Soil Invertebrate Diversity Lab Report

Each study site is 1 km by 0.5 km in area. Three rodent trapping webs and four replicate experimental blocks of plots are randomly located at each study site to measure vegetation responses to the exclusion of small mammals. Each block of plots is 96 meters on each side. Each block of plots consists of 4 experimental study plots, each occupying 1/4 of each block. The blocks of study plots are all oriented on a site in an X/Y coordinate system, with the top to the north. Treatments within each block include one unfenced control plot (Treatment C), one plot fenced with hardware cloth and poultry wire to exclude rodents and rabbits (Treatment R). The two treatments were randomly assigned to each of the four possible plots in each block independently, and their arrangements differ from block to block. Each of the plots in a replicate block are separated by 20 meters. Each experimental measurement plot measures 36 meters by 36 meters. A grid of 36 sampling points is positioned at 5.8-meter intervals on a systematically located 6 by 6 point grid within each plot. A permanent one-meter by one-meter vegetation measurement quadrat is located at each of the 36 points. A 3-meter wide buffer area is situated between the grid of 36 points and the perimeter of each plot. The foliage canopy area and maximum height of each plant species is measured from each quadrat. All cover values are measured from the vegetation measurement frame, which is 1 meter by 1 meter, and partitioned into a grid of 100, 10 cm by 10 cm squares. Cover is measured by counting the number of

The organisms found in temperate forest ecosystem are trees: producers, plants: producers, insects: consumers and decomposers, squirrels: consumers, deer: consumers, bears: consumers, foxes: consumers, and birds: which consumers and decomposers. The rewards of this biodiversity are the survival of life is certain and will maintain to live in connection with the organism. Essential nutrients are supplied by plant life eaten by herbivores that are then eaten by carnivores, which keep the food chain going. Producers, consumers, and decomposers are the major three categories of organisms found in the temperate forest system. Producers consists of trees,

When going to the sand dunes of the Illinois Beach State Park, we wanted to test the effects of different environment on succession, ecosystem development. The problem was to find out if there is a succession (ecosystem development) of plant communities taking place. If the sand dune’s closer to the lake are newer than those further inland, then, I believe succession will take place because the newest dunes do not have rich enough soil to support more complex plants like trees and shrubs growing in the areas that have already gone through later stage succession. The data supported our hypothesis.

Through our research we aimed to determine if there were any differences in water quality of both the north and south forks of Strawberry Creek. As time progresses and the environment changes it is important to keep track of how certain species are being impacted by these features, and how they cope with change. We hypothesized that due to the lack of pollution, the south fork will promote a greater diversity of macroinvertebrates. This was due to the fact that there was less runoff and trash that could be introduced to the water in the south fork, than there was in the north fork. We gathered data by analyzing the different organisms living in both forks. We collected a total of fifty vials composed of five organisms from each fork, and inspected them under microscopic view. After gathering data and identifying the different kinds of organisms living in the different forks we assessed whether the organisms from the samples could live in high or low resolution water. We also took a t-test to assess the probability of these differences being due to relevant factors or by chance. Our major findings suggest that organisms in the south fork showed a higher demand to living in cleaner water indicating that our hypothesis was correct.

Read "Lab 3: Biodiversity." This lab will allow you to investigate how various organisms alter their environments. Additionally, it will allow you to assess the health of ecosystems based upon their biodiversity. Then, you will utilize this information and your eScience lab kit to complete Demonstration 1 and Experiment 1 on the Week Three Lab Reporting Form. Make sure to complete all of the following items before submission:

Since organisms living in communities form interdependent relationships, a change in the abundance of one species will not only affect the physical and more direct interactions, but could indirectly affect the number of other species within the community as a consequence (Wootton 1993). These indirect affects rise because the interactions between pairs of species are not independent of other species, such as increasing the density of vegetation may increase the survival rate of the prey, reducing the intensity of the interaction between the predator and prey (Wootton 1993, 1994). An

In the article, “Loss of Dung Beetles Puts Ecosystems in Deep Doo-Doo”, the author discusses the effects dung beetles have on an ecosystem, and how these beetles cohabitate in their surrounding areas. The study was conducted to determine how dung beetles function in their environment, and what happens to them as a result. Additionally, researchers wanted to figure out if there was any loss of biodiversity or destruction of the ecosystem within the beetle population. Researchers placed a population of beetles in two different areas to observe their behaviors. One of the areas was a hydroelectric dam in a tropical forest of Venezuela, and the other was a much smaller island. The results indicated that the larger bees left the smaller islands

“Biological diversity is of fundamental importance to the functioning of all natural and human-engineered ecosystems, and by extension to the ecosystem services that nature provides free of charge to human society ”(Lloyd, 2014). Biodiversity is very important to both plants, animals and humans on Earth and if one species is destroyed it throw the balance off .

Research by Su et al. (1996) revealed that different hardwood content in stands influences balsam fir defoliation and mortality caused by spruce budworm. Defoliation and mortality are less in stand with high hardwood content than in stands with low hardwoods (MacLean 1980; Bergeron et al. 1995; Su et al. 1996). This results in higher canopy openness in stands with high conifer content than in high hardwood content

This is constructed by planting different type of plant species in the same proximal area that will benefit both plant species, establishing a mutualistic relationship. The nurse plant effect can be applied to further examine how the habitat structure of PLL flowers beds along different gradient influence invertebrates (Hai et al 2008)

The sparrow had a total of one species with a relative abundance of 0.0526. The earthworm had a total of six species with a relative abundance of 0.3158. The red-headed woodpecker had a total of one species with a relative abundance of 0.0526. The bigger brown spider had a total of one species with a relative abundance of 0.0526 (see Figure 1). The total number of species in the wooded area was nineteen with the species evenness of 0.7823. It also had a Shannon diversity index of 1.6266 and species richness of eight (see Table 1). The twelve different species at the water’s edge site are turtle, buzzard, deer, frog, beaver, tiny brown spider, small black bird, small yellow and brown stripes spider, dark with brown stripes spider, water spider, tibellus spider, and dog. The turtle had a total of five species with a relative abundance of 0.1515. The buzzard had a total of three species with a relative abundance of 0.0909. The deer had a total of one species with a relative abundance of 0.0303. The frog had a total of one species with a relative abundance of 0.0303. The beaver had a total of two species with a relative abundance of 0.0606. The tiny brown spider had a total of one species with a relative

Species diversity can help an ecosystem remain stable. The greater the number of species in an ecosystem, the greater the diversity of that ecosystem. This will make it harder for one species to overpower the rest.

sand dunes additionally act as habitats for a range of plants and animals, maintaining the high level of diverseness within the

Biodiversity presents occurrence of variety of species and their natural community in which they live. By the definition it is “The degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. It is a measure of the health of ecosystems and is in part a function of climate.” (Rutherford) Ecosystem is on the other hand, “ community and its abiotic environment”( Rutherford). Biodiversity exists in every ecosystem, weather it is big one, or just ecosystem of one garden, it has the same importance because without it nature loses its ability to perform major functions needed for life on Earth, as it is oxygen production. Trough this investigation, two different ecosystems will be explored and

The patterns of biological diversity in rivers and streams among taxa vary on a spatial and temporal scale (Ligeiro et al. 2010; McGarvey and Terra 2015). Variations in stream ecology can be contributed to water quality, habitat, and history of disturbance (Lingeiro et al. 2010). Creeks and streams feed into rivers and other larger bodies of water, which provide food, water, and other commercial and recreational services as well as a home to an array of plants and animals which rely on clean water. The health of these smaller bodies of water can act as indicators for the health of the larger watershed.