Recent Posts

Post 1: Observations

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

The site I have chosen for the research project is Rotary Park in the city of Merritt BC.  The ground cover is primarily Poa pratense, which is a grass species used for residential lawn grass.  The area is also beside the Nicola River, the Nicola River is an approximately 100km river that flows through most of the city, it is also salmon spawning grounds for Oncorhynchus kisutch.  The size of the site approximately 3 hectares along the river.  Upon arriving for the initial site visit I came across an Odocoileus hemionus doe and its young, they crossed a shallow part in the river and disappeared into the shrubs along the river.  I observed a bird in the Populous trichocarpa, it made a distinctive sound, but I could not identify it because it had gotten dark and I could no longer see clearly.  I also observed an unidentifiable species of bat, it seemed to fly in circles, most likely hunting for food like moths and mosquitos.  I am particularly interested in this site because there have been Lynx rufus seen in the area.  On my next site visit I will get a more detailed inventory of the plant species that inhabit the area.

Blog Post 4: Sampling Strategies

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

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

TRU Open Learning 4 Comments

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

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.

Blog Post 8: Tables and Graphs

TRU Open Learning 2 Comments

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Soil samples and percent of frond yellowing on  Polystichum munitum and Pteridium aquilinum from randomly selected samples were collected within the surrounding area of the Alfred Howe Greenway trail. Soil samples were later measured for their pH, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash content using the Rapitest 1601 Soil Test Kit. The following graph summarises collected field data for topsoil samples, illustrating soil type (sandy, loam, clay) and nitrogen content in relation to where the sample was collected along the length of the trail:

 

 

Some difficulties were encountered when aggregating data at some soil sample locations, with (1) underground root systems preventing the ability to collect the soil sample from the required depth (4”) or (2) inability to reach the location, such as the case in the presence of very dense vegetation or a steep change in slope elevation. In the case of these difficulties, the nearest accessible soil sample was collected.

No major difficulties were encountered when performing soil tests, however, due to the waiting periods required in waiting for the soil to settle (30 min. to 24 hours) and for colour to develop when conducting the sample test (10 min. for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash) (Photo 1), soil testing was conducted on several separate days. However, all soil tests were conducted during the day, ensuring sufficient daylight was available for measuring each sample.

 

Photo 1: (Left) clear solution  of soil sample L1S2 after soil settling (60 minutes). (Right) Nitrogen colour determination (N3 = sufficient) of soil sample L1S2 at 10 minute mark.

 

When the final results for the nitrogen tests were summarised (Fig. 1), it was surprising to observe that nitrogen levels were lower on average in the remediated landfill area in contrast to the historically forested area, since it was predicted that any landfill waste still buried in the ground could induce biogas release, primarily in the form of methane and carbon dioxide, significantly altering the soil quality from that of a natural habitat, allowing nitrifying bacteria to flourish, leading to higher nitrogen levels (Isaka et. al., 2007).

A landfill cover is reported to be encompassing at least a portion of the remediated landfill, with its aboveground edge observed in a previous blog post entry (Blog Post 6, Photo 2). Perhaps the landfill cover is preventing soil contaminated with landfill content from permeating to the collected topsoil, leading to the recorded low levels of nitrogen (Kightley et. al., 1995) . An alternative explanation could be that denitrification is actually occurring at greater rates in the landfill area, resulting in lower nitrogen levels (Burton and Watson-Craik, 1998).

 

Blog Post 2

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

  1. A) say what the source is (and/or link to it)\

Text book off my shelf

Veterinary Herbal Medicine – Susan G. Wynn , Barbara J. Fougere

Publisher MOSBY ELSEVIER ( academic publisher of textbooks and academic journals)

 

  1. b) classify it into one of the four types of information discussed in the tutorial

Written by experts in the field :

Susan G. Wynn – DVM RH . Bells Ferry Veterinary Hospital , College of Veterinary Medicine

Barbara J. Fougere –  BSc, BVMS(Hons) MODT, BHSc ( Comp. Med), CVA(IVAS) CVCP, CV Herb Med, MHSc ( Herb Med) ENR All Natural Vet Care in Sydney Australia

The source was contributed to by 18 other academics in the field . Ranging from Botanists, Veterinarians, RHTs and Toxicologists . Though from my understanding a text book is technically not peer reviewed.

Under the acknowledgment section  “ We could have not have done it without our authors, and we have relied upon reviewers to survey the information for errors. We thank Joni Freshman, Patricia Upton , David Wintson and Eric Yarnell for previewing the chapters for accuracy. “

The  book reports studies, results, methods but not from the authors themselves.

 

I would say that this textbook is an academic material .

I chose this categorization because though this book was contributed to by other experts – there is no mention of an official review. They do mention in the acknowledgment section that the they thank the reviewers – but these names mentioned are not acknowledged as experts in the field. The text is written by experts in the field. It contains scientific material, bibliographies, in text citations and method/result sections. Though the scientific studies were not conducted specifically by the authors.  

 

Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Throughout this process I struggled to come up with a concept that I could test in the green space by my house. While I was able to eventually turn my observation into an experiment, I began to appreciate the lengths ecologist go to in attempt to find information that will better our world. What I really did struggle with on this project is finding research to help me with my study. As I was reading more of the research articles I also struggled with how basic my study is in comparison to the study’s we have been reading. I felt more pressure and stress to try to make it more then what it was. I spent so much time trying to figure out so many factors to incorporate into my study but then realized they had nothing to do with it. I enjoyed finding out more about the biodiversity of the Potentilla fruticosa, and look forward to the next project.

Blog Post 7: Theoretical Perspectives

TRU Open Learning 1 Comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

The basis of my research is focused around the Potentilla fruticosa plant and what really impacts the amount of blooms they produce. Throughout my research I have found a few studies that show how the Potentilla fruticosa add to biodiversity, and help prevent erosion in landscaping. On study looked at the shrubs as carbon sinks which could possibly be beneficial to urban settings. I also discovered the potentilla fruticosa plays a major role in attracting pollinators and providing habitat to a variety of different species.

 

Key words that would describe my study would be: biodiverse shrub, optimal growth setting, and

Post 9: Reflections on Plum Leaves

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Throughout the final stages of this project, I have come to realize how valuable pilot studies could be. I have found that it wasn’t until well after the research project was underway that I really delved deeply into the existing literature. Doing so brought to light a lot of information that would have changed how I approached this project. I realized that my hypothesis included two “leaps” or assumptions that were being tested: Pollution reduces transpiration in Prunus leaves; If transpiration is reduced in Prunus leaves, the leaves will be prematurely abscised. If I could go back, I would have reduced the number of steps that my hypothesis was taking here and aimed for something simpler.

One of the more profound realizations to come from this project is the realization of complex processes occurring in plain sight, and most of the time going unappreciated. Since beginning my project, I have walked by the study site several times for unrelated reasons and reflected on all of the activity going on in this seemingly ordinary and plain street. I struggled at the beginning to find a topic because there were so few signs of those typical “ecological” environments. However, I realize that I am simply conditioned to look for ecological relationships in environments that meet my definition of “natural.” Seeing those relationships in an urban environment was a big challenge in this project but has been an enlightening experience.

Blog 2 Sources of Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

My Source is an Original Article published in the Journal of Biogeography in 2012.  The link to this article is: Guggisberg_et_al-2012-Journal_of_Biogeography

This was written by an expert in their field.  It includes in-text citations and a bibliography.

The paper had four referees for it.

IT also contains a section with results.

Therefore, based on the criteria for evaluating scientific information this paper is an academic, peer-reviewed research material.

 

Blog Post 9: Field Research & Reflections

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

This was my first time designing and carrying out a field research project / natural experiment to this extent. Reflecting on the process, I think I would have chosen a different site, something with a bit more variability and ease of access. I am genuinely interested in riparian ecosystem studies so this was a great experience to make observations and test hypotheses on a local stream.

The most difficult part about implementing my field research was creating a study design that I felt accurately captured the study area. It was difficult because this project scope was meant to be simple, and I had limited time, but I would have really liked to expand the study area to capture more of the riparian corridor, or even sample further up the stream where less human disturbance (e.g. recreation) was present.

Getting out there and engaging in the practice of ecology has been really rewarding. It was truly difficult to carry out a natural experiment based on observation alone. Reading the discussion papers, the textbook, and the literature for my final project really opened my eyes to the breadth of knowledge and hard work that is put into studying the natural environment. My experience in BIOL 3021 was equal parts challenging and rewarding.

Thank-you Professor Elliot for a great course!