Walking along the trails and sitting by the river, I observed how complex riparian ecosystems are. At first I noticed that *generally* within 1m of the river, the rocks are visible, with few visibly darker bryophytes. Further up the ground cover transitions to a section of lighter and more diverse bryophytes and lichen, then it transitions to a salal dominant forest ecosystem with predominantly douglas fir, cedar and a few broadleaf maples (more so on the open riverside)and western hemlock. I walked along thinking I knew that the transition was dependent on the distance from the rivers edge. However the further I walked along the river I realized that some of the riverside is covered in dense moss right up to the water, and in some places there are trees growing out of the water.
I thought up of a few factors at play:
The angles of the river edge
The direction of the river bends
The depth of the water
The width of the river
Composition of the rock that makes up the riverside
I pondered all of these variables and came to the conclusion that the speed of the river, determined by these variables, must play a large role in the progression of plant life beside the river. I could not think of a reliable way to measure the speed of the river, so I am pulling in the idea that the maximum velocity of the river is located at different spots depending on the route of the water.
The fastest part of a river follows the outer corner of a meander, called the cut bank. It moves fastest in the middle of a straight path, and slowest on the inside of the meander, the point bar.
Study object:
Biomass percentage.
3 locations along a gradient:
Cut bank, straight path, point bar.
Hypothesis: The percentage of biomass beside the river changes depending on the location of the meander.
Prediction: The cut bank will have the least biomass and the point bar will have the most, areas along the straight path will be somewhere in between.
Predictor variable: Location (cutbank, straight path, point bar)
(Categorical)
Response variable: Biomass percentage.
(Continuous)
certainly the energy exhibited at each of the three spots will determine what can grow or not grow there
consider perhaps in Discussion potential differences in seasonal water output – which would of course bring more energy to the area