Antonio Sajiun

Professor Usyk

B&E Lab

4/3/18

Diversity in the Pine barrens

Introduction
Ecology deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical
surroundings. An ecological study is an observational study defined by the level at which data
are analyzed, namely at the population or group level, rather than at an individual level. As one
group we walked to a lowland cedar swamp. The class made a 100m2 quadrat to conduct our
study. One student was assigned to count the sphagnum moss, another counted the Pennsylvania
sedge, another counted the highbush blueberry, another counted the sweet pepper bush, another
counted the marginal wood fern, and another student counted the red maple. The rest of the
students measured the abiotic factors, which included measuring the pH of the soil, pH of the
standing water, temperature of the soil, water, and air, percentage of the canopy cover, and the
wind speed and direction.
After gathering all our data, we hiked to an upland pine barren. We again made a 100m2
quadrat to conduct our experiment. One student was assigned to count the pitch pine, another
counted the white oak, another counted the Northern red oak, another counted the highbush
blueberry, another counted the mountain laurel, and another student counted the
wintergreen/teaberry. The rest of the students again measured the abiotic factors, which are
measuring the pH of the soil, temperature of the soil and air, percentage of the canopy cover, and
the wind speed and direction.
This fits into the role of an ecological study because we observed the amount of different
populations of species that were in the area and observed the physical environment that the
different populations interact with. The purpose of the experiment is to learn terms commonly
used in ecological studies, identifying different tree species in the pine barrens, how to use
statistics to analyze data, and understand how environmental factors regulate plant diversity. The
null hypothesis is that there is more plant diversity in the lowland cedar swamp compared to an
upland pine barren. The prediction made regarding the null hypothesis is that there is a lack of a
dominant species in the lowland cedar swamp that will tend to have more species and a more
even abundance in each species. The alternative hypothesis is that there is more plant diversity in
the upland pine barrens as compared to the lowland cedar swamp. The prediction made for the
alternative hypothesis is that there is a dominant species in the lowland cedar swamp, which
tends to have less species and an uneven abundance in each species.
 Diversity in a community is determined by the species richness, which is the number of
different species in a community, and species diversity, which is a measure of community
complexity. One can determine if there is a dominant species if a species is more numerous than
its competitors in an ecological community or makes up more of the biomass. Yes, there are
mathematical calculations that can be done to prove or reject my hypothesis. The first equation is
Simpson’s Dominance (I), which determines if a community contains a dominant species. (Put
equation here). Other equations are Simpson’s Diversity (D), which is a measure of diversity in a
community, density, and relative density. (Put equation here)
Methods
Refer to pages 79 and 80 in Biodiversity and Evolution Lab Manual.

Results
Table 1: Number of individual plant species in both communities.
Individual Plant Species Lowland Cedar Swamp Upland Pine Barren
Atlantic White Cedar 16
Carpet Moss 8
Sphagnum Moss 35
Pennsylvania Sedge 4
Highbush Blueberry 16 48
Sweet Pepper Bush 22
Marginal Wood Fern 2
Red Maple 1
Muscle wood/ American Hornbeam 2
Pitch Pine 5
American Holly 1
White Oak 2
Northern Red Oak 2
Mountain Laurel 32
Wintergreen/Teaberry 15
Table 2: Abiotic factors results in both communities.

Abiotic Factors Lowland Cedar Swamp Upland Pine Barren

Soil pH 4 5
Water pH 5 N/A
Soil Temperature 4C 5C
Water Temperature 4C N/A
Air Temperature 6C 7C
Canopy Cover 65% 40%
Windspeed and Duration 14mph ENE 14mph ENE

Table 3: Densities of each individual plant species in both communities.

Lowland Cedar Swamp

Individual Plant Species Upland Pine Barren Density
Density

Atlantic White Cedar 0.16 per square meter

Carpet Moss 0.08 per square meter

Sphagnum Moss 0.35 per square meter

Pennsylvania Sedge 0.04 per square meter

Highbush Blueberry 0.16 per square meter 0.48 per square meter

Sweet Pepper Bush 0.22 per square meter

Marginal Wood Fern 0.02 per square meter

Red Maple 0.01 per square meter

Muscle wood/ American Hornbeam 0.02 per square meter

Pitch Pine 0.05 per square meter

American Holly 0.01 per square meter

White Oak 0.02 per square meter

Northern Red Oak 0.02 per square meter

Mountain Laurel 0.32 per square meter

Wintergreen/Teaberry 0.15 per square meter

Table 4: Simpson’s Dominance and Diversity of both communities

Lowland Cedar Swamp Upland Pine Barren

Simpson’s Dominance: Simson's Dominance:
0.198 0.319
Simpson’s Diversity:
Simpson’s Diversity: 0.802 0.681

Table 5: Relative densities of each individual plant species in both communities

Lowland Cedar Swamp Upland Pine Barren

Individual Plant Species
Relative Density Relative Density

Atlantic White Cedar 15.09 per square meter

Carpet Moss 7.55 per square meter

Sphagnum Moss 33.02 per square meter

Pennsylvania Sedge 3.77 per square meter

Highbush Blueberry 15.09 per square meter 45.71 per square meter

Sweet Pepper Bush 20.75 per square meter

Marginal Wood Fern 1.89 per square meter

Red Maple 0.94 per square meter

Muscle wood/ American Hornbeam 1.89 per square meter

Pitch Pine 4.76 per square meter

American Holly 0.95 per square meter

White Oak 1.90 per square meter

Northern Red Oak 1.90 per square meter

Mountain Laurel 30.48 per square meter

Wintergreen/Teaberry 14.29 per square meter

 The amount of each individual species in the experiment area was counted and the abiotic
factors of both the lowland cedar swamp and the upland pine barren were measured. In the
observations that were conducted in the lowland cedar swamp, the dominant species was found
to be the sphagnum moss because 35 individuals in the 100m2 quadrat were counted. In the
upland pine barren, the dominant species was the highbush blue berry because of them having 48
individuals counted in the 100m2 quadrat. There was a higher diversity in the lowland cedar
swamp as compared to the upland pine barren, and there was a higher dominance in the upland
pine barren then the lowland cedar swamp. The densities of each species in the lowland cedar
swamp was much closer in ratio than the upland cedar swamp. Also, the relative density had a
closer ratio in the lowland cedar swamp compared to the upland pine barren.
Discussion
The null hypothesis was supported. There is a lack of a dominant species in the lowland
cedar swamp, which was observed to have more species and a more even abundance in each
species. In the results, there were more species and many more individuals in the lowland cedar
swamp compared to the upland pine barren. The numbers of each individual species were much
closer to each other compared to the upland pine barren. Also, since there was easy access to
water in the lowland cedar swamp, aquatic species of plants are able to thrive in the area. In the
results of the upland pine barren, the highbush blueberry was an obvious dominant species in the
experiment area. Yes, the experiment was consistent with the textbook and other research. Some
potential problems with the study was that due to inclement weather, the experiment was not
actually performed, but instead creative thinking was used to mimic performing the experiment.
After plotting the data of communities, A, B, and C from table 1 of the lab manual, the
communities that contain a dominant species is species 1 from community B and C. The values
of Simpson’s dominance for communities A, B, and D in table 1 is that the dominance of
community A was 0.09, community B was 0.16, and community D was 0.099. Simpson’s
dominance value 1 indicates there is a high dominance. When a Simpson’s Dominance value is
greatly less than 1 indicates that there is no dominance at all. The calculations of Simpson’s
Diversity for communities A, B, and D is that community A is 0.91, community B is 0.84, and
community C is 0.901. Simpson’s diversity value 1 indicates that there is less diversity. When
Simpson’s diversity value is greatly less than 1 indicates that there is no diversity.
 References
NAMS faculty. (spring2018). Biodiversity & Evolution Lab Manual. Stockton University