Results
To address our first question - find sites within each ecosystem that have higher vegetation diversity than others. After analyzing the boxplot of vegetation (tree, understory, and ground cover) richness in each ecosystem and each site, barplot of vegetation (tree, understory, and ground cover) density (#/m2) by site in each ecosystem, and table of Simpson's index, Shannon index, Hill's number between ecosystems, we concluded that site 12 within natural boreal forest, site 3 within aspen parkland, site 5 within cropland, and site 6 within grassland were more diverse and had more tree, understory and ground cover vegetation diversity. Therefore these sites within each ecosystem with high plant diversity should be given a certain degree of protection to maintain the biodiversity and fulfill the goal of conservation planning.
The species-area overlap graph indicated how much overlap between sites within ecosystem. As shown from the Figure 15, the curve of cropland began to level off from site 2, this means 2 sites for cropland were relatively enough for measuring species richness. The curve of aspen parkland, cropland, and natural boreal forest was still increasing, which means 4 sites wer not enough to estimate the overall plant species within ecosystem. Although there were only 2 sites for some ecosystems, the curve of natural boreal forest was the steepest, while the curve of grassland was relatively stable in the first step. So natural boreal forest may need more sampling sites for effective survey than grassland.
Discussion
Métis Crossing has planned and is utilizing a wide range of land use within its mix of agriculture and native boreal forest. We sampled 12 sites, 4 cropland, 2 grassland, 4 aspen parkland and 2 natural boreal forest to ensure that baseline data was acquired, and overall plant diversity was sampled.
Overall, we found a richness of 71 plant species, 65 ground cover species, 20 shrubs, and 3 tree species in Métis Crossing. Our analysis supported prediction that firstly, the sites receive the most sunlight and precipitation, as well as the least disturbance such as road building, human activities, and grazing, will have higher vegetation diversity than other sites within ecosystem. The results showed that site 12 within natural boreal forest, site 3 within aspen parkland, site 5 within cropland, and site 6 within grassland were more diverse and had more tree, understory and ground cover vegetation diversity. Therefore the specific sites within ecosystem should be given some kind of conservation. Secondly, Less sampling sites would be enough for cropland with less species richness, more sampling sites would be better for ecosystem with more species richness. The results showed that cropland only needs 2 sites to cover the overall plant species, while natural boreal forest needs more sites. Since with anthropogenic disturbance, cropland has extremely less plant species, while the integrity and diversity of natural boreal forest is high without disturbance.
However, this project does have caveats, such as more and equal sampling sites should be sampled for each ecosystem to make a biodiversity survey more reasonable.
Conducting field surveys and analysis is hard work, but we can help citizens better understand the plant situation of Métis Crossing and establish a baseline of vegetation biodiversity for better management of land use, species protection, and sustainable development. Research on diversity has not only protect the vegetation at present, but also protect the future ecological development of the earth.
Overall, we found a richness of 71 plant species, 65 ground cover species, 20 shrubs, and 3 tree species in Métis Crossing. Our analysis supported prediction that firstly, the sites receive the most sunlight and precipitation, as well as the least disturbance such as road building, human activities, and grazing, will have higher vegetation diversity than other sites within ecosystem. The results showed that site 12 within natural boreal forest, site 3 within aspen parkland, site 5 within cropland, and site 6 within grassland were more diverse and had more tree, understory and ground cover vegetation diversity. Therefore the specific sites within ecosystem should be given some kind of conservation. Secondly, Less sampling sites would be enough for cropland with less species richness, more sampling sites would be better for ecosystem with more species richness. The results showed that cropland only needs 2 sites to cover the overall plant species, while natural boreal forest needs more sites. Since with anthropogenic disturbance, cropland has extremely less plant species, while the integrity and diversity of natural boreal forest is high without disturbance.
However, this project does have caveats, such as more and equal sampling sites should be sampled for each ecosystem to make a biodiversity survey more reasonable.
Conducting field surveys and analysis is hard work, but we can help citizens better understand the plant situation of Métis Crossing and establish a baseline of vegetation biodiversity for better management of land use, species protection, and sustainable development. Research on diversity has not only protect the vegetation at present, but also protect the future ecological development of the earth.