Data Collection and Analysis

Location: Cliff Stephens Park

Date: 03/09/2015

Weather: 86° F, breezy and little cloud coverage, humid

Observations: grassy everywhere, many old trees, dirt for soil, ground is also covered by leaves from trees, cicadas in trees are very loud

For this field trip we had four sites we were asked to observe and analysis through methods we had learned in class.

At Site 1 we took a water sample from the pier.
For salinity as a group we got a reading of 1ppt.
Turbidity (the clarity of the water) was "less turbid than the blank". We did not get an accurate reading on this because the blank was set incorrectly.
The temperature of the water was 31.3° C.
And for the pH we got a reading of 6.

Site 2 gave us the task of looking at an open area and recording what we saw in quadrats, transects, and the soil.
With the quadrat, we had to place it down every 10 m on a 30 m tape measure and record what was within it.

• 10 m we noted that it was covered by 75 % thin grass, 15 % weeds, and 10% dirt.                             The grass was dry, slightly dead, while the weeds were very green and hairy. The dirt was somewhat dry on top.
• 20 m was covered by 70% thick grass, 20 % clover weeds, and 10% thin grass.                                                                                          This quadrat was located in the sun and had more green to it compared to the last.
• 30 m was covered by 45% thick grass, 45% thin grass, 5% weeds, 3% clover weeds,  1% Spanish moss, and 1% grass seeds.                                                                                                 In this quadrat there were both the types of weeds we had encountered before, hairy and clover like.

We then did the same procedure of analyzing what was in a certain area, but with a transect by dropping a flag every 10 m on a 30 m line. 

• 10 m the flag touched cut grass, white grass, and white grass gnats on the way down.
• 20 m the flag encountered dry grass, weeds, and dirt on the way down.
• 30 m the flag landed in a shady area that had brown grass, along with different weeds.

We then took a sample of soil from the line in which we were inspecting towards the 30 m mark, and observed that quality of it. It was gritty and smooth making it of loam quality. It formed a ball when squeezed together without water, and formed less that a 1 inch ribbon when we did add a small amount of water.

In Site 3 we were under the canopy. 

We used a densitometer to measure the canopy coverage above our heads. With each trail we recorded down whether there were trees above us or if there was sunlight. In the end we came up with a percentage of coverage of 80%.

After we finished counting the amount of trees, we took a soil sample again, and came up with the results of it being loamy, however we were unable to make a ribbon this time.

Were asked to use the cruz-all counter to count the amount of trees in the categories of 5, 10, 20, and 40.

Categories:  5       10       20       40 

                   17       4         6         4   

Finally we reach Site 4 where we were again under the canopy. 

Here we had to first record the DBH of the closest tree every 1 m on a 30 m tape measure line. 

Our results we as followed:

1 m - 6 m : 13.5 m DBH

7 m - 9 m : 11.1 m DBH

10 m - 17 m : 16.8 m DBH

18 m - 30 m : 44 m DBH

After the DBH measurement, we used a clinometer to measure the tallest tree, which came out to be 25 feet tall.

Finally, we again used a densitometer to measure the canopy coverage above the selected area and came out with a percentage of 60% coverage.

In conclusion, at Cliff Stephens Park we were able to apply multiple methods to observing an area, and it was fun getting "our hands dirty" in order to analyze the type of environmental area this park was.