Fastest Sampling Time
Systematic Sampling had the fastest estimated sampling time: 12 hours and 7 minutes, with 24 quadrats.
Haphazard Sampling: 13 hours and 3 minutes for 25 quadrats.
Random Sampling (the longest): 14 hours and 45 minutes with 28 quadrats.
In my sampling strategies I used in the virtual forest tutorial, the systematic sampling technique was the most time-efficient for this virtual exercise.
Percentage Error:
Two most common species were Eastern Hemlock and Sweet Birch, and the two rarest species were White Pine and Striped Maple in sampling strategy.
| Species | Percent Error | ||
| Systematic Sampling Strategy | Random Sampling Strategy | Haphazard Sampling Strategy | |
| Most Common | |||
| Eastern Hemlock | 35.7% | 25.4% | 16.6% |
| Sweet Birch | 25.5% | 15.5% | 35.3% |
| Rarest | |||
| White Pine | 1.2% | 70.2% | Not Available |
| Striped Maple | 28.6% | 24.7% | Not Available |
24 quadrats were sufficient to capture many species in the community. The accuracy of the random sampling technique for rarer species was low. It is possible to increasing the sample size to have better accuracy for rare species.
For Eastern Hemlock, the haphazard sampling had the lowest percentage error (16.6%) while random showed 25.4% and systematic 35.7%.
For Sweet Birch, random sampling had the smallest error of 15.5% and haphazard showed 35.3% and systematic had 25.5%.
For rare species like Striped Maple and White Pine, systematic sampling was the most accurate. Striped Maple had a higher percentage error in systematic around 28.6% and random showed a lower error of 24.7%, and White Pine had a very low error (1.2%) in systematic sampling compared to random (70.2%).
Systematic sampling was the most accurate for rare species (Striped Maple and White Pine).
For common species, random sampling was more accurate for Sweet Birch, while haphazard sampling was better for Eastern Hemlock.