The sampling strategies used in the virtual forest tutorial were systematic sampling, random sampling, and haphazard or subjective sampling. Area-based methods were used throughout the entire exercise. The technique that has the fastest estimated sampling time was systematic sampling with a time of 12 hours and 36 minutes. However, the other 2 sampling strategies had times close to that with random sampling having an estimated time of 12 hours and 42 minutes and haphazard sampling having a time of 13 hours and 7 minutes. Overall, the estimated time taken is about the same for all 3 sampling strategies. The two most common species were Eastern hemlock and sweet birch and the two rarest species were striped maple and white pine.
Percent error was then calculated for the 4 species for each of the 3 sampling strategies.
Percent Error
| Systematic | Random | Haphazard | |
| Eastern Hemlock (common) | 16.6% | 0.22% | 24.28% |
| Sweet birch (common) | 32.8% | 11.3% | 8.9% |
| Striped maple (rare) | 31.4% | Absent | 37.14% |
| White pine (rare) | 4.7% | Absent | 90.5% |
The accuracy changed with species abundance with more common species (high abundance) having a lower percent error than rare species (low abundance). However, it is difficult to conclude this since in systematic sampling the white pine (rare species) had a low percent error while in haphazard sampling a high percent error was seen in white pine (rare species).
The random sampling method can be seen as the most accurate, even though no rare species were found, the percent error of both common species is relatively low compared to both Haphazard and Systematic sampling techniques. The haphazard sampling technique had the highest percent error in all four species categories and therefore would be the least accurate sampling method.
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