FERMI QUADRAT PRAIRIE STUDY 2004

FERMI QUADRAT PRAIRIE STUDY 2006

GPS LOCATION: N:41°50'27.6 W:88°16'26.4

STUDENT RESEARCHER: Mike R.

Aerial View

Map of Fermi

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Data Table

Graphs

Comparative Analysis

Hawk	Goose	Caterpillar

	Butterfly

DATA:

Table of our Fermi Quadrat

plant name	total # plants found	total percentage	Dominance	importance value
Big Bluestem	46	20	20	238
Indian Grass	17	7	7	93
Crab Grass	15	5	5	60
Brown Leaf	4	2	2	30
Prairie Doc	4	2	2	30
Rosinweed	1	0.5	0.5	14
Tall Boneset	1	0.5	0.5	14
Yellow Coneflower	1	0.5	0.5	14
Hairy Vetch	1	0.5	0.5	14
Yarrow	1	0.5	0.5	14
Unlisted Oval Leaf	1	0.5	0.5	14

Table of all Quadrats of plot 17


# of Quadrats Found In	Density	Frequency	Dominance	Relative Density	Relative Frequency	Relative Dominance	Importance Value
11	16.67	0.92	35.25	40.57	27.5	48.62	116.69
1	1	0.08	2.5	2.43	2.5	3.45	8.38
8	10.5	0.67	18.5	25.56	20	25.52	71.08
2	2.83	0.17	3.17	6.9	5	4.37	16.27
3	0.58	0.25	3.67	1.42	7.5	5.06	13.98
3	0.5	0.25	0.42	1.22	7.5	0.57	9.29
2	0.42	0.17	0.33	1.01	5	0.46	6.47
4	7.58	0.33	6.67	18.46	10	9.2	37.65
1	0.08	0.08	1.25	0.2	2.5	1.72	4.43
3	0.67	0.25	0.58	1.62	7.5	0.81	9.93
1	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.2	2.5	0.12	2.82
1	0.17	0.08	0.08	0.41	2.5	0.12	3.02

# of Quadrats Found In	Density	Frequency	Dominance	Relative Density	Relative Frequency	Relative Dominance	Importance Value
1	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.02	3.03	0.16	3.21
3	7.17	0.25	1.5	2.02	9.09	2.85	13.96
5	14	0.42	11.67	3.95	15.15	22.15	41.26
4	1.5	0.33	2.25	0.42	12.12	4.27	16.82
4	2.08	0.33	1.33	0.59	12.12	2.53	15.24
1	0.17	0.08	0.83	0.05	3.03	1.58	4.66
2	0.25	0.17	1.42	0.07	6.06	2.69	8.82
1	0.5	0.08	0.33	0.14	3.03	0.63	3.8
4	9.25	0.33	12.83	2.61	12.12	24.37	39.1
8	319.25	0.67	20.42	90.12	24.24	38.77	153.13



Native Plants by I.V	Importance Value
Big Bluestem	116.69
Indian Grass	71.08
Wild Bergamot	37.65
Switch Grass	16.27
Prairie Dock	13.98
Tall Boneset	9.93
Rosinweed	9.29
Compass Plant	8.38
Yellow Coneflower	6.47
New England Aster	4.43
Indian Hemp	3.02
Foxglove Beard Tongue	2.82


Non-Native (Weed) Plants by I.V.	Importance Value
Unlisted-Grasslike	153.13
Sweet Clovers (tall)	41.26
Unlisted-Oval leaf	39.1
Yarrow	16.82
Tall goldenrod	15.24
Wild Carrot	13.96
Hairy Vetch	8.82
Clovers (ground)	4.66
Drummonds Aster	3.8
Daisy Fleabane	3.21

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GRAPHS OF DOMINANCE AND IMPORTANCE VALUE:

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS:

Part One

To compare prairie plots you use Dominance, Importance Value, and Diversity. You use these because they can tell you the change in the prairie and a quadrat study tells you what plants are growing. Importance value tells us how dominant, how frequent, and how debts plant in the ecosystem is. We use Importance Value because it tells us a lot about all the plants, it is sort of a summary of the prairie. Dominance is a total percent of a plant in a whole area. It’s good to know the dominance for many reasons. If there’s a lot of a taller plant in an area then it might shade the shorter plants so there would be less shorter plants in that area. Also the bigger plant roots might dig straight through the roots of the shorter plants. Density is how much of a plant is in an area. It’s good to know the density of a plant because you can see the change over time and you will know a spot where a specific plant grows.

Part Two

There are many different types of plants at Fermi but there are only 11 different plants in our quadrat. The prairie at Fermi has changed over the years 2004,2005,and 2006. Big bluestem was always the dominant plant but there was a little lesser in 2004 and a lot lesser in 2005. What we can tell from this is that the prairie is getting healthier but what we can’t tell is will the prairie keep getting healthier. Because of the drought in 2005 there were more weeds and lesser plants the plants will slowly come back and destroy the weeds. Indian Grass is another one of the top grasses that came in over the years. There is more and more Indian Grass every day and he it goes with every plant.

Part Three

In 1992 the dominant plant was Big Bluestem and I can predict that it will be the dominant plant for almost ever because there is more today than in 1992. In 1992 there was a plant called Showy Tick Trefoil and today there is no Showy Tick Trefoil, so I know that you won’t see any more in the future. There is almost as much Indian Grass as there is Big Bluestem, but it still isn’t the dominant plant. There are about 3,751 Indian Grasses in Fermi. For the weeds Unlisted Grass Like, which is a category for grasses that don’t fit in another category, is the dominant weed. There are about 267,953 Unlisted Grass Like at Fermi. There will be a lot in the future because today there is more than in 1992. There are also a lot of Ground Clovers, but not nearly as much as Unlisted Grass Like. There are about 3,023 Ground Clovers. There are a lot of Tall Clovers also, but there aren’t nearly as many as ground clovers – there are only 594.

Part Three

I have learned how to find data and about the prairie and how it changes over time. I think anybody who goes to this website will learn a lot just like I did. In think it is awesome how much you can learn about the prairie. I would have never guessed I would know this much about the prairie. I wish to share my knowledge with you and the whole world.

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.
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