Environmental Gradient
To begin, I studied Spruce trees and Manitoba Maple trees. I am very interested in the vegetation directly beneath the tree and how it varies between the two species of trees. As time progresses, it would be interesting to know whether the plant diversity increase/decreases or changes. Changes meaning new plant (s) appearing. I was specifically studying the vegetation that is within a 4 ft radius of the tree trunk.
Under the Manitoba maple tree I observed: wild rhubarb plant, prairie grass, ferns and Kentucky blue grass. There was soil exposed and I did not observe a lot of organic matter.
Under the Spruce tree I observed: lily of the valley and a patch of spotted dead nettle. I did observe lots of organic matter: decaying leaves, branches, cones, plant material and spruce needles.
I would create a hypothesis that as spruce tree needle deposition increases, there will more lily of the valley plants. My prediction would be that as more spruce tree needles are deposited, there will be more lily of the valley plants due to the fact that more organic matter (spruce needles) are being deposited.
Response Variable: Amount of lily of the valley plants (continuous)
Explanatory Variable: Amount of spruce tree needles deposited onto the soil beneath the tree (continuous)
An ANOVA regression would be an appropriate tool to measure this data. 