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The first collection of viable field data was collected on Sunday May 19 at Cates Park in North Vancouver. Separating the park between east and west, north (inland) and south (next to shore), I have four areas to collect data to ensure independence and to account for variables (see Image 1). I sampled 20 replicates of 80 that I plan to sample, and noted the presence of absence of common species. Ten replicates were west and close to shore, ten were west and inland. These were nurse logs, and I will repeat this in the two eastern sections of the park as my data collection continues, and with forest plots of the same size as the circumference of the nurse logs in all four defined regions.

I have revised my experimental design and sampling strategies from previously posted attempts, as initial data collected was solely distance-based counts of conifers from the centre of nurse logs, and this seemed an inadequate representation of the species that grow within nurse logs. The difficulties I now face include sampling randomly selected forest plots, as they may contain dense growth and be more inaccessible.

Patterns observed include differences in mosses, lichens and berry species between the regions close to shore and further inland. However, Western Hemlock, or Tsuga heterophylla, has been the most frequent conifer studied within nurse log units, regardless of the distance from shore. These patterns continue to support my hypothesis, however studying forest plots that are not nurse logs will aid in determining how common Tsuga heterophylla are versus other conifers in the region, and will aid to prove or falsify my hypothesis.

I sampled 5 replicates during my initial round of field sampling.  I didn’t have much trouble implementing my sampling procedure.  I did lots of prep in the office before going out to site which made the field work efficient.  The only difficult thing was travel in between sites.  There was still snow on the ground so I used skis for most of the travel.  Some sites did not have enough snow for ski travel (the more south facing slopes) so I was taking off and putting on skis during sampling.  The partial snow cover added an additional slipping/falling hazard while sampling on some of the steeper sites.

While sampling I noticed that the different tree species seem to be growing in clusters.  For instance, if my sampling site is in predominately birch stand, that may not reflect the stand characteristics 200m away.  Additional sampling will help to get a more accurate measurement of the composition of the forest.  I plan on sampling another 5 replicates soon and the snow is gone now so sampling should be easier.