The area I have selected is Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Assiniboine Park is a city park that hosts 1100 acres of relatively flat prairie land including a zoo, manicured spaces (gardens and recreation fields), forests, ponds, and riparian zones. It contains diverse vegetation from plants selected for its gardens such as domesticated perennials and native plants to Manitoba, to large elms and brushy dogwoods, to invasive creeping bellflowers and Canada thistle.
I visited the park on August 6th at 1:30 pm til approximately 3:00 pm. It was 25 degrees with an overcast sky. The park was fairly calm since it was the middle of a weekday but can get very busy. I took a trail through the forest and went off on a bike trail to a riparian area to sit and observe. I noticed there are many species of grasses and forbs, some of which I was able to identify, others not. There were many elm and dogwood trees which is common for Manitoba. There were some plants in bloom and others that were starting to set seed. I could hear birds but was only able to observe one from where I was. I also noticed a lot of insects foraging on the remaining flowers that were in bloom. These observations made me think of the following questions.
- Is there a difference in the quantity of insect flower interactions between natural areas (forest and riparian zone) and managed areas (gardens) in the park?
- How does plant diversity and abundance differ between the riparian area of this urban park to a rural park on the same river?
- Is there a higher density of Creeping Bellflower in higher-trafficked areas of the park, and does that imply an anthropogenic spread of this invasive species?
Hi Adam! thanks for the pics!
these questions, I think, could be measured in the time of this study. for #1, you may be running out of time ; )
you have some implied predictor and response variables
a good start!