increased my appreciation for it. One thing that struck me was how challenging it must be for ecologists to relate the significance of their findings to resource planners, managers, the public, and policy makers. Obviously there is a big disconnect here or our policies would be better aligned with the alterations to the planet’s ecosystems that are occuring.

Overall an excellent and well-designed course. Now I just have to get the last few pages of my final report finished up!

Blog Post 9

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My field research presented many challenges including needing to broaden my hypothesis, problems with the weather, and difficulties carrying out my methods. Many changes were made to account for the problems I encountered to make my project stronger. I have learned a lot of respect for the amount of time and energy that goes into standing in the snow and rain to observe ecological aspects of the study.

Blog Post 8

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For one of my figures, I utilized a graph to show the average density of Northwestern Crows in each of the selected survey points. The graph highlights that as you move along the gradient from no anthropogenic disturbance to a high disturbance rate there will be more crows. The outcome was exactly as I expected with a large number of crows present in urbanized areas. The graph was consistent with lots of other research regarding the same general premise that crows are very good at exploiting urbanized areas.

Post 9: Field Research Reflections

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Well, where do I begin?! I have learned so much in this course & I am very grateful to Nancy for her ability to teach me new concepts through the difficult interface of distance learning. I am thankful for the insight & feedback provided to me throughout this course.

I chose Community & Ecosystem Ecology as my first correspondence course through TRU with multiple factors in mind; The course sounded unique & interesting and I was hopeful it would give me a better understanding of the natural world & how it functions.  I have not been disappointed. By designing & learning how to do an actual hands-on field research project, I now have some new skills & a richer overall appreciation for what ecologists & scientists in related fields carry out on a regular basis. I appreciate even more so that it is absolutely critical to support our scientists & their development of ecological theory as our planet & all of its inhabitant’s head into a relatively uncertain future.

With regard to my field research project- at first I did run into a few challenges. The location I chose to conduct my field research project is a place I attend every single day. It only made sense that I would take my daily observations & the resulting questions I had about the site & put them into a project for analysis. Well as it turned out, I couldn’t decide on exactly what I wanted to know, or how I was to ask the question, or develop any type of hypothesis…in the end, I finally decided on observing abundance of individual plant species located in two sites within the borders of same park, and I feel that I chose the right project to focus on.

Because of this course & the knowledge & skills that I have since acquired, I have been inspired to conduct multiple field research samples throughout the year, since I will be on site every day anyhow, and I will record the data into bar graphs to observe the results. I am very curious to know if I will find any type of decline or increase in plant abundance throughout different parts of the year, or, if the temperature here in Victoria holds steady enough to support the same plants years round? It should be interesting to see, & something I am looking forward to!

 

Good luck to all, thanks again Nancy, & here’s to a happy & healthy 2018!!

 

Michelle

~A Hopeful Science Nerd~

 

4 – Sampling Strategies

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For this experiment, I selected the Mohn Hill community. It had an abundance of unique species that I sampled across the 84 sampling opportunities. Red maple, white oak, and chestnut oaks were found at the highest density regardless of the sampling technique used. Many of the rare species were missed in the samples, while other rare species were measured inaccurately. Definitely, more accuracy of measurements were achieved in more common species as compared to those that are more rarely located.

The most efficient sampling method was definitely haphazard sampling (t = 4hr 24min) – taking an hour less than both the random and systematic sampling strategies (t = 5hr 6min and t = 5hr 4min, respectively). For most common tree species with frequencies >10% the densities were best estimated by random sampling (table 1). Rare species were difficult to measure with accuracy using any of the three sampling methods. 24 samples were not enough to accurately capture the number of species in this habitat.

Table 1. Percent error between the density of common and rare species (the two most common species were red maple and white oak, while my two rarest species were sweet birch and American basswood) for each of the three sampling methods used (systematic, random and haphazard).

 

Systematic Sampling

(% error)

 Random Sampling

(% error)

 Haphazard Sampling

(% error)
Red Maple 8.8% 0.1% 19.0%
White Oak 3.2% 4.4% 39.6%
Sweet Birch n/a 558.3% n/a
American Basswood 230.0% n/a n/a

 

Blog Post 8: Tables and Graphs

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Overall, the graph results from my data collection accurately represent what I have visually noted at my sampling sites, & I am pleased with the final outcome of the visual bar graph. The data collection was the easy part, since I have had to change my final project a few times & I feel pretty well versed in collecting data samples “in the field” now.  However, it was a challenge for me to learn how to create a visual chart using Excel, as I would typically sketch my results by hand, but I managed to find helpful videos online to aid in the structure of creating a proper graph.

 

As the winter hits our little island in the Pacific & the temperature drops, taking more plants into the ground, I find that this last data collection resulted in less plants observed than my last sample session, about a month & a half ago. I half expected this to be the result as the colder temperature kills off certain plants, but I was not expecting to count as many grasses as I did. That part surprised me.

 

If I were to recreate this scenario, I would like to have taken samples at different times throughout the year, to truly observe what is happening to the plant abundance throughout the whole year. For fun, I might just take that on as a project of further exploration & interest!  I would like to see if the abundance of grasses, shrubs & forbs remains the same throughout the year, especially here in Victoria, our temperate little hub of Canada.

 

 

Brush Bushes in Guerin Creek

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Since originally planning what I was going to study, it has turned from late summer to winter. So, instead of studying pollinators, I had to pick a new subject.

I really like the gradient I’ve chosen, so I thought I will still study the rabbit brush in the creek valley. But now, I want to look at the prevalence of Rabbit Brush and Sagebrush in Guerin Creek at various heights in the valley, I also plan to consider the direction of the slopes (whether they are facing south, east, etc.) to control for sun and weather exposure.

I have attached my field journal observations, and maps of the areas I plan to look at.

My hypothesis is that the process that is most influencing growth of the brush plants on the hill is access to water as the plants grow up the valley, away from the water source. Kamloops is extremely dry throughout the summer months, which would limit the growth of brush plants farther from a water source. 

Therefore, my independent (explanatory) variable is the distance up the valley from the creek at various increments. My dependent (response) variable is the number of brush plants per square meter. I think there will be more of both bushes closer to the creek, and fewest at the farthest point. Both measures would be categorical, as I will split the elevation into distinct segments and the number of brush plants is also categorical.

Post 3: Ongoing observations

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The latest observations were conducted on November 17th 2017 at 3:30pm under cloudy skies and a temperature of -8°C.

For the final project, I am planning to focus my attention on the black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) in a small area of Heritage park in Edmonton. This species prefers open areas with patches of trees and bushes such as the area I am studying. Black-billed magpies are known to be opportunistic omnivores who do not shy away from human presence.

I will observe the species’ distribution and surrounding environment amongst three different gradients of the area. The first gradient is by a parking lot where a man-made bird feeder is installed and regularly filled. The second gradient is at the entrance of the main hiking trail, where there are many patches of wild rose bushes. Finally, the third gradient is by the pond. The third gradient is the most open area, and it is where the garbage bins are located.

I plan on observing the distribution of the species in each gradient, its behavioural changes from one gradient to the other including nesting, feeding, food caching, etc. Also, I am interested in determining the influence of human presence on the black-billed magpie in the area. My hypothesis is that in this area in specific, human presence is a determining factor of the black-billed magpie’s nesting choice, and that it constitutes the main source of its feeding.

I will choose a fourth gradient within the area selected, a gradient which is not located near a parking lot, or trail, and which does not contain any feeder or any garbage bin. My prediction is that the black-billed magpie distribution in that gradient will be the lowest amongst all four.

One explanatory variable can be the frequency of human presence at each gradient, and response variables would be the black-billed magpie distribution in that gradient. The frequency of human presence is a continuous variable as it is strictly quantitative, e.g. the number of hikers passing by within an hour time frame at each gradient.

Hissan Zulfiqar

 

Untitled

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The theoretical basis of my project would be on how crows have adapted to anthropogenic effects. With most of the North Shore in Vancouver being developed, it’s interesting to look at the gradient from forested areas to fully developed areas and how crows utilize their new environment. One thing that my research focuses on is if there is a higher density of crows in the more developed area. Crows are very intelligent foragers, so the research is interested in if crows will utilize the easily accessible food. I believe that the crows will migrate to these more developed areas where the anthropogenic sources are the highest.

Keywords: Northwestern crow, urbanization, gradient analysis

Blog Post 8

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I found it challenging to present my data in a way that would be easy to understand without some additional text. However, it was good to get into Excel after not using it for a couple of years. As my final assignment comes together, I’m sure my visuals will change.

The outcome was not exactly what I was expecting, but with ongoing observations of the site, I have developed some additional ideas to explore. For instance, I thought there would be a steady increase in the response variable along the environmental gradient but there was some variance to it. During field observations, I noticed some microclimates in areas where stand density increased. Interesting stuff!

Here’s one of the figures I battled with Excel to make: