Data Collection

15^th April 2024, Temperature: 12°C

My field data collection activities involve going into the field at 12:05 PM. I sampled 10 green ash trees by systematically selecting every alternate tree out of a total of 29 located along the side street. I executed my data collection plan by taking two readings on the west side of the bark and two readings on each bark side for each of the 10 trees. The readings were taken by positioning the quadrant at eye level (reading 1) and at the highest reachable level without standing on tiptoes (reading 2) as decided. As the west side of the bark is more shaded by adjacent houses, I encountered difficulties in measuring the percentage of sun exposure. I expected greater moss growth on the west side due to reduced sunlight exposure, and indeed, this was observed. For 5 of the 10 trees, no sun exposure readings were obtainable because the sunlight did not reach the quadrant due to the shading on the west side of the bark. More than 75% of the quadrant was covered with moss on the west side. This pattern was not observed on the east side of the bark. At this point, I have not observed any patterns that would lead me to reconsider my hypothesis. I will continue with the same approach and will also take readings at 9 AM and 3 PM on a separate day.