Throughout this module I needed to get 3 replicate samples completed. I’m collecting a total of 15 replicates (5 from initial data) and either 3 or 4 replicates per module. I haven’t had any problems with implementing my sampling design so far… I will continue to go to my point count stations in the morning when it is nice and cool and I will record the amount of times I see a bird using the area. This no longer takes into account any birds that fly by or and bird calls since they are not technically using the area. I think this will give me more accurate data. So, because of this decision, only part of my data from the first 5 initial observations I recorded is valid and, therefore, I will only be being using half of the data. I will return to all my 5 point count stations in the same order that I did the first time and I’ll continue the process of returning to these stations one at a time over multiple days… This also gives me extra time to complete other parts of this module. So, on Aug 20th I returned to my first point count station. This station is the station with no shelter, this is the lawn area station. It was 15 degrees Celsius, however, there was a layer of smoke blanketing the area. I only saw 1 bird using the area during the whole 10 minutes… I have a feeling this is due to the smoke. I don’t know how long the smoke will stick around and I’m curious if the smoke might skew my observations; however, I can’t wait forever for it to go away and I will just have to take this into account when I am analysing the data. I then returned to my second station a couple days later on Aug 22nd . It was 16 degrees and the thick layer of smoke was still glomming above. The second count station is the intermediate station with half shelter and multiple bird feeders within the area. Even with the thick smoke I saw 3 birds use the area. The next day, Aug 23rd , I went to visit the third count station. There was no smoke!!! I was a nice morning with clear skies and it was 15 degrees Celsius. This station is the one right in the middle of the forest with lots of shelter. Here I recorded 3 birds using this station. I will visit the rest of the stations sometime throughout the next couple of days and be finished up by module 8. From the data, I have recorded I am starting to see more of what I was expecting. I did in fact more birds in areas with more shelter than in areas of low to intermediate shelter. I will be very interested when analysing my final data to see if the smoke did in fact have any real affect, but hopefully it will be gone for good now.
Recent Posts
Data Collection
I completed my field data collection over the span of two days from 12:00-14:00 at Creekside Park. Throughout the past month, I have been visiting the site and thinking about my research project, notably the hypothesis and study design. My original hypothesis, “the abundance of bees increase around vibrant colourful flowers and decrease surrounding pale white flowers”, had some subjective terminology that needed clarification. The words ‘vibrant’, ’abundance’ and ‘pale had to either be removed or changed into an objective form. I switched ‘abundance’ with ‘number’, and removed ‘pale’ and ‘vibrant’. I ended up changing my hypothesis to “the number of bees increase around colourful flowers (purple, red, and yellow), and decrease around white flowers”.
I used a random sampling technique to look at bees around 10 flower samples in the park. I have not experienced many problems with the implementation of my study. The accuracy of my study has improved by implementing my sampling on weekdays, a time frame where their are less people to disturb the bees and flowers.
Blog 5: Design Reflections -Heather Lean
I quickly realized when visiting each of my sample spots on the Goldfinger Potentilla shrub that I did not account for my severe dislike of spiders when crawling in and around the bushes as well as my apparent lack of coordination when measuring the height of my quadrat and attempting to count. It took some practice but I managed to get it done.
I was surprised when I compared the three groups together. I expected there to be much more flowers in each sampling plot in group B then I did in either groups A or C. While overall there was an increase in the number of flowers in group B (which was not surprising) I still anticipated a greater over all difference.
To continue my project I think I will keep up with my initial sampling technique. I found it to be challenging at first but found that it helped me to eliminate any bias towards my three groups.
Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections (Percy)
Overall, the process of this field project has been a learning experience to say the least. From choosing a project that was interesting yet hard to test (mayflies in Northern Ontario), to creating my own traps for my new project and them being taken away from pedestrians, I would say that I have learned more than I thought I would. The first change I had to make was changing the entire project itself, then I thought I would create my own minnow traps to save some money, realized those didn’t work (and were taken out of the water by pedestrians), and then finally getting the help I needed by meeting Joe the fisherman and getting tips and real minnow traps for the crayfish. Throughout this entire process, I have gone from being really excited to see what I caught to very upset and frustrated when realizing it wasn’t working. This process allowed me to really open my eyes to ecological studies and experiments as I have gained a true appreciation for the patience, concentration, and time that goes into a ecological field study. I have also realized that although there is evidence of a particular process occurring in an area, these processes can be influenced by the environmental conditions, time of the year, and so on.
Blog Post 8: Tables and Graphs (Percy)
Creating a graph for this particular experiment was challenging, as I was not able to collect as much data as I had thought. The average surface temperature of both Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake were compared with each other, as well as demonstrating the potential impact of the temperature on the number of crayfish caught. I had expected to catch at least 4-5 crayfish in total, however the results collected were much lower as I only caught 1 crayfish in the entire experiment. Although the organization of the graph was difficult to create, it is useful to see the effect of surface temperature at each trap location on the amount of crayfish and species caught. If I were to further explore this idea, I would use a more strategic sampling strategy, where all 5 traps are in prime locations to catch crayfish in both Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing.
Blog Post 6: Data Collection (Percy) (New)
Trout Lake
To collect my field data I returned the following day, on August 6, 2018 to collect the number of species and number of crayfish I found in each trap. I was discouraged again to find that I had caught no crayfish, although, there were some other species in the trap that I recorded for accuracy as well. The only pattern that seems to be evident is that the temperature of the water, somewhat warm, seems to mean as of right now that crayfish do not enjoy this environment, however, it is very possible that they just didn’t come out that night. In order to eliminate the unknown, it was important to sample this location on 2 different occasions. Unfortunately, the replicates resulted in relatively the same data.
Lake Nipissing
To collect my field data I returned the following day, August 7, 2018 to collect the number of species and number of crayfish I found in each trap. In traps 1-4, there were no other species in the trap, nor were there any crayfish. However, in Trap 5, one that I placed a little closer to the rocks and vegetation, I caught my first crayfish! I was very excited as it looked like the species I was aiming to catch, Orconectes propinquus, as it is supposed to be very common in Northern Ontario freshwater lakes. I measured this crayfish to compare its length to the crayfish found in Trout Lake,. In regards to replicates, I also sampled this location on two different occasions. Unfortunately, no crayfish or any other species were caught. This information made me reflect on my hypothesis, as I was so sure I would catch at least 3 or 4 crayfish in Lake Nipissing as it is known for its shallow, warmer waters where crayfish thrive. Perhaps it was the way I sampled and the locations that I chose that determined the results? Although these thoughts were going through my mind, fisherman Joe confirmed he has used those traps before in this specific area and have caught many crayfish over the past few months, therefore it really could have been the temperature of the water, time of day, temperature of the air, or any other environmental factor that influenced the results.
Blog Post 5: Design Reflections (Percy) (New)
The collection of the initial data was difficult to say the least. In the beginning, I had created my own traps after watching a few YouTube tutorials. To implement this sampling technique, I needed 5 minnow traps, each costing around $20-$25 each, which was not in my budget so I made them myself. After putting the traps in their locations, I returned the following day and found them sitting in the bush outside of the water. Trying to find a location where pedestrians would not have easy access to was probably the most difficult part of setting up the experiment, as it took 3 days and 2 tries of putting my homemade traps out to realize that they weren’t the best way to catch crayfish. After having them out the second time and returning to only 3 traps, I decided I had to modify my approach by speaking to a real fisherman and buying the minnow traps. Thankfully, Joe the fisherman was kind enough to lend me 5 traps and give me some pointers on where to put them. This time, instead of bread, I used dead minnows as bait for the crayfish and kept the traps in areas of the lake that were rich in vegetation, rocks, and mud. I strongly believed this would have a significant impact on my research.
Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations (Percy) (New Project)
DAY 1: August 5, 2018
Trout Lake
To identify the specific locations of interest it was important for me to research to understand where it is likely for me to catch Orconectes propinquus in North Bay, Ontario. After trying to research online for answers, I thought it would be more useful to speak to someone who catches crayfish and other species on a daily basis. Joe is a fisherman who owns a bait shop in North Bay, just along Lake Nipissing. At this point, I had already created my own crayfish traps using plastic bottles, fishing line, rope, and a piece of bread. The previous day, I had put these traps out in 5 different locations along the shoreline of Trout Lake, recorded the temperature of the water, air, time of day, etc., and returned to check out what I had caught. Unfortunately, my homemade traps were taken out of the water by pedestrians and left in the bush. I emptied those traps, put a new piece of bread in, and tossed them back into the water for another night while I tried to figure out how I was going to catch the crayfish without spending too much money on minnow traps.
While those traps stayed in the water over night, Joe the fisherman was kind enough to lend me 5 minnow traps, some rope, and dead minnows for the crayfish to eat. He informed me that he usually catches them closer to the dock, where there is more vegetation and the crayfish can hide. Around 11:15am, 21 degrees Celcius outside, and an average surface temperature of water of 18.12 degrees Celcius, I put out the traps in the 5 random locations along the gradient (some vegetation, some rocks, sand/mud, etc.).
Below is a photo of all 5 traps in 5 randomly selected locations:
DAY 2: August 6, 2018
Today I went to collect my traps to count the number of crayfish, if any, and number of other species, if any, in the trap. If there were crayfish, I planned on measuring the length of the crayfish to examine if there was a difference in size between Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing, and use that as evidence to the type of feeding of crayfish in that particular environment.
**Note: 3 of 5 homemade traps floated away in the water, 2 of them collected no species. This information was disregarded in the analysis of my study.
Lake Nipissing
After collecting the data for Trout Lake, it was time to move the traps to the other lake in North Bay, Lake Nipissing. In efforts to keep the traps safe, I chose a location where a family member of mine could look after the traps. It was also important that I kept the traps in a relatively similar environment, for example, an area of vegetation, rocks, and mud/sand, as crayfish are more likely to be caught in those areas.
Below are photos of all 5 traps in 5 randomly selected locations:
Hypothesis:
I hypothesize that there will be a greater abundance of Orconectes propinquus crayfish in Lake Nipissing as opposed to Trout Lake. I believe that the surface temperature of the water has a direct affect in the abundance of crayfish in both lakes.
- Response variable: number of Orconectes propinquus crayfish present
- Explanatory variable: average surface area temperature of Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake
- These variables would be considered continuous variables as they can take on any value between its minimum and maximum value
- Sampling technique: Simple Random
- Constructed imaginary baselines on the two maps of Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake
- Blindly pointed at 10 locations, and then blindly chose 5 of those 10 spots to determine 5 sample locations in each lake
- Some underlying processes that may cause the patterns I have observed may be that the average temperature of the spots in Lake Nipissing are generally warmer than the surface area temperature of Trout Lake. This may have an effect on the number of species, especially if the particular species prefers warmer temperatures.
Post 5: Design Reflections on Leaves
My study design focuses on measuring leaf length of fallen leaves. While this is admittedly easier than climbing trees to collect leaves, fallen leaves bear little loyalty to their parent tree and could blow wherever the wind takes them. Additionally, there is a risk of sampling bias, as more dried leaves take on a dull red colour compared to some of the freshly fallen leaves that have a more vibrant colour. These leaves tend to stand out, which is great but there is some variation in leaf colour, even among freshly fallen leaves. This means those of a duller colour are more likely to be missed. In response to this, I think I will need to use a small quadrat to focus my leaf collection to be exhaustive within a fixed area. That way, all leaves are evaluated to determine if they are freshly fallen enough to be sampled. (Dried leaves are not used because they cannot sustain the manipulation required for measuring and their reduced weight makes them more likely to be dispersed nearby trees by wind from.)
Blog Post #8 Tables and Graphs
Good afternoon Professor Elliot & Class,
It was a challenge to organize and summarize my data, but once I had figured out what the most important parts of my research were, it was easier for me to visualize them. My prediction was that there would be a greater abundance of large woody vegetation (e.g. trees) on the eastern, westerly facing side of Jack Creek.
Hypothesis: If the landscape has a higher elevation, and is westerly facing, then a greater abundance of large woody vegetation will be present.
Prediction: A greater amount of large woody vegetation will be present in western facing slopes with a higher degree of aspect and elevation.
Response Variable: Large woody vegetation abundance
Explanatory (predictor) Variable: Elevation and aspect
During my field data collection, I took counts of both trees and shrubs to create comparison. I took an average of the vegetation count to the number of data points to create an accurate representation of the data. Below are two graphs representing the average number of species in response to elevation and aspect.
The outcome of my field studies was slightly different than I expected, however, it reveals that further exploration is necessary as to why there was a greater amount of vegetation in the flat meadows 15 metres on the western side of the creek. Other factors might influence the data, such as disturbance, opens fields, and amount of sunlight.
