Post 7: Theoretical Perspectives – Colony Farms – Carolyn Francis

Based on the readings and tutorials up to Module 7 (where I am at in the course when writing this post), my research project touches on and relates to the following course concepts: biodiversity, species richness, anthropogenic stressors, species tolerance, micro-disturbance, disturbance gradient, environmental gradient, wetlands, and marshes. Understanding all of these concepts are important for the interpretation of samples and the results and discussion sections of the paper. Specifically, in reference to my hypothesis, I was inspired to understand how frequent anthropogenic stressors, i.e. frequent mowing, influence the species composition and species diversity along the environmental gradient (from sand/gravel path, to mowed flora, to untouched flora). While all of the course concepts listed are relevant to the total project if one were to need specific keywords in reference to my field research project they would be: environmental gradient, anthropogenic stressors, and biodiversity.