DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.1593108.v1
title: Comparing Plant’s Health that were grown in the less polluted area (Wetlands) with the plants that were grown in the polluted area (dry lands)

description: In this experiment we use goldenrod plants for our study. The purpose of this experiment was to measure the health of a goldenrod plants that are present in the wetlands (near water), with the goldenrod plants that are present in the dry lands (near polluted area). This experiment was conducted in two weeks. In the first week, we sampled the plants on the wetlands. This experiment was conducted on October 14 2015, at 2:30 pm with the help of my colleagues, Chris, Phaeba, and Alana. The weather was 12oC with a mix of sun and cloud and a little bit breezy. The area is located near the pond on the Chimneystack Road, behind Osgood Law School. The pond is also known as Stong Pond. For this experiment 8 transects was used and it was provided by the university. To begin with, each group member took 2 transects to measure plant’s characteristics. The distance on each transect was 20 meters from the pond. In simple words, it means that we put one end of tape near pond and stretched the tape until we reached 20 meter mark. Once 20 meter mark was reached, then that transect was laid down, and with the help of another transect we measured plant’s height and width (within that 20 meter range). To measure plant’s height, we need to measure it from the bottom of the plant where it emerges from the ground. We put one end of transect at the bottom of the plant, and measure it all the way to the top of the plant where it ends, and then its height is recorded. Note: the height was measure in meters. To measure the diameter: we use the bottom of the stem (where it emerges from the ground) and then wrap the tape around the stem to get the diameter. Note: the diameter was recorded in meters, and then it was converted to millimeters. The other characteristics that we recorded for the goldenrods are budding or branching of the plant, its colour, the percentage of green color and the plant’s health. Budding or branching is a place where one stem of the plant is divided into many branches or it starts to bud off into different branches. The branches are found at the top of the goldenrod plant, where it divides off from the main stem and it emerges with the leaves and flowers. The easy way to count the branches is to look for yellow flowers. The multiple yellow flowers on one stem are recorded as one branch. To record the colour of the plant, just observe the plant that is being studied and record the colours that it possesses. Some plants were observed to be green, some were yellow and green, and some were yellow, brown and green etc. Then Percent Green of the plant is measured. It is an estimated percentage of green colours for the goldenrod plants. The percentage is recorded from 0% to 100%. 0 – 50% means less green colour of the plant. 50-70% means average green colour of the plant. 80-100% means heavy green colour of the plant. Lastly plant’s health is recorded. From the percent green measurements, the health of the plant was estimated. The health is recorded on a 0 to 2 scale. 0 means very weak plant, 1 means intermediate health of a plant, and 2 means very healthy plant. Overall, all of the above measurements were done with each goldenrod. In the wetlands a total of 86 samples were collected on 5 different transects. Each group member did one or 2 transect, and the sample number that were collected per transect varies. On some transects we measured 20 plants and on some transect we measure more than 10 plants. Thus, sample number per transect varies. Furthermore, the same technique was used on dry lands to measure the health of goldenrods. This experiment was conducted on October 21 2015, at 2:30 pm, (one week after conducting the experiment on wetlands) with the help of my colleagues, Chris, Phaeba, and Alana. The weather was 9oC with a mix of sun and cloud and a little bit breezy. The dry land area is located besides York university bus way, the intersection is York university bus way and York Blvd. Note: in the dry land same measurement of golden rod was recorded as the wetland. The only difference is that we collected 80 samples on 6 different transects. Another difference is that since this is a dry land (which means there is no water) therefore 20 meters on transect was measured randomly in an open areas.