FERMI QUADRAT PRAIRIE STUDY 2006

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Data Table

Graphs

Comparative Analysis

GPS LOCATION: N:41º50'28.4 W:88º 16'24

STUDENT RESEARCHER: Dylan P.

Table of our Fermi Quadrat

DATA:

plants found	dominance	importance value
big bluestem	80	3256.4
indian grass	15	144
yarrow	30	111.4
tall sweet clover	80	135.4
crab grass	35	153.9
compass plant	35	160.8

Table of all quadrats of plot 17

RAW DATA
Native Plants	Total Plants Found	Total Percentage Found	# of Quadrats Found In	Density	Frequency	Dominance	Relative Density	Relative Frequency	Relative Dominance	Importance Value
Big Bluestem	200	423	11	16.67	0.92	35.25	40.57	27.5	48.62	116.69
Compass Plant	12	30	1	1	0.08	2.5	2.43	2.5	3.45	8.38
Indian Grass	126	222	8	10.5	0.67	18.5	25.56	20	25.52	71.08
Switch Grass	34	38	2	2.83	0.17	3.17	6.9	5	4.37	16.27
Prairie Dock	7	44	3	0.58	0.25	3.67	1.42	7.5	5.06	13.98
Rosinweed	6	5	3	0.5	0.25	0.42	1.22	7.5	0.57	9.29
Yellow Coneflower	5	4	2	0.42	0.17	0.33	1.01	5	0.46	6.47
Wild Bergamot	91	80	4	7.58	0.33	6.67	18.46	10	9.2	37.65
New England Aster	1	15	1	0.08	0.08	1.25	0.2	2.5	1.72	4.43
Tall Boneset	8	7	3	0.67	0.25	0.58	1.62	7.5	0.81	9.93
Foxglove Beard Tongue	1	1	1	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.2	2.5	0.12	2.82
Indian Hemp	2	1	1	0.17	0.08	0.08	0.41	2.5	0.12	3.02

Non-Native (Weed) Plants	Total Plants Found	Total Percentage Found	# of Quadrats Found In	Density	Frequency	Dominance	Relative Density	Relative Frequency	Relative Dominance	Importance Value
Daisy Fleabane	1	1	1	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.02	3.03	0.16	3.21
Wild Carrot	86	18	3	7.17	0.25	1.5	2.02	9.09	2.85	13.96
Sweet Clovers (tall)	168	140	5	14	0.42	11.67	3.95	15.15	22.15	41.26
Yarrow	18	27	4	1.5	0.33	2.25	0.42	12.12	4.27	16.82
Tall goldenrod	25	16	4	2.08	0.33	1.33	0.59	12.12	2.53	15.24
Clovers (ground)	2	10	1	0.17	0.08	0.83	0.05	3.03	1.58	4.66
Hairy Vetch	3	17	2	0.25	0.17	1.42	0.07	6.06	2.69	8.82
Drummonds Aster	6	4	1	0.5	0.08	0.33	0.14	3.03	0.63	3.8
Unlisted-Oval leaf	111	154	4	9.25	0.33	12.83	2.61	12.12	24.37	39.1
Unlisted-Grasslike	3831	245	8	319.25	0.67	20.42	90.12	24.24	38.77	153.13

SORTED DATA BELOW

Native Plants by Dominance	Dominance		Native Plants by I.V	Importance Value
Big Bluestem	35.25		Big Bluestem	116.69
Indian Grass	18.5		Indian Grass	71.08
Wild Bergamot	6.67		Wild Bergamot	37.65
Prairie Dock	3.67		Switch Grass	16.27
Switch Grass	3.17		Prairie Dock	13.98
Compass Plant	2.5		Tall Boneset	9.93
New England Aster	1.25		Rosinweed	9.29
Tall Boneset	0.58		Compass Plant	8.38
Rosinweed	0.42		Yellow Coneflower	6.47
Yellow Coneflower	0.33		New England Aster	4.43
Foxglove Beard Tongue	0.08		Indian Hemp	3.02
Indian Hemp	0.08		Foxglove Beard Tongue	2.82


Non-Native (Weed) Plants by Dominance	Dominance		Non-Native (Weed) Plants by I.V.	Importance Value
Unlisted-Grasslike	20.42		Unlisted-Grasslike	153.13
Unlisted-Oval leaf	12.83		Sweet Clovers (tall)	41.26
Sweet Clovers (tall)	11.67		Unlisted-Oval leaf	39.1
Yarrow	2.25		Yarrow	16.82
Wild Carrot	1.5		Tall goldenrod	15.24
Hairy Vetch	1.42		Wild Carrot	13.96
Tall goldenrod	1.33		Hairy Vetch	8.82
Clovers (ground)	0.83		Clovers (ground)	4.66
Drummonds Aster	0.33		Drummonds Aster	3.8
Daisy Fleabane	0.08		Daisy Fleabane	3.21

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ALL SPECIES	Dominance	Importance Value		ALL SPECIES	Dominance		ALL SPECIES	Importance Value
Big Bluestem	35.25	116.69		Big Bluestem	35.25		Unlisted-Grasslike	153.13
Compass Plant	2.5	8.38		Unlisted-Grasslike	20.42		Big Bluestem	116.69
Indian Grass	18.5	71.08		Indian Grass	18.5		Indian Grass	71.08
Switch Grass	3.17	16.27		Unlisted-Oval leaf	12.83		Sweet Clovers (tall)	41.26
Prairie Dock	3.67	13.98		Sweet Clovers (tall)	11.67		Unlisted-Oval leaf	39.1
Rosinweed	0.42	9.29		Wild Bergamot	6.67		Wild Bergamot	37.65
Yellow Coneflower	0.33	6.47		Prairie Dock	3.67		Yarrow	16.82
Wild Bergamot	6.67	37.65		Switch Grass	3.17		Switch Grass	16.27
New England Aster	1.25	4.43		Compass Plant	2.5		Tall goldenrod	15.24
Tall Boneset	0.58	9.93		Yarrow	2.25		Prairie Dock	13.98
Foxglove Beard Tongue	0.08	2.82		Wild Carrot	1.5		Wild Carrot	13.96
Indian Hemp	0.08	3.02		Hairy Vetch	1.42		Tall Boneset	9.93
Daisy Fleabane	0.08	3.21		Tall goldenrod	1.33		Rosinweed	9.29
Wild Carrot	1.5	13.96		New England Aster	1.25		Hairy Vetch	8.82
Sweet Clovers (tall)	11.67	41.26		Clovers (ground)	0.83		Compass Plant	8.38
Yarrow	2.25	16.82		Tall Boneset	0.58		Yellow Coneflower	6.47
Tall goldenrod	1.33	15.24		Rosinweed	0.42		Clovers (ground)	4.66
Clovers (ground)	0.83	4.66		Yellow Coneflower	0.33		New England Aster	4.43
Hairy Vetch	1.42	8.82		Drummonds Aster	0.33		Drummonds Aster	3.8
Drummonds Aster	0.33	3.8		Foxglove Beard Tongue	0.08		Daisy Fleabane	3.21
Unlisted-Oval leaf	12.83	39.1		Indian Hemp	0.08		Indian Hemp	3.02
Unlisted-Grasslike	20.42	153.13		Daisy Fleabane	0.08		Foxglove Beard Tongue	2.82

GRAPHS OF DOMINANCE AND IMPORTANCE VALUE:

Graphs of dominance and importance values for all quadrats 2006

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS:

Part 1. Backround Information

The backround information is basically three parts made into one. In this analysis I am going to explain to you what dominance, important values, and diversity means to me. I am also going to explain what fires do to HELP prairies! Dominance is how much a plant takes up in an area, or in our instance, a quadrat. A quadrat is a 1 meter by 1 meter area of a prairie. This is what we looked at, at our prairie. I found out that the most dominant plant in the “quadrat” was big blue stem. Indian grass is also up there with big blue. The importance values of the prairie or my quadrat is how much importance (which is found by adding some numbers together) a plant makes up in a quadrat. Diversity helps plants a lot! The more diversity you have, the “prettier” your prairie will be because it isn’t all , say, big bluestem. If you only had big blustem you be looking at a boring prairie. Not that big bluestem is ugly, but if you had many different mixtures of plants you would be looking at a very colorful prairie.

Importance value also helps us understand what prairies have in them. They help show us what is at the top of importance value and what is at the bottom in values. The importance value is found by adding some numbers on your graphs together. This is very helpful to people who are looking to find out what is at the top of the chart and what is well not doing so well. Things that are at the top of the chart are doing well. I know this because the numbers in the other information ,like the numbers needed to get the importance value, showed me.

Part 2. comparison

The comparison is comparing the numbers of 2006, 2005, 2004, and 1992. I think that the numbers from 1992 have increased from then to 2006. I think this because the fires wipe out the weeds and every year there are probably less and less weeds so therefore if you keep burning produces less weeds. With less space taken up by the weeds the plants will grow in were they left space. So in 2004 there will be more weeds than in 2006 and in 2006 there will be more plants. The types of different plants in my quadrat in plot 17 was sort of like the ones in previous years. The plant with the highest domianance for me was big bluestem. In my quadrat we found a lot of this and I am pretty sure we would find a lot of it in the normal prairie. The plants with high dominance values also had high importance values, like big bluestem.

Part 3. prediction

I predict that the plants of 2016 will be in greater numbers because the fires will burn out the weeds and the plants will be “more dominant” than in 2006. I know this because the roots of the weeds are very shallow and cannot handle fire very well. The plants ,however, have roots that are 3x the size of the actual plant! This is how the prairie plants survive fire so well. They can store minerals in there roots and just “re-grow” from the soil again. Weeds have those wimpy shallow roots and cannot store as much nutrients and minerals as water can and so when they get burned they get turn into ashes and cant comeback. Plants also have another great advantage over weeds. Height! The weeds are small and cannot get to sunlight as well as big bluestem or Indian grass. I think that the plants of 1992 will have atleast doubled there numbers and weeds have gone done atleast half there numbers.

Part 4. reflection

I have learned how destructive fire can be and yet it actually helps prairie’s grow. I know this because we discussed this in class. We learned that plants have roots that can be up to 3X the size of them and that weed roots are shallow and cannot store as much nutrients and minerals as the plants can. This disadvantage means that everything is against weeds. Therefore if everything is against the weeds then they should die. But yet they still hang on and can survive the prairie. I know this because they are there every year! I think that the prairies do well because fires help them get rid of “unescery” weeds and trees.

COPYRIGHT:

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
This project was created by the 7th grade students of team 7 UPS from Madison Jr. High, Naperville Consolidated Unit School District #203 in Naperville, Illinois with the help of their teacher Mrs. Trudi Coutts along with Technology Lab Director Mrs. Margaret Gilmore. Support for the project came from Principal Ms. Erin Anderson and the other dedicated and cooperative faculty and staff of Madison Jr. High.

REFERENCES:
Fermilab Education Department particularly the SIMply Prairie Project. Authors: Bill Fraccaro, Johnson School, Wheaton, IL; Larry Cwik and Pat Franzen, Madison Junior High School, Naperville, IL; and Bernie Jokiel, Gary D, Jewel Middle School, North Aurora, IL.
Created for the NTEP II Fermilab LInC program sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office and Friends of Fermilab, and funded by United States Department of Energy, Illinois State Board of Education, North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium which is operated by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), and the National Science Foundation.