Figure Balsam Poplar seedlings density in Griffith Woods Park

The table I submitted for Small Assignment 5 was a graph that explored the relation between Balsam Poplar density in 2 m² quadrats and soil moisture.  At first, I struggled with how I wanted to present the data. Ultimately, I decided to use a graph instead of a table because it allowed for better visualization of the relationship. I also found it difficult to come up with an informative title. It took me several tries to come up with the descriptive title of: “Figure 1: Relationship between Balsam Poplar seedling density (per 2 m²) to soil moisture on a percent scale (%), n=50 quadrats within Griffith Woods Park. Blue circles represent data collected from a single randomized quadrat. The blue dotted line indicates the polynomial trendline of the relationship.” On the graph I included a polynomial trendline that fit the data quite well. Based on the graph, I can predict that the optimal soil moisture for Balsam Poplar seedlings within my site is between 35%-45%. Additionally, it seems unlikely that Balsam Poplar seedlings within in the site are able to grow above a soil moisture of 60%. I did predict that Balsam Poplars would have an optimal soil moisture and a soil moisture that was too moist to support them, however I had no idea what the actual percentages would be.  Moving forward I’m excited to run the regression analysis to see if soil moisture significantly influences Balsam Poplar seedling density. Within this study I did not find a minimum soil moisture percentage. The lowest reading in the data set was 15% and this quadrat still had a single seedling. Perhaps in the future I could investigate if there is a minimum soil moisture percentage that is able to support Balsam Poplar seedlings.