DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4040103.v1
title: Yorku.pond.impermeable.October18-2016

description: <br> <b>Meta Data:</b> <b>Weather: </b>The weather was 24 degrees Celsius with cloudy skies and winds of 26 mph according to the Beaufort scale. <b>Location: </b>The experiment was conducted at Stong Pond which is located behind the Bergeron Engineering Building near the Pond Road and Hoover Road (Latitude 43.77058, Longitude -79.50663). <b>Transect:</b> A 30m measuring tape. Two were used to measure a total length of 50m. <b>Quadrat:</b> A 1x1m grid placed in a system and on either sides of the transect it was alternated every 2m. It was used to count abundance of native and exotic plants, and the total number of flowers. It was repeated a total of 25 times. <b>Variables Descriptions:</b> <b>Census: </b>Rotation for a given group to sample each habitat. Continuous variable. <b>Latitude and longitude:</b> Recorded by using an online GPS. Continuous variable. <b>Habitat:</b> A pond is defined as a small body of water at least 100m in diameter on a campus. We collected the samples near the shore of the pond. The impermeable area is a paved or gravel area with mostly impermeable materials. We collected the data on the grass near the parking lot on Nelson Road. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of native plants: </b>The total number of native plants seen in the quadrat (1x1m), alternating every 2m on either side of the transect. Native plants are indigenous to a given area and have developed naturally and have existed for many years. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of exotic plants: </b>The total number of exotic plants seen in the quadrat (1x1m), alternating every 2m on either side of the transect. Exotic plants are foreign plants that do not naturally develop in a given area. Continuous variable. <b>Total number of flowers:</b> Recorded the total number of independent flower heads within each quadrat sample or transect sample. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of woody plants:</b> The total number of woody plants found within 0.5 metres of both sides of the transect tape. Woody plants are trees greater than 1.5 m in height. Abundance was counted every 2 metres of the tape. Continuous variable. <b>Canopy cover:</b> Measured by looking up while raising our fingers in a rectangle and estimating the amount of coverage made by the leaves of the tree. This was conducted every 2 metres along the transect. Continuous variable. <b>Ground cover:</b> Measured by looking down while lowering our fingers in a rectangle and estimating the amount of vegetative coverage. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of vertebrates: </b>The total number of animals seen within 50m of your location for 15 minutes, using transect tape as your 50m guide. Vertebrate is an animal that has a backbone. Continuous variable. <b>Vertebrate species: </b>Number of different vertebrate species observed within 50m of your location for 15 minutes. Continuous variable.<br> <br> <b>Abundance of people:</b> The total number of people seen (not in your lab groups) within 50m of your location for 15 minutes, using tape as your 50m guide. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of invertebrates pantraps:</b> Total number of insects captured within 6 pan traps. Pantraps are circular blue, yellow, and white bowls filled with soapy water. They are 5cm in depth and 18 cm diameter. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of invertebrates sweeps:</b> Total number of insects captured within 10 sweep nets. The sweeps are a net with a wooden handle and is 31 cm in diameter. Continuous variable. <b>Abundance of invertebrates observed:</b> Total number of insects observed within 5m of your location for 15 minutes. Invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. Continuous variable. See the attached Word document for the methods for each research experiment.