Recent Posts

Post 9: Field Research Reflections

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Designing and implementing a field research project for this class was a great way to provide practical experience in the work required, and difficulties encountered by a practicing field biologist.

While I had a concrete idea of what I wanted to study (impact of different habitats on bird species presence and abundance) it took quite a while to determine the correct location in which to implement this study to minimize confounding variables and ensure that the results between study sites would truly be comparable. I began my project at Surrey Bend Regional Park but with the help of Dr. Hebert quickly determined that the sites in this location were not similar enough to compare, and I would essentially be comparing species diversity and presence between two different habitats with differing levels of anthropogenic influence. As a result, it would be nearly impossible to determine if it was the habitat type or past human impacts that were influencing the birds present on the site. In the end, I changed my location to Burnaby Lake Regional Park and the surrounding area and evaluated bird species presence and abundance along an urbanized gradient.

Once my study site was selected I had no real difficulty in implementing the project design (point count surveys within each of the three habitat types representing different levels of urbanization). However, despite all my sites being relatively close to one another it still took a considerable amount of time to visit two point count survey locations in each of the three habitats on a number of different days. This really helped me understand the difficulty in ensuring that enough replicate samples are taken in a study to ensure that the data collected is truly representative of the conditions on the site.

Overall, this research project has given me an appreciation for the amount work and forethought that is required in developing and implementing successful research projects whose results can be robust enough to help develop and further the principles in ecological theory. I look forward to applying the skills I have acquired in this class to my work as an applied field biologist.

Blog Post 4: Sampling Strategies

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Blog Post 4: Sampling Strategies

The results of the sampling strategies for the virtual forest tutorial are summarized in Table 1 at the bottom of this post.

The sampling strategies did not vary greatly in terms of time spent sampling, however, the most efficient was the systematic sampling method.  This method took 12 hours, 38 minutes as opposed to 12 hours, 43 minutes and 12 hours, 55 minutes for the other two sampling methods.

The accuracy of sampling varied for the most and least common species, depending on the sampling strategy used.  The most accurate sampling strategy for the most common species (i.e. eastern hemlock) was the systematic method.  The most accurate sampling strategy for the rarest species (i.e. white pine and striped maple) was the haphazard sampling method.  The accuracy was lower for the rare species across all sampling strategies.  The range of percent error across sampling strategies for eastern hemlock was 10.66-22.37 %, while for white pine this jumped to 42.86-52.38 %.

Overall, the haphazard sampling strategy was the most accurate as this had the smallest percent error averaged across the species (4.03), while the percent errors for the systematic and random sampling strategies were 17.92 and 29.87, respectively.

Table 1: Results of the virtual forest sampling strategies

Sampling Strategy: Systematic Random Haphazard
Species Actual Estimated % error Estimated % error Estimated % error
Eastern hemlock 469.9 520 10.66 575 22.37 540 14.92
Sweet birch 117.5 124 5.53 79.2 -32.60 108 -8.09
Yellow birch 108.9 92 -15.52 58.3 -46.46 116 6.52
Chestnut oak 87.5 92 5.14 62.5 -28.57 92 5.14
Red maple 118.9 144 21.11 150 26.16 144 21.11
Striped maple 17.5 0 -100.00 0 -100.00 8 -54.29
White pine 8.4 4 -52.38 4.2 -50.00 12 42.86

 

 

Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

TRU Open Learning 2 Comments

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

October 2, 2017 15:45

Sunny, moderate winds, 20°C

The organisms that I plan to study are the mosses on the ground in my study plot.  These include step moss (Hylocomium splendens), big red stem (Pleurozium shreberi), broom moss (Dicranium scoparium), spear moss (Callienganella cuspidata), and roadside rock moss (Racomitrium lanuginosum).

Photo 1: Side view of the rock outcrop with the west aspect to the left and the east aspect and depression to the right.

The environmental gradient that I have chosen to look at is related to the position of the ground on which the mosses grow.  As the ground is made up of undulations of bedrock, I have chosen to look at the different aspects on these undulations, including the west face of a rock outcrop, the crest of the outcrop, the east face of the outcrop, and the depression between the rock outcrop and the next one (Photo 1).  I sampled an approximately 1 m by 1 m square plot in each of these locations and estimated percentage cover of each species (Photo 2).  As there are multiple rock outcrops within my study area, I will be able to analyse multiple replicates.

I observed that spear moss was the most abundant species on the sides of the rock outcrops (60% cover on the west aspect and 40% cover on the east aspect), while broom moss was the most abundant species in the crest position (75% cover), and big red stem was the most abundant species in the depression (60% cover).  Total moss cover also varied with position, changing from 100% on the west face, 92% on the crest, 61% on the east aspect, and 88% in the depression.  On the rock outcrop itself, the remaining area was made up of exposed bedrock and lichens, while in the depression, this also included shrub cover from salal (Gaultheria shallon).

Photo 2: Example of one of the cover plots, on the crest of the rock outcrop.

I expect that multiple factors contribute to the variation in distribution of the different species, including aspect and sun exposure, substrate (rock versus soil), and moisture and nutrient availability.  My hypothesis is that the variation in species cover is correlated to the slope position and substrate.

The predictor variable that I will use is the slope position (i.e. west face, crest, east face, depression), which is a categorical variable.  The response variable will be the percent cover of each species of moss, which are continuous variables.  As such, the experimental design will be an ANOVA test.

Photo 3: Page 1 of field notes.

Photo 4: Page 2 of field notes

Blog Post 4: Sampling Strategies

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Three different sampling techniques were used for today’s blog assignment in the virtual forest tutorial. These three sampling techniques were; Systematic, Random & Haphazard. 24 samples were collected in each.

The sample results are as follows, with Systematic taking the lead as the fastest estimated sampling time, by over one hour.

 

Systematic: 4 hrs, 3 min

Random: 5 hrs, 18 min

Haphazard: 12 hrs, 25 min

 

Comparision of % error between 2 common & 2 rare tree species:

Eastern Hemlock (Common), Sweet Birch (Common), Striped Maple (Rare), White Pine (Rare);

Systematic: 1.2%, 11%, 26%, 10%

Random: 17%, 6%, 10%, 10%

Haphazard: 13.9%, 3.8%, 52.6%, 48.8%

The accuracy did change with species abundance. The sampling strategy that I found to be the most accurate was the systematic strategy, as the comparison % errors are low across the different samples, & the samples were spread out over a large area, allowing for more accurate comparisons.

 

Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

TRU Open Learning 2 Comments

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

October 15th, 2017 – 0900-1030

Weather: 13 degrees, Partly cloudy, sprinkling of rain with 33km/hr wind gusts

Pieces: My observation site is an ocean side dog park called Macaulay Point, noted as Site 1,2 & 3 in my field notes. It is a wonderful place made up of rolling hills, abandoned military barracks, an abundance of wildlife (field log illustrations below) and of course, a lovely path along the shore to walk the dogs without leaving a paw/footprint on the local ecosystem(s). Since I visit my attribution sites daily to walk the dogs, I have decided to take a multi-faceted approach of observation which will blanket the aquatic, sea bird & shore life that are in the direct site. More specifically, I will observe the Seagulls, Crows, a pair of Swans, a Bald Eagle, family of Sea Otters & Harbor seals in my observation zone.

Field Journal Notes (Illustrations of Site 1,2,3 & species observed): Field Log Page 1 Field Log Page 2

Patterns: I am curious to know what the impact of humans & dogs in the area has been on the wildlife in the area, and more specifically, what impact the local fishermen has made on the wildlife when they clean their daily catch in an open dockside gutting station for the multiple species to ingest. This area specifically will be the location for my patterns of observation. It does bring up a few questions for me -Does this impact the animals daily habits (AKA-will they become lazy if they no longer feel the need to hunt)? Do they become dependent on the humans for their daily meals (Will they become conditioned & no longer fearful of the hand that feeds)? Will they “nest up” in the area since it provides an abundance of food? How does this affect competition? Most importantly, what would happen if all of the sudden the fishermen stopped feeding them!?

Process: Based on my daily observations at Site 1, 2 & 3, I believe that the higher number of wildlife species & frequency of observation of these species at Site 1 fish gutting station is located (plus the limited fear of multiple dogs in the area) can only be assumed to be due to these species primal desire to feed, in conjunction with their new dependence on being fed daily (hand fed in some cases). It has been noted than many sea birds are now nesting in the area, and the otters appear to have created their land burrows close to the shore of site 1. Lots of scat observed here.

Hypothesis: The increased variety & sheer number of species drawn into Site 1 is due to the abundance of food provided daily from the humans using the dockside gutting station.

Prediction: 1st-In site 1 specifically, multiple species are now dependent on the easy food source & supply provided by humans. More species may start to gather in the area, causing problems with domestic animals (dogs) & humans. A perfect example of how this has become a problem is at Fisherman’s Wharf, here in Victoria -last year a small child was mistaken for food while sitting on the dock, & she pulled into the water by a Sea Lion! Yikes. Never the less, she was ok & humans are no longer allowed to feed fish to the seals & sea lions at Fisherman’s wharf.

2nd-The ingrained fear that multiple wild species naturally inhabit will decrease in the presence of humans & dogs, leading to future occurrence of interaction & “conditioning” of wild animals, leading to more run ins with wildlife & potential issues for these wild species.

 

Response Variable: This appears to be a human made manipulative experiment

Explanatory Variable: This appears to be a Regression variable. It is continuous, as long as the humans continue to supply the food to the wildlife.

 

Blog Post 8 – Table/Graphs

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

The results of my field data were easy to summarize and visually represent in tables and graphs. The bar graph I submitted summarizes bird abundance (number of individuals) observed at the three different sites along the urban gradient representing different levels of urbanization. I predicted that bird abundance would follow a gradient with the lowest number of individuals observed in the urbanized area (Site 1) and the highest number of individuals observed in the natural area (Site 3) . When I initially graphed this data I found that the highest abundance was in fact at the most urban site. However, further examination of the data indicated that this was due to the large portion of observations (roughly 2/3) in the urban area that consisted of rock doves. As a result, the graph I created displays the overall abundance along the urbanization gradient but highlights the proportion of rock doves at each site so that the underlying trend (when removing rock doves from the examination at all sites in which they were observed) becomes apparent, which confirms my prediction.

Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information
a) The source of ecological information chosen is a journal article:

Gonzlez, E., Sher, A.A., Tabacchi, E., Masip, A., and M. Poulin. 2015. Restoration of riparian vegetation: A global review of implementation and evaluation approaches in the international, peer-reviewed literature. Journal of Environmental Management 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.04.033

b) This article an example of Academic Peer – Reviewed Review material.

c) This classification was made for the following reasons
1. The article was written by experts in the field as evidenced by their positions in academia.
2. It includes in-text citations
3. It contains a bibliography
4. Although it does not state that it was peer reviewed prior to publication:
a. As per our learning rescource article (Lepczyk 2011), journals use a peer review process managed by an Editor in Chief prior to acceptance for publication
b. Within the ‘search tool’ of the on-line library, there is an option to select from ONLY ‘scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals.

Lepczyk, C., and R. Donnelly. 2011. A beginner’s guide to reviewing manuscripts in ecology and conservation. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 4:25-31.

 

Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections

TRU Open Learning 1 Comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

This whole process has kind of been eye opening. The main thing I’ve taken from the process is that things don’t always go according to plan when it comes to research. The project I conducted had many compromises due to the nature of the study; having no lab equipment to work with really did change how I approached this study. For example I had to look at average weights of tide pools vs individual samples due to limitations in measurement. This project has made me appreciate how much work goes into ecological studies. It has given me practice in application of research techniques that I believe will be useful in future research.

Thank you Nancy for all your help throughout the course!

Blog Post 2 – Scientific Information

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

User:  | Open Learning Faculty Member: 

From my first blog post, I decided to pursue the question on whether vegetation has any variation between the lower and higher elevations of the park. I went online to the TRU library database to find papers that show studies of vegetation differences between elevation. I found many that focused just on low or just on high elevation. Although it was done in parts of Asia, I found a interesting research paper that compares vegetation through many different elevation levels. “Elevation-Dependent Vegetation Greening of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin in the Southern Tibetan Plateau, 1999–2013″ can be found here: http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/12/15844/htm

 

This paper falls into the category of Academic peer-reviewed research material for many reasons. First off, it has been peer reviewed and we know that because it gives us the date is was received, accepted and published. We know it is research material (not just review material) because they discuss all of their methods and results as well in the paper.