Community Sampling Exercise
Community: Mohn Mill
Two Most Common Species: Red Maple at 91% and Witch Hazel at 36%
Two Rarest Species: Black Cherry at 1% and Yellow Birch at 0.8%
Sampling Technique: Area Random
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- Total Quadrats: 24
- Area Sampled: 2400 sq. m
- Species Sampled: 13
- Total Specimens Sampled: 224
- Distance traveled between quadrats: 3149 m @ 3mph = 39 minutes
- Total Time to Sample: 12 hours 39 minutes
- Red Maple Abundance: 92% Difference of 1%
- Witch Hazel Abundance: 38% Difference of 2%
- Black Cherry Abundance: 4% Difference of 3%
- Yellow Birch Abundance: 0% Difference of 0.8%
Sampling Technique: Area Systematic
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- Total Quadrats: 24
- Area Sampled: 2400 sq. m
- Species Sampled: 10
- Total Specimens Sampled: 201
- Distance traveled between quadrats: 721m @ 3mph = 9 minutes
- Total Time to Sample: 12 hours 9 minutes
- Red Maple Abundance: 79% Difference of 12%
- Witch Hazel Abundance: 38% Difference of 2%
- Black Cherry Abundance: 0% Difference of 1%
- Yellow Birch Abundance: 4% Difference of 3.2%
Sampling Technique: Area Haphazard
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- Total Quadrats: 24
- Area Sampled: 2400 sq. m
- Species Sampled: 11
- Total Specimens Sampled: 233
- Distance traveled between quadrats: 3502 m @ 3mph = 44 minutes
- Total Time to Sample: 12 hours 44 minutes
- Red Maple Abundance: 96% Difference of 5%
- Witch Hazel Abundance: 58% Difference of 22%
- Black Cherry Abundance: 0% Difference of 1%
- Yellow Birch Abundance: 0% Difference of 0.8%
Through this exercise, it was very clear that Random was the clearly best sampling method of the three. The largest difference in frequency percentage among the quadrats was 3%, and this accuracy was clear across the rest of the calculations. It was in the middle in terms of the time required to sample. While Systematic was the fastest for sampling time, it was second for accuracy with a large difference of 12% with the most abundant species. The remaining species being discussed had a percentage difference between 1-3.2% only, which is much more accurate. Haphazard was the least accurate and took the most amount of time to perform the sampling. The largest percentage difference was 22% for the second most abundant species, and 5% for the most abundant. It should be noted that the largest percentage difference was seen in the most abundant species overall, but with an occurrence of 0.8% or 1% when the species was upsampled there this is only an accuracy difference (in this discussion) of less than or equal to 1%.