On June 2nd, 2022, I returned to Hunter Park in Langley British Columbia. I was at Hunter Park between 1000-1130, the weather was hot and sunny with the temperature being 19 degrees Celsius and little to no clouds present.
I identified plant species richness between the maintained lawn grass area and the unmaintained area as the biological attribute that I plan to study. Upon further investigation, there is a multitude of lawn weeds growing within the maintained area of the park and many native ferns, forbs, trees, and other plant species in the unmaintained area. The first location I observed was a well-maintained area that was disturbed by the presence of a gravel path, but the grassed area had a great abundance of lawn weeds. My second location was an unmaintained area that was on the north side of the park, the density of plants was much greater, and a fence was on the northern side of the park to separate the park from homes. My third location was an unmaintained area that was on the south side of the park. The third location was similar to the second location, but the second location had more ferns. This third location also had more lawn weeds that the second location but fewer lawn weeds than the first maintained location. The third location was roughly 10 meters away from the street and 5 meters away from a fence.
Hypothesis: The plant species richness at Hunter Park varies in maintained grassed areas versus unmaintained areas.
Prediction: The unmaintained area will have a greater plant species richness than the maintained grassed area.
Response variable: Plant species richness in the maintained and unmaintained areas. This variable is continuous as I can measure the number of species in each area.
Explanatory variable: Presence or absence of lawn grasses. This variable is categorical as it is either presence or absence.
All the best,
Reid Marriott (T00716013)