Experiment to Compare the Percentage Area Covered by Lichen on Gravestones and the Age of the Gravestone

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Experiment to Compare the Percentage Area Covered by Lichen on Gravestones and the Age of the Gravestone

Abstract

The aim of this individual study was compare the amount of lichen found on gravestones in a graveyard and the first stated age printed on the gravestone. The initial hypothesis was that the older the gravestone, the higher percentage coverage of lichen. In this experiment 20 samples were taken at random out of a field of 87 gravestones in an open graveyard at Chaldon Church in Coulsdon, Surrey. The results collected will be collated into a spearman’s rank statistical test and analysed.

Plan 

Hypothesis

There will be a higher percentage coverage of lichens present as the age of the gravestones increase.

Variables

The aspect of the gravestones.

Whether the gravestones would be covered by shade at any time.

The geology of the gravestone

The size and type of the gravestones.

The age of the gravestone

The amount and type of lichen found

The aspect of the gravestones, although not a problem in the case of the graveyard I will be measuring could have caused some concerns. In the Case of Chaldon Church the graveyard is completely open on the east side of the church. The whole grounds are part of the graveyard but other sections such as to the west and south were covered by the church or trees. All gravestones   face east and so it is easy to control the aspect.

The same issue with the aspect applies for the shade. The east of the church is completely open and all the gravestones that will be sampled will be well away from the boundaries of the church, trees or fences and so there will be no problems with controlling of the light intensity.

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I intend to find many different gravestone rock types when I take part in this experiment. The main groups come under the harder rocks such as metamorphic (marble) and igneous (granite) and softer rocks .ie. sedimentary (sandstone and limestone). My experiment is not aimed at percentage cover of lichen and rock type and so this will not be a variable of mine. Headstones in older graveyards tend to mostly be sandstone and so I am expecting very few hard rock headstones. There is no real way of controlling this experiement in this way, except by ruling out the other ...

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