I selected the Mohn Mill community for this exercise and used the Area method for the three sampling strategies. I was surprised to find that the sampling times for all three to be quite similar. The systematic strategy was the most efficient strategy, taking an estimated 12.6 hours to complete. The haphazard was the second most efficient and random sampling was the least efficient; however, they were both completed in less than 13 hours. Red maple and white oak were the two dominant species in this community. Using the percentage error calculation, the random sampling strategy was the most precise. As species abundance decreased, the accuracy of the sampling strategies ability to determine species abundance was greatly reduced. For the two dominant species, the percentage error was 2.18% and 4.9% respectively. For the two least abundant species, the percentage error was 100%.
notable that the sampling method ‘missed’ the least abundant species…although one cannot sample everything!