Ecological principles, biodiversity and identification skills

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UC107731     Ecological principles, biodiversity and identification skills

This Assignment is worth 40% of the total available marks for this module

Produce a scientific report of 750 words based on the information and task below. Word count excludes tables, graphs and references

All reports should be uploaded to Turnitin on Brightspace

Submission deadline 17 April 2020

Penalties for late submission will be applied as per UHI regulations

Information and Task

A highland Local Authority wishes to enhance the biodiversity value of some of its areas of regularly mown recreational grasslands. Both sites are flat homogeneous areas approximately 30m x 30m in full sun, they receive twelve cuts per year and no chemical treatments. An ecologist has carried out a plant surveys of potential sites and collected environmental data. The field data from these surveys are given in Table 1 and Table 2. Your task is too:

1 Identify the site with the highest biodiversity, giving a reason for your decision based on analysis of the field data

2 Consider how the environmental factors may have influenced the biodiversity of the two sites with reference to ecological principles

3 Briefly consider how you could enhance the biodiversity of the site using alternative cutting regimes. Refer to ecological principles to supports your recommendations

Table 1 Plant abundance and environmental data for Site 1

	% cover per quadrat
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Rye Grass	50	30	40	37	56	48	57
Bent Grass	10	5	3	10	6	12	5
Germander speedwell	8	3	0	6	0	3	0
Clover	9	6	8	10	0	13	6
Moss	10	15	20	10	5	21	9
Bugle	3	5	4	0	10	0	1
Cats Ear	4	0	0	0	8	0	1
Dandelion	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
Creeping Buttercup	5	36	25	27	14	3	21
pH	6.8	5.2	5.8	5.1	6.0	6.2	5.4
Nitrogen	Low	Medium	Low	Low	Medium	Low	Low
% Moisture Content	30	52	30	40	30	40	26

Table 2 Plant abundance and environmental data for Site 2

	% cover per quadrat
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Rye Grass	72	70	72	75	66	76	72
Bent Grass	13	15	18	12	14	19	15
Germander speedwell	3	0	0	4	2	0	2
Clover	2	8	3	5	5	0	3
Moss	10	5	7	3	8	2	5
Bugle	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Cats Ear	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dandelion	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Creeping Buttercup	0	2	0	0	5	3	3
pH	6.8	6.3	6.0	5.8	6.2	5.3	6.4
	Medium	High	High	Medium	Low	High	Medium
% Moisture Content	20	15	20	21	35	10	8

Report Format, indicative content and marking

	Indicative content	Marks available
Aim	Give a suitable aim. It should be clear, concise and accurate	2
Method	Describe the method that you would use to collect the above data	5
Results	Convert the field data to results using appropriate format, clearly labelled	5
Results Analysis	Analyse your results using appropriate statistical methods	15
Discussion	Discuss your results with reference to your aims and the task.	10
References	Appropriate references cited correctly in the text	3

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