Grassland and Disturbed Open Space Data for York University

Description: · Following experiment was taken on October 19th, 2016, at York University for Ecology 2050. The data was gathered in both grassland and disturbed open space at Saywell grassland and Library lane respectively. The experiment took place from 2:45pm-4: 15pm, in clear weather conditions. The temperature ranged from 19-21 degrees Celsius. Data was collected in the grassland area, followed by being collected in the disturbed open space area. (Grassland: 2:45-3:30pm, disturbed open space: 3:30-4:15pm). Methods : Person 1 – Herbaceous Plants (Diana Bleyan) A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the ground of the grassland area and disturbed open space. Every 2 meters along the transect, a 1mx1m quadrat was randomly placed along the transect (~1 meter from the transect). The quadrat was placed in alternates on the left and right side of the transect. Person 2 – Woody Plants (Melinaz Barati) A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the ground of the grassland area and disturbed open space. Every 2 meters along the transect, students have looked for a tree on either side of the transect within 0.5 meters from the transect. Person 3 – Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian) A 25 meter transect was placed in a straight line on the ground of the grassland area and disturbed open space, in order to provide the sense for a 25 meter radius. Vertebrates and invertebrates were observed, using a naked eye. For invertebrates, the length of the transect was shortened to a 5 meter radius. Person 4 – Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar) · A 25 meter transect was placed in a straight line on the ground of the grassland and disturbed open space area and 6 pan traps were placed along the transect (~1 meter away from each other along the length of the transect). Each pan trap was strategically placed with respect to color (the colors varied from blue to yellow to white). The soapy water was poured in each pan trap, covering half of the pan trap’s volume. All the traps were left for 45 minutes. · A 50m long transect was placed in a straight line on the ground of the grassland and disturbed open space and a student conducted 10 sweep nets along the transect. The sweeps were done in a shape of infinity sign, 1 meter above the ground. Meta-data: Person 1 – Herbaceous Plants (Diana Bleyan) · Abundance.native.plants – native plants were defined as species within an observed quadrat, which grow naturally in a given region (Ontario, Canada). · Abundance.exotic.plants – exotic plants were defined as invasive species within an observed quadrat, which were introduced to a given region (Ontario, Canada). · Total.number.flowers (quadrat) – were counted as total number of flower heads within an observed quadrat. A flower head was considered to be at the top of the stem. Person 2 – Woody Plants (Melinaz Barati) · Abundance.woody.plants– a woody plant was considered as a tree higher than 1.5 meters in height. If no tree was observed within 0.5 meters from the transect, students recorded 0. · Canopy.cover– was estimated in %, by holding a square (created by hands, approximately 3cmx3cm) and measuring how much of the square area was filled with canopy of the tree. · Ground.cover – was estimated in %, by holding a square (created by hands, approximately 3cmx3cm) and measuring how much of the square area contains vegetation. · Total.flower.numbers (transect)– was counted, within 0.5 meter distance from the observed tree/trees. A flower was considered to be any plant that contained a flower head, attached to the top of the stem. Person 3 – Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian) · Abundance.invertebrate.observed – the variety of invertebrates observed, consisted of mosquitos, butterflies, bees, grasshoppers, beetles and dragon flies. · Abundance.vertebrate observed, consisted of squirrels and birds (including Seagulls and Ring-billed gulls) · Abundance.human was separated from the rest of the vertebrate species not part of our lab. Person 4 – Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar) · Invertebrate species – the number of observed flies, grasshoppers and beetles · Abundance.invertebrates.pantraps – the number of invertebrates trapped in a soapy water of a pan trap · Abundance.invertebrates.sweeps – the number of invertebrates trapped in a sweep net (at the end of sweeping along the 50m transect) Hypothesis: Person 1 – Herbaceous Plants (Diana Bleyan) The number of flowers and native species is higher in the grassland (undisturbed) area than in disturbed open space. Person 2 – Woody Plants (Melinaz Barati) Woody plants are more abundant in grassland (undisturbed) area and have higher canopy coverage and less ground vegetation, in comparison to disturbed open space. Person 3 – Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian) The number of certain vertebrates in grassland and disturbed open space will be the same whilst the number of invertebrates in disturbed area will be lower than grassland. Person 4 – Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar) The abundance of invertebrate species is higher in the grassland area than the disturbed open space area whilst the abundance of certain vertebrates species remains unchanged in both habitats. Prediction: Person 1 – Herbaceous Plants (Diana Bleyan) The number of flowers and native species is higher in the grassland (undisturbed) area than in disturbed open space, because there is increased human activity and human traffic in disturbed open space, which results in overall habitat invasion and affects the condition of plants. Moreover, observed results may be attributed to the fact that the disturbed open space was created by humans, which is not a natural habitat for the presented plants. Person 2 – Woody Plants (Melinaz Barati) Woody plants are artificially planted in disturbed areas and are heavily affected by human traffic and human activities, which negatively impacts their condition. In comparison, grassland (undisturbed) area is a natural habitat and is less affected by human activity, which makes it a more suitable environment for woody plants’ growth. The difference in their environments would result in higher canopy coverage of woody plants in grassland areas and therefore lower ground vegetation. Person 3 – Vertebrates and Invertebrates (Nargol Ghazian) Since invertebrate depend highly on vegetation as their habitat, a way hoping from one vegetation to next (movement) and nutrients they will have a greater abundance in the grassland land where there is more variety of vegetation as opposed to the disturbed open space which is surrounded by people, gravel and the vegetation is very sparse. However, the abundance of certain vertebrate species such as birds remains unchanged in both habitats because birds do not directly depends on the resources of these habitats. Person 4 – Invertebrates (Noyell Sakthikumar) The abundance of invertebrate species is higher in the grassland area than the disturbed open space area because the invertebrate species have a more suitable habitat and no disturbances in their environment, such as humans. In addition, the freshly planted grass in the disturbed open space is only a new habitat for the invertebrate species creating new homes as opposed to the grassland area where their habitat has been home far longer. Thus, the abundance would be greater for the grassland area than the disturbed open space.

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