DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4083156
title: yorku.pond.impermeable.oct26-2016

description: <b><i>Meta-Data:</i></b><b><i>census:</i></b><b> </b>specifies the number of our data set with respect to the four trials that we have to do. This data set is<b> </b>the third in a series of data collection. <b><i>Calendar.date:</i></b> Corresponds to the date that we conducted the experiment on. All measurements were taken on October 26, 2016.<b><i>Campus</i></b><i>:</i> Indicates the campus we conducted our experiments on. Our sampling took place at York University Keele campus.<b><i>Group ID</i></b><i>:</i> specifies the section and the group number of our team among BIOL2050 lab sections and groups. Our section is 03 and our group number is 04.<b><i>habitat:</i></b><b> </b>lists the different habitats we collected our data from.<b> </b>Our team collected the data from two habitats,<b> </b>Stong Pond and Seywell Baseball Diamond at York University Keele Campus.<b><i>Lat:</i></b> corresponds to the latitude of the site we were collecting the data from.<b><i>Long:</i></b> corresponds to the longitude of the site we were collecting the data from.<b><i>Elevation: </i></b>The height of the location that we collected our data from. Elevation is the height above sea level.<b><i>rep:</i></b><i> </i>The number of replications conducted for each experiment. Each experiment was conducted with different number of trials.<b><i>abundance.native.plants</i></b><i>: </i>The number of individual native plants we counted in each quadrat that we placed along a transect that is 50 meters long. This is a numerical continuous data that is 0-13 in the stong pond while it is 0 in the Seywell Baseball Diamond. 25 replications were done.<b><i>abundance.exotic.plants</i></b><i>: </i>The number of individual exotic plants we counted in a 1m<sup>2 </sup>quadrat that we placed along a transect that is 50 meters long. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 125-600(outliers 0,75) in the stong pond while it is 0 in the Seywell Baseball Diamond(outliers 80,120). 25 replications were done. Exotic plants were identified by comparing them with exotic plant sample that was given by our teaching assistance.<b><i>total.number.flowers</i></b><i>: </i>The number of flowers we counted in a 1m<sup>2</sup> quadrat that we placed along a transect that is 50 meters long. This is a numerical continuous data that is 0 in both habitats. 25 replications were done.<b><i>abundance.woody.plants:</i></b><i> </i>The number of woody plants we counted every two meters on a 50 meters transect and within half of a meter to either side. A tree was identified to be taller than 1.5 meter. Trees shorter than 1.5 meters or farther than 0.5 meter were not counted. A total of 25 replications were done. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 0-4 in the stong pond while it is 0 in the Seywell Baseball Diamond. 25 replications were done.<b><i>canopy.cover</i></b><b>:</b> The percentage of how much sunlight is blocked by the canopy. This was determined by making a square by hand and looking up to estimate the percentage of how much of the square is covered by the canopy. This was done by walking along a 50 meters transect. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 0-85 % in the stong pond while it is 0 in the Seywell Baseball Diamond. 25 replications were done.<b>ground.cover</b>: The percentage of vegetation covering the ground within 0.5 meter along a 50 meters transect. This was determined by making a square by hand and looking down to estimate the percentage of how much of the square is covered by the vegetation under each tree. This is a numerical continuous data that ranges between 25-75 % in the stong pond while it is 0 in the Seywell Baseball Diamond. 25 replications were done.<b>total.flower.numbers (transect):</b> Total number of flowers counted within one meter on either side of a 50 meters transect.This is a numerical continuous data. No flowers were observed in both habitats.<b>abundance.vertebrates: </b>The number of individual vertebrates observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes. This was done simply by standing at the end of a randomly set transect and counting the number of vertebrates. This is a numerical discrete data that is 0 in both habitats.<b>vertebrate.species: </b>different species that were observed. After observing the abundance of vertebrates, these vertebrates were assigned to be individuals of the same species or individuals of different species. The number of different species was recorded.<b>abundance.people: </b>The number of people observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes. This was done simply by standing at the end of a randomly set transect and counting the number of humans without considering other members in our lab. This is a numerical discrete data that is 14 in the stong pond while it is 5 in the Seywell Baseball Diamond.<b>abundance.invertebrates.pantraps: </b>Total abundance of insects captured using six different pan traps. There were three different color: White, yellow and blue. These traps were filled with soap water and were placed 2 meters apart along a 50 meters transect. The pattern was as follows : white, yellow, blue, white, yellow, blue. We waited about an hour after filling the traps in order to count the abundance.<b>abundance.invertebrates.sweeps: </b>Total abundance of insects captured using the sweep nets walking along a 50 meters transect ten times.<b>abundance.invertebrate.observed: </b>The number of individual invertebrates observed within a fifty meter radius over fifteen minutes.<b>Site description: </b>This experiment was conducted in order to determine the abundance of trees, plants, vertebrates and invertebrates in stong pond and Seywell Baseball Diamond. The data collected was at York University Keele campus on October 26<sup>th</sup> 2016 from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. The weather was 6<sup>0 </sup>Celsius and it was cold and slightly windy. Four different experiments were conducted at both locations and it took roughly 2 hours to gather all the necessary data needed. There were no trees in Seywell Baseball Diamond with low number of terrestrial plants. Stong pond was full of dead dry leaves on the ground. Some parts of the pond area contained large trees while other parts contained short plants and grass. Seywell Baseball Diamond was an impermeable area that lacks trees and flowers.<b>Methods:</b>During the first experiment, a quadrat was randomly placed every two meters along a 50 meter transect, alternating from left to right. The process involved identifying the number of native plants, exotic plants, and the total number of flower heads within each quadrat. The process was repeated 25 times and the total numbers were recorded in the data sheet. Quadrats were placed randomly to ensure random sampling. After placing the quadrat, we had to distinguish between native plants and exotic plants, then each set was counted separately. The quadrat that was used was a 1 m<sup>2</sup> quadrat.The second experiment was conducted in order to determine the amount of woody plants in the stong pond and Seywell Baseball Diamond, and the subsequent canopy cover, ground cover and total number of flowers. The experiment was repeated 25 times. A straight line of 50 meters was measured using the transect and within 0.5 meters of either side of the transect, trees that were 1.5 meters in height were considered as woody plants. The abundance of trees in that region was recorded numerically and 0 was assigned to regions without any wood plants. Furthermore, for every meter across the transect, we measured the amount of canopy and ground cover in percentages through observation. The same process was used for recording the total number of flowers in each quadrant. Since the pond did have some insects, we predicted that there will be some flower heads in the pond.The third experiment was conducted in order to determine the abundance of vertebrates, vertebrate species, abundance of invertebrates and the abundance of humans. A transect was used to measured 50 meters of open space in the Seywell Baseball Diamond. We observed the surrounding visually for fifteen minutes for the abundance of humans at the pond area who were not part of the BIOL 2050 lab, the abundance of vertebrates and the abundance of number of species. We hypothesized that there will be less amounts of vertebrates and invertebrates at the Seywell Baseball Diamond.The fourth experiment, pan traps and sweeping methods were used as the main tools for the experiment. 6 bowls were randomly placed 3 meters apart from each other at the stong pond and 6 bowls were randomly placed 3 meters apart from each other at the Seywell Baseball Diamond. The respective bowls were filled with soapy water and were placed in a blue, white, and yellow pattern. After an hour, the abundance of invertebrate species in the pan were observed and recorded in each bowl. The second part of this experiment was conducted using sweep nets. After walking 50 meters along the transect, the abundance of invertebrates was observed and recorded in the data sheet.<b>Hypothesis: (herbaceous plants)</b>The abundance and variety of herbaceous native plants will be higher in the stong pond than the Seywell Baseball Diamond because native plants are better adapted to the pond environment than an impermeable environment.<b>Predictions:</b><b>- Prediction 1: </b>There will be a greater number of native plants than exotic plants found in the pond area because they are better adapted.- <b>Prediction 2</b>: There will be no flower heads in the Seywell Baseball Diamond because it is a disturbed area which does not provide an ideal environment for flowers.