Student Data 

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Processing the Data:
After the students complete their prairie quadrat survey they upload their data into the computer at Fermilab. The Fermi computer then uses their species counts and percent coverage data to compile and calculate the Importance Value and Dominance of each species. Click on this link to see a detailed discussion of these factors.  Students can then use the data to compare data from other prairies or from other years. The data from the Fermilab site goes back to 1992 so there is now  a wealth of information to compare. This allows the students to develop there own topics to research about the prairie. This link, Sample Data Entry Sheet, shows you and example of the online page that students use to upload their data.

Student Research Projects:

Students can use the prairie data to support their particular research project. Typical independent projects are those that compare one years data to another or more specific ones that compare the changes in growth, dominance, or importance value of a particular family or species of plants over time.


2006 Data and Project Totals

Student Data Collections and Analyses for 2006  New Pages for 2006!

2005 Data and Project TOTALS

Student Data Collections and Analyses for 2005




Making Graphs of the Data:
Once the students have entered their data they can download a tab-delimited file from the Fermilab computer to a spreadsheet/graph making program like Excel and make graphs to help display and visualize the data. This link will show you a sample of last years data. Madison DATA 2005 . Here is the data on Dominance. For the year 2005 data click here: Madison Data 2006   NEW!

 


How to Use the Data

The link below will take you to a tutorial that you and your students can review to learn the procedures for looking at and downloading data to use in your research.

Tutorial on Using the Fermi Data:

Now try downloading some data and making a graph or use the data for a project.

Data Summaries by Prairie Study and Year



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Data and Project Results 2005

All Collected Data Totals are below

Plant Total Plants Total Percentage # of Quadrats Density Frequency Dominance Relative Density Relative Frequency Relative Dominance Importance Value
Big Bluestem 6301 232 12 118.89 0.23 4.38 49.73 8.39 12.29 70.41
Indian Grass 3018 162 7 56.94 0.13 3.06 23.82 4.89 8.58 37.3
Wild Bergamot 166 224 21 3.13 0.4 4.23 1.31 14.69 11.86 27.86
Prairie Cord Grass 1967 159 2 37.11 0.04 3 15.53 1.4 8.42 25.35
Stiff Goldenrod 189 201 11 3.57 0.21 3.79 1.49 7.69 10.65 19.83
Rosinweed 264 150 13 4.98 0.25 2.83 2.08 9.09 7.95 19.12
Yellow Coneflower 195 154 11 3.68 0.21 2.91 1.54 7.69 8.16 17.39
Compass Plant 64 152 12 1.21 0.23 2.87 0.51 8.39 8.05 16.95
Tall Coreopsis 66 110 12 1.25 0.23 2.08 0.52 8.39 5.83 14.74
Mountain Mint 158 83 7 2.98 0.13 1.57 1.25 4.89 4.4 10.54
Foxglove Beard Tongue 154 88 5 2.91 0.09 1.66 1.22 3.5 4.66 9.37
Prairie Dock 28 34 9 0.53 0.17 0.64 0.22 6.29 1.8 8.32
Switch Grass 39 40 5 0.74 0.09 0.76 0.31 3.5 2.12 5.92
Sawtooth Sunflower 19 36 5 0.36 0.09 0.68 0.15 3.5 1.91 5.55
New England Aster 8 11 3 0.15 0.06 0.21 0.06 2.1 0.58 2.74
Black-eyed Susan 12 10 3 0.23 0.06 0.19 0.1 2.1 0.53 2.72
Rattlesnake Master 6 16 1 0.11 0.02 0.3 0.05 0.7 0.85 1.59
Wild Quinine 4 12 1 0.07 0.02 0.23 0.03 0.7 0.64 1.37
Tall Boneset 10 7 1 0.19 0.02 0.13 0.08 0.7 0.37 1.15
White Wild Indigo 1 6 1 0.02 0.02 0.11 0.01 0.7 0.32 1.02
Dense Blazing Star 1 1 1 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.7 0.05 0.76
                   
                   
WEEDS                    
                   
Plant Total Plants Total Percentage # of Quadrats Density Frequency Dominance Relative Density Relative Frequency Relative Dominance Importance Value
Unlisted-Grasslike 84310 2258 38 1590.75 0.72 42.6 97.24 21.71 53.22 172.17
Tall goldenrod 1065 1077 38 20.09 0.72 20.32 1.23 21.71 25.38 48.33
Unlisted-Oval leaf 517 253 20 9.75 0.38 4.77 0.6 11.43 5.96 17.99
Wild Carrot 66 62 13 1.25 0.25 1.17 0.08 7.43 1.46 8.97
Clovers (ground) 389 85 11 7.34 0.21 1.6 0.45 6.29 2 8.74
Yarrow 69 63 12 1.3 0.23 1.19 0.08 6.86 1.48 8.42
Unlisted-Triangular Pointed Leaf 104 71 11 1.96 0.21 1.34 0.12 6.29 1.67 8.08
Sweet Clovers (tall) 34 139 8 0.64 0.15 2.62 0.04 4.57 3.28 7.89
Drummonds Aster 68 77 8