Sampling Grassland Plant Populations Using Quadrats

This data was collected to sample grassland plant populations found in the Danby Woodlot at York University. It was collected on Tuesday, September 22 around 3:30 pm. Working with my partner Michael Sirianni, we used a 1 meter by 1 meter quadrat to sample the grassland 25 times. In order to ensure our sample was random, we began at the edge of the grassland and worked our way inwards, using a random number generator to determine how many steps to take each time the quadrat was placed down. After the quadrat was put down, we did a brief count of the total number of plants found in the quadrat. Then, we counted the number of individual species found. These include: Common Milkweed, Sugar Maple, Common Plantain, Common Thistle, Late Purple Aster, and Common Mallow. Next, we estimated a percentage of the total vegetation coverage in the quadrat. We also estimated the percent coverage of grass in the quadrat. These were estimations done considering the area of the quadrat as 100% and working backwards from that. It took approximately 40 minutes to replicate this process 25 times. Group members include Michael, Amanda, Phenil and I.