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

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	1.28	0.15	1.45	0.08	4.57	1.81	6.46
Common Milkweed	10	124	6	0.19	0.11	2.34	0.01	3.43	2.92	6.36
Unlisted-Round leaf	52	16	3	0.98	0.06	0.3	0.06	1.71	0.38	2.15
Hairy Vetch	6	7	2	0.11	0.04	0.13	0.01	1.14	0.16	1.31
Thistle	7	6	2	0.13	0.04	0.11	0.01	1.14	0.14	1.29
Hairy Aster	3	3	2	0.06	0.04	0.06	0	1.14	0.07	1.22
Daisy Fleabane	3	2	1	0.06	0.02	0.04	0	0.57	0.05	0.62

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Comparison of 2006 to 2005 Importance and Dominance Values

Prairie Plants 05	Importance Value	Prairie Plants 06	Importance Value	Prairie Plants 05	Dominance	Prairie Plants 06	Dominance
Big Bluestem	70.41	Big Bluestem	119.07	Big Bluestem	4.38	Big Bluestem	24.19
Indian Grass	37.3	Wild Bergamot	47.92	Wild Bergamot	4.23	Wild Bergamot	10.4
Wild Bergamot	27.86	Indian Grass	30.52	Stiff Goldenrod	3.79	Indian Grass	7.3
Stiff Goldenrod	19.83	Compass Plant	13.57	Indian Grass	3.06	Compass Plant	4.51
Rosinweed	19.12	Rosinweed	13.32	Yellow Coneflower	2.91	Prairie Dock	2.62
Yellow Coneflower	17.39	Switch Grass	11.83	Compass Plant	2.87	Switch Grass	2.57
Compass Plant	16.95	Prairie Dock	9.77	Rosinweed	2.83	Sawtooth Sunflower	1.68
Tall Coreopsis	14.74	Sawtooth Sunflower	7.42	Tall Coreopsis	2.08	Rosinweed	1.14
Mountain Mint	10.54	Foxglove Beard Tongue	7.17	Foxglove Beard Tongue	1.66	Black-eyed Susan	1.08
Foxglove Beard Tongue	9.37	Stiff Goldenrod	6.62	Mountain Mint	1.57	Stiff Goldenrod	0.84
Prairie Dock	8.32	New England Aster	5.88	Switch Grass	0.76	White Prairie Clover	0.81
Switch Grass	5.92	Yellow Coneflower	5.26	Sawtooth Sunflower	0.68	New England Aster	0.76
Sawtooth Sunflower	5.55	Tall Coreopsis	4.86	Prairie Dock	0.64	Foxglove Beard Tongue	0.59
New England Aster	2.74	White Prairie Clover	3.98	Rattlesnake Master	0.3	Tall Coreopsis	0.43
Black-eyed Susan	2.72	Black-eyed Susan	3.09	Wild Quinine	0.23	Yellow Coneflower	0.3
Rattlesnake Master	1.59	Tall Boneset	3.06	New England Aster	0.21	Tall Boneset	0.19
Wild Quinine	1.37	Heath Aster	2.23	Black-eyed Susan	0.19	Heath Aster	0.19
Tall Boneset	1.15	Indian Hemp	2.05	Tall Boneset	0.13	Mountain Mint	0.16
White Wild Indigo	1.02	Mountain Mint	1.51	White Wild Indigo	0.11	Indian Hemp	0.08
Dense Blazing Star	0.76	Rattlesnake Master	0.88	Dense Blazing Star	0.02	Rattlesnake Master	0.03

GRAPHS COMPARING 2006 TO 2005 IMPORTANCE VALUES

Graph of Importance Values for Plot 17 2005

Dominance Values for Prairie Plants 2005 Back to Top of Page

All the Data for Plot #17 2006

Native Plant (Prairie Plants)	Total Plants Found	Total Percentage Found	# of Quadrats Found In	Density	Frequency	Dominance	Relative Density	Relative Frequency	Relative Dominance	Importance Value
Big Bluestem	1125	895	28	30.41	0.76	24.19	56.79	21.88	40.41	119.07
Stiff Goldenrod	26	31	5	0.7	0.14	0.84	1.31	3.91	1.4	6.62
Compass Plant	42	167	5	1.14	0.14	4.51	2.12	3.91	7.54	13.57
Indian Grass	162	270	13	4.38	0.35	7.3	8.18	10.16	12.19	30.52
Switch Grass	72	95	5	1.95	0.14	2.57	3.63	3.91	4.29	11.83
Rattlesnake Master	1	1	1	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.05	0.78	0.04	0.88
Prairie Dock	14	97	6	0.38	0.16	2.62	0.71	4.69	4.38	9.77
Rosinweed	56	42	11	1.51	0.3	1.14	2.83	8.59	1.9	13.32
Yellow Coneflower	17	11	5	0.46	0.14	0.3	0.86	3.91	0.5	5.26
Black-eyed Susan	10	40	1	0.27	0.03	1.08	0.51	0.78	1.81	3.09
Tall Coreopsis	20	16	4	0.54	0.11	0.43	1.01	3.13	0.72	4.86
Sawtooth Sunflower	45	62	3	1.22	0.08	1.68	2.27	2.34	2.8	7.42
Wild Bergamot	280	385	21	7.57	0.57	10.4	14.13	16.41	17.38	47.92
Mountain Mint	9	6	1	0.24	0.03	0.16	0.45	0.78	0.27	1.51
New England Aster	14	28	5	0.38	0.14	0.76	0.71	3.91	1.26	5.88
White Prairie Clover	21	30	2	0.57	0.05	0.81	1.06	1.56	1.35	3.98
Tall Boneset	8	7	3	0.22	0.08	0.19	0.4	2.34	0.32	3.06
Heath Aster	7	7	2	0.19	0.05	0.19	0.35	1.56	0.32	2.23
Foxglove Beard Tongue	45	22	5	1.22	0.14	0.59	2.27	3.91	0.99	7.17
Indian Hemp	7	3	2	0.19	0.05	0.08	0.35	1.56	0.14	2.05

Invasives (Weeds)
Non-Native Plant	Total Plants Found	Total Percentage Found	# of Quadrats Found In	Density	Frequency	Dominance	Relative Density	Relative Frequency	Relative Dominance	Importance Value
Black Raspberry	4	20	2	0.11	0.05	0.54	0	1.94	1.06	3.01
Daisy Fleabane	29	4	3	0.78	0.08	0.11	0.01	2.91	0.21	3.14
Wild Carrot	86	18	3	2.32	0.08	0.49	0.04	2.91	0.96	3.91
Sweet Clovers (tall)	435	280	16	11.76	0.43	7.57	0.18	15.53	14.89	30.6
Yarrow	48	69	9	1.3	0.24	1.86	0.02	8.74	3.67	12.43
Tall goldenrod	121	116	15	3.27	0.41	3.14	0.05	14.56	6.17	20.78
Common Milkweed	2	14	2	0.05	0.05	0.38	0	1.94	0.74	2.69
Clovers (ground)	7	12	2	0.19	0.05	0.32	0	1.94	0.64	2.58
Hairy Vetch	14	65	6	0.38	0.16	1.76	0.01	5.83	3.46	9.29
Hairy Aster	6	7	2	0.16	0.05	0.19	0	1.94	0.37	2.32
Drummonds Aster	16	11	4	0.43	0.11	0.3	0.01	3.88	0.58	4.47
Dandelion	13	5	1	0.35	0.03	0.14	0.01	0.97	0.27	1.24
Unlisted-Round leaf	30	10	1	0.81	0.03	0.27	0.01	0.97	0.53	1.51
Unlisted-Oval leaf	725	192	8	19.59	0.22	5.19	0.3	7.77	10.21	18.28
Unlisted-Grasslike	238819	1056	27	6454.57	0.73	28.54	99.36	26.21	56.14	181.71
Unlisted-Triangular Pointed Leaf	3	2	2	0.08	0.05	0.05	0	1.94	0.11	2.05