Field Research Project – Blog post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

Based on the data gathered from my last Field Journal entry (see attached), I have been able to answer the following questions to help shape my field research project. 

1. Organism of interest: Athyrium fillix-femina “lady fern”. It’s a common fern, with bright green lacy-textured leaves. 
2. Observations along an environmental gradient: I noticed that there is much denser growth of A. fillix-femina seems to be clustered around the creek running through the trail area, with quite dense growth along the creek banks and minimal-no growth elsewhere in the park. Based on this observation, I roughly estimated 1m² quadrats, randomly placed in the following distances from the creek: 0-1m, 1-2m, 2-3m, and 3-4m. I counted the number of individuals growing in each category to produce the following data: 

I also observed that some individuals had some browning on their leaves, and this was present in all quadrats that had growth. 

1. 1. Based on the observations I made, I developed the following 
      1. Hypothesis: A. fillix-femina growth distribution at Pierard Creek is determined by soil moisture. 
      2. Prediction: A. fillix-femina abundance increases with higher soil moisture. 
   2. Based on the developed hypothesis and corresponding prediction, I developed some possible variables for my field research project 

• Possible response variable: A. fillix-femina abundance (which would be considered a discrete numerical variable; could be considered a categorical variable too) 
• Possible explanatory variable: Soil moisture (continuous variable, would be quite difficult to measure) or distance from creek (this could act as a proxy for soil moisture and would be much easier to measure. I will treat this as a categorical variable).