Graphs
Below are the graphs showing the results of my field work in Russell’s Inclosure. Graph 1: the ages of the selected tree in Russell’s Inclosure
Graph 2: ground cover found in the young coniferous wood
Graph 3: ground cover found across the path of the young coniferous wood
Graph 4: ground cover found in the old deciduous wood
Graph 5: ground cover found across the path of the old deciduous wood
Graph 6: ground cover found in the young old coniferous wood
Graph 7: ground cover found across the path of the old coniferous wood
Graph 8: ground cover found in the young deciduous wood
Graph 9: ground cover found across the path of the young deciduous wood
Graph 1
Graph 2
Graph 3
Graph 4
Graph 5
Graph 6
Graph 7
Graph 8
Graph 9
Description of transects
By observing graph 2 at page 3, I have noticed the different amounts of living things and non-living things in the young coniferous wood. On each of the quadrat, there were moss ranging from 95%-100%. There is often leaf litter found on the forest floor ranging from 2%-10%. Grass is only present at 0m and at 12m at 5. There was an average of 4.5% of twigs in transect one, whereas the bluebells was 2.5%. Dead brackens were ranged between 3%-30%, excluding in 12m. There was no dead grass found in any points, except in 12m, which was 2%. Spider web (2%), Douglas fir (3%) and needle leaves (20%) were also found at 12m. The light intensity was 83%, where 100% is intensely bright and 0% is pitch-black. The soil moisture was C, where A is the driest and H is the wettest. The temperature was 11.9°C. The pH of the soil was 7, which is neutral.
Looking at graph 3 at page 3, I have noticed the different varieties of living things and non-living things across the path of the young coniferous wood. Moss was seen at every points ranging between 75%-100%. Leaf litter was often seen at every point but in fewer amounts of 2%-10%. Bracken was present in each of the quadrats, excluding the 4m, with an average of 23% (to the nearest whole number). Stinging nettles could be found at 8m and 12m, ranging between 10%-75%. Dead grass of 50% was only present at 0m, violet (5%) and grass (10%) was found at 4m. The light intensity was 84%. The soil moisture was C. The temperature was 12.3°C. The pH of the soil was 5, which is on the acidic side.
Graph 4 on page 4 shows the varieties of living and non-living things found in the ground cover of the old deciduous wood. Soil of 100% was found in every quadrat. Leaf litter also was found in each of the quadrat with an average of 75%. Twigs (with an average of 8% and grass (with an average of 22%) were present at every point. Bramble was only present at 8m with 2% and Juniper was present at 10% at 12m. Moss (5%), branches (15%), sorrel (3%) and insect (1%) were all found at 0m. Dead grass, which was 15%, was present at 4m. The light intensity was 89%. The soil moisture was F. The temperature was 13.5°C. The pH of the soil was 7, which is neutral.
By looking at graph 5 on page 4, I have noted many kinds of living and non-living things present on the ground cover across the path of old deciduous wood. Soil is present at 100% in every quadrat. Grass is also present at 100% but it is only found at 4m. Pine needles are also found at 4m but with a 50%. There’s an average leaf litter of 39% at every point. Moss (5%) and twigs (2%) are present at 0m. Bluebells are found ranging between 2%-10%, at 8m and 12m. Stinging nettles and bracken, both of 5%, are present at only at 8m. The light intensity was 89%. The soil moisture was G. The temperature was 16.0°C. The pH of the soil was 7, which is neutral.
By observing graph 6 at page 5, I have noticed some varieties of living things that are present in the ground cover of the old coniferous wood. Moss is present at every point with an average of 63%. Leaf litter is also present at each point and has an average of 63%. Leaf litter is also present at each point excluding the 12m, ranging between 25%-50%. Bluebells is present at 0m and 8m, ranging between 25%-100%. About 5% of leaves are present at 12m. The light intensity was 80%. The soil moisture was A. The temperature was 13.6°C. The pH of the soil was 7, which is neutral.
As I was looking at graph 7 on page 5, I have recognised the few varieties of living and non-living ground things that have been found in the ground cover across the path of the old coniferous wood. Leaf litter was present at all the quadrats with an average of 14%. Blue bell, which were 100%, was only present at 0m. Only 5% of moss was found at 0m and 4m. Bracken, ranging between 75%-1005, was present at 4m, 8m and 12m. The light intensity was 92%. The soil moisture was B. The temperature was 16.2°C. The pH of the soil was 5, which is a little acidic.
By observing graph 8 on page 6, I have noticed the few varies of living and non-living ground cover in the young deciduous wood. Leaf litter, with an average of 81%, was found at every quadrat. Bluebells, ranging between 15%-75%, was present at every point. Bracken was only found at 4m and 12m, ranging between 5%-10%. The light intensity was 89%. The soil moisture was B. The temperature was 14.3°C. The pH of the soil was 5, which is on the acidic side.
By looking at graph 9 at page 6, I have noted varieties of living and non-living ground cover across the path of young deciduous wood. The leaf litter has an average of 26% and are found at every point. Blue bells are only found at 0m, 4m and 12m, ranging between 50%-100%. Grass (15%) and soil (100%) are present at 8m. Stinging nettles of 20% are present at 12m. The light intensity was 89%. The soil moisture was E. The temperature was 14.9°C. The pH of the soil was 5, which is a little acidic.
Analysis of hypothesis
“I think that there will be a difference in ground cover between the coniferous wood and the deciduous wood. I think that there will be much more dead leaves in the coniferous woods than the deciduous wood. I think that there will be more living ground cover in the deciduous wood than the coniferous woods.”
I will use transect one in the young coniferous wood and transect seven in the young deciduous wood.
Looking at the transect one, I see a variety of ground cover, which are both, living and non-living things in the coniferous wood. The most common ground cover is moss. It is of average 98%, which is very high. There is lots of moss in the area because there is decomposition taking place in the woods. The soil moisture (C), which is low but the soil pH is neutral. Moss tends to live in less acidic soil. This helps moss to grow on barks, fallen trees, woods, etc. The intensity of light, 81% was lower than the deciduous wood by 8%. And as moss usually grows on dark areas, there were loads (average 97%) in the coniferous wood. The temperature is mild, 11.9°C, and as moss prefers warm or wet weather, they have adapted to the surrounding.
Transect seven shows quite a few variety of ground cover. They are mainly living ground cover than non-living ones. The most common ground cover is leaf litter, 81%, which is very high. There is a large amount of leaf litter found in the deciduous wood because deciduous trees shed their leaves every autumn. There were many leaf litters as they were not decomposed. Also the pH of the soil (pH5) was quite acidic and because trees tend to grow in less acidic soil, the pH of the soil had an impact on the growth of the trees. The soil moisture, which was B, was very dry. Every producer needs water, light, carbon dioxide and oxygen to photosynthesise. The leaves did not get to photosynthesise at its best because there was a shortage of water even though there was a high intensity of light (89%).
My hypothesis 1 has turned out to be false. There was 7% of leaf litter in the coniferous wood, whilst 81% was found in the deciduous wood. This is because in the deciduous wood there is a low soil pH (pH5), low level of soil moisture (B) and even though the light intensity was 89% and very low, this didn’t lower the amount of leaves falling. Also the deficiency of nutrients has caused more leaves to fall from trees.
There was a large amount of moss in the coniferous wood instead of more leaf litter because the surrounding, including light, temperature, carbon dioxide level and water, was suitable for the moss but the dead leaves were decomposed very quickly, so only 7% of leaf litter was found.
“I think that there will be a difference in the ground cover between the woodland and the path. I think that there will be less living ground cover on the path than in the woodland. I think there will be less leaf litter on the path than in the woodland.”
I will use transect three and four of the old deciduous wood.
Looking at the transect three, I see a variety of ground cover which are both, living and non-living, ground cover. There is a large amount of leaf litter because the trees are often lacking nutrients. The acidity of the soil (pH7) and the soil moisture (F) is higher than the coniferous wood, yet it low for deciduous wood. This would result in less photosynthesis taking place, which means more dead leaves. The second most common is grass, which is an average of 23%. There is less grass in the area because most of the light, water and nutrients are absorbed by the trees in the area. Twigs are often found in small numbers in the transect, with an average of 9%. Twigs have been found because of the lack of nutrients, making the trees branches weak and breaking them. 9% (average of bluebells) were found at each quadrat. There are fewer bluebells because most of the trees take in the nutrients, water and light. The temperature (13.5°C) is mild and assists the trees and plants to grow.
As I observe the transect four, I see a large variety of ground cover across the path of old deciduous wood. There are mainly leaf litter, an average of (39%) found across the path of old deciduous wood. It is fewer than in the woodland because there are no trees on the path so leaves wouldn’t be found either. Also the soil moisture, which is G (very wet) helps to decompose leaves quickly. There are grass growing (18%) across the path, as there are right temperature (16.0°C), soil pH (pH7), light intensity (89%) and soil moisture (G). All of these are needed to photosynthesise.
My hypothesis has turned out to be true. There was more living ground cover in the woodland than on the path. This is because the woodland soil moisture is medium (F) and at the right level of dryness across the path, there is a higher level of soil moisture (G), which prevents living things to survive as too much moisture makes materials to rot quicker and more nutrients would be formed. There is less leaf litter found on the path because there are no trees on the path and fewer trees across it and because of the sufficient amount of nutrients less leaves would fall, as they won’t die out often. This will prevent leaves from falling, as there are no trees for leaves to grow upon. There’s more leaf litter found on the woodland because of the lack of nutrients in the soil, even though there is sufficient amount of light (89%), soil moisture (F), soil pH (pH7) and the temperature (13.5°C).
“I think that commercial management will have a difference with habitat management. Commercial management grows the coniferous trees for timber, which provides them with money. These trees are not for show. Habitat management is a place where food webs can be found. This is where deciduous trees are found. They are lovely to look at and are often found at picnic areas. These trees are self-seeded, for e.g.: wind can carry the seed or animals eat and excrete the seeds in their excretion. These two managements may have a difference in the ground cover. I think that in the coniferous wood, the ground cover may contain lots of living things whereas in the deciduous wood, the ground cover will, probably, consist of non-living things.”
I will use transect one and transect seven of the young coniferous and deciduous wood, as the coniferous wood represent the commercial management and the deciduous wood represents the habitat management.
In the transect of the young coniferous wood, I observed many varieties of living and non-living ground cover. Moss can be located, with an average of 88%, around the coniferous wood. The main reason for the high amount of moss is because of the soil pH, which is 7, and moss and many other plants prefer alkaline soil. The temperature, 11.9°C is mild and helps moss to photosynthesise more easily the light intensity (83%) adds to the temperature (11.9°C) and the soil moisture (C) also helps to photosynthesise more efficiently. The second most common ground cover is leaf litter, with an average of 7%. There is a little amount of leaf litter because, even though coniferous trees shed their leaves throughout the whole year, the leaves are decomposed very quickly, as decomposers are often found in the forest floor. Another reason for the leaf litter is that the trees are lacking soil moisture (C), nutrients and the light intensity (83%). This will prevent photosynthesis from taking place because light, water and oxygen is vital for photosynthesis. Bracken often takes all nutrients and water, leaving other plants and tress with nothing. This will mean that less photosynthesises will take place.
By looking at transect seven, I did note some kinds of living and non-living ground cover. The most common one was leaf litter with an average of 81%. The main reason for this result is because of the soil moisture (B) and the soil pH (pH5). The dryness of the soil causes the trees to shed leaves as no photosynthesis can take place without water, so the leaves die out and fall. The acidity of the soil has an impact on the trees, as they don’t like acidic soil, so from the lack of nutrients, the acidic soil and dryness, the trees shed leaves. The intensity of light (83%) has no affect over this situation. The second most common ground cover was bluebells with an average 29%. There was a low amount of bluebells because of the dryness of the soil, the acidity of the soil and from the lack of nutrients. This deficiency made it hard for the bluebells to grow in large numbers.
My hypothesis has turned out to be true. The commercial management has equal amounts of living and non-living ground cover whereas the habitat management has more non-living ground cover than living ones. There is more living ground cover, such as moss (88%), grass (3%), bluebells (3%), etc, in the coniferous wood. This is because of the mild temperature (11.9°C), neutral soil pH, medium dryness (C) and the high light intensity (83%). These are the right ingredient for a perfect habitation to take place. This is why the trees in the commercial area grow quicker as they are coniferous trees (they tend to mature quickly) and because of the right components in their environment.
The habitat management consists mainly of non-living ground cover. The most common one was leaf litter with an average of 86%. This is because the soil pH of the young deciduous wood is pH5 and the soil moisture is B, which is very dry. Even though the intensity of the light is 89% (very bright) and the temperature is 14.3°C (mild), the dryness and the pH of the soil slows down the process of photosynthesis. This means that the trees will shed leaves more often as more water and alkaline soil with a supply of nutrients are needed to reach the perfect environment for the trees to grow in.
Evaluation
The good thing about the way I have completed this coursework is the layout of the whole piece of writing. Also my coursework book that was used to write all my rough ideas in school has helped me to reach this accomplishment. Every single word that I have typed is present in the coursework book, which has been marked by my geography teacher; therefore I am even surer of my work. I believe that the continuous amount of hard work has finally done its job.
During the field work, I think it would have been helpful if I had done my first transect quickly by not arguing with my mates over the results and because of this, the second transect was not as accurate as the first. Although the other two transects were successfully completed without any arguments. If I had my chances again, then I would certainly not argue over the results for being 1% or 2% less.
I don’t think that I could have improved my write up anymore because I have done everything I could to make it my best piece of work so far. Yet, I do think that I should’ve built up my vocabulary and used more geographical words. So far I am happy with this write-up and I wouldn’t change anything.