Figure 6. A. Species classification for the area of study. B. Percentage based on the relative frequencies of each class for the area of study.
These 14 species are distributed differentely across the area of study, with some species dominating specific areas while others are distributed scattered around the site (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Species distribution across the area of study.
One hundred and fifty two of the trees surveyed were dead (7.1%), with 81 of those (53.29%) situated in the Green Prairie management unit (Figure 8).
5. DISCUSSION
5.1 Tree composition and structure
By analyzing species composition in the area of study, we can see that the site is close to what you would expect to find in an oak savannah, with 90.6% of the …show more content…
The first one (and the most obvious one) is related with the fact that as an international student I’m not as familiar with the ecosystems, flora and fauna of Wisconsin as I would like to be. However, it was also the easiest one to overcome. Some of the classes that I could take during the program (Restoration Ecology, Conservation of Biodiversity, among others) prepared and gave me the chance to learn about savanna ecosystems. Moreover, the way in which the program is designed gave me the opportunity to start learning about my project and what I was going to do months before I started working. As an example, in most of the assignments that I worked on during spring semester I had the chance to choose the area and topic I wanted to develop. I decided to focus on restoration ecology and savannas restoration, thus preparing for what was to …show more content…
Considering that I had less than three months to work on my placement, the way I was going to spend my time was extremely important in order to get some valuable deliverables for my host organization. However, I run into many problems that I wasn’t expecting that made me realize that I was not going to be able to fulfill my personal goal (to survey and have enough data for at least 75% of the Grady Tract). The first one was a consequence of an underestimation of the area and the amount of data on the site. During my first week, I took a walk around the site to personally see the area I was going to work with. After I did this, I considered that I was going to have enough time to complete all the objectives of my project and created a sampling plan according to this estimation. Nonetheless, after 3 weeks of working I realized that the tasks that I was performing demanded much more time than estimated. I was not considering factors like weather (I could not use the GPS under rainy conditions, which during this summer has been more common than what I expected), equipment performance in different landscapes (GPS took longer to locate a sample point when working in areas with high tree density), equipment availability (other projects also required the use of the GPS unit) and even seasonal changes. Moving around the site was easier at the beginning of my placement during late May and early July,
These 14 species are distributed differentely across the area of study, with some species dominating specific areas while others are distributed scattered around the site (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Species distribution across the area of study.
One hundred and fifty two of the trees surveyed were dead (7.1%), with 81 of those (53.29%) situated in the Green Prairie management unit (Figure 8).
5. DISCUSSION
5.1 Tree composition and structure
By analyzing species composition in the area of study, we can see that the site is close to what you would expect to find in an oak savannah, with 90.6% of the …show more content…
The first one (and the most obvious one) is related with the fact that as an international student I’m not as familiar with the ecosystems, flora and fauna of Wisconsin as I would like to be. However, it was also the easiest one to overcome. Some of the classes that I could take during the program (Restoration Ecology, Conservation of Biodiversity, among others) prepared and gave me the chance to learn about savanna ecosystems. Moreover, the way in which the program is designed gave me the opportunity to start learning about my project and what I was going to do months before I started working. As an example, in most of the assignments that I worked on during spring semester I had the chance to choose the area and topic I wanted to develop. I decided to focus on restoration ecology and savannas restoration, thus preparing for what was to …show more content…
Considering that I had less than three months to work on my placement, the way I was going to spend my time was extremely important in order to get some valuable deliverables for my host organization. However, I run into many problems that I wasn’t expecting that made me realize that I was not going to be able to fulfill my personal goal (to survey and have enough data for at least 75% of the Grady Tract). The first one was a consequence of an underestimation of the area and the amount of data on the site. During my first week, I took a walk around the site to personally see the area I was going to work with. After I did this, I considered that I was going to have enough time to complete all the objectives of my project and created a sampling plan according to this estimation. Nonetheless, after 3 weeks of working I realized that the tasks that I was performing demanded much more time than estimated. I was not considering factors like weather (I could not use the GPS under rainy conditions, which during this summer has been more common than what I expected), equipment performance in different landscapes (GPS took longer to locate a sample point when working in areas with high tree density), equipment availability (other projects also required the use of the GPS unit) and even seasonal changes. Moving around the site was easier at the beginning of my placement during late May and early July,