Visit: June 7, 2023 7:00 pm CST
Impending Storm, wind gusts @ 70 km/hr, temperature 27 degrees.
The area selected is Spring Creek, located in Northwest Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Spring Creek is a small wetland park used by the community for leisure activities. It is approximately 52,000 square metres.
It is named for the creek of the same name running through the site. There are long grasses and cattails present along the banks of the creek as well as trees and shrubs further up the banks.
Many nonnative plant species were observed at the site possibly as ground cover to prevent erosion. Limited large species diversity could be due to a lack of habitat for larger animals along with the site’s location within city limits and the proximity to an active railway line.
Bare patches of ground were observed likely due to the site previously acting as a snow dumping area in the winter months. The excess salt content makes plant life less favorable.
Questions:
- How does nonnative groundcover hold up in higher melt areas versus native groundcover?
- Is soil salinity significantly higher in the areas where the snow was originally placed or along the slopes due to migration towards the bank?
- Are the areas of erosion more significant due to over saturation in the snow dumping areas or along the path of melting?
some great initial observations!
some potential here for sure for great observation based experiement
when thinking more about your hypothesis, also think about what the predictor and explanatory variables will be
also, how will something like ‘hold up better’ be defined or measured?
keep going! Nancy Elliot