Sampling strategies

The most efficient sampling strategy was Systematic sampling with a time of 4 hours and 6 minutes vs 4 hours and 43 minutes of Random sampling and 12 hours and 31 minutes of Haphazard sampling.

Percent error(all values in %) Systematic               Random                  Haphazard

Eastern Hemlock              14.73                                    7.55                                     16.15

Sweet Birch                        4.94                                     2.72                                     29.11

Yellow Birch                      98.16                                    3.95                                     26.26

Chestnut Oak                     5.71                                      26.4                                       0

Red Maple                          12.36                                    59.38                                    8.92

Striped Maple                    17.14                                    100                                       100

‘White Pine                         100                                       100                                       100

Common trees will be all trees excluding Striped Maple and White Pine since both have relatively low Relative Dominance, Importance values and frequency when compared to the other trees.

Random sampling was the most accurate sampling method for common trees since it had the lowest percent error for 3 of the 5 common trees.

I cannot determine the most accurate sampling method for rare species from my values, i would have to guess that it was Haphazard sampling.  Accuracy increased for White Pine when Haphazard sampling was used but declined for Striped Maple in the same condition.

I would have preferred a sample size of 30 since it is more common for statistics

sample calculation and values for the actual and estimated densities

 

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