BSC1005 Connecting concepts #11 PDF

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Completed connecting concepts HW assignment #11...

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Connecting Concepts 11 a. A claim that could be made is that there is a significant difference in the biomass of arthropods in the grass versus the pond environments. When looking at the graph, you can see that the mean of the grass is higher, and the error bars do not overlap with the pond. A reason this evidence is appropriate to support my claim is because the grass provides more shelter and hiding places for larger arthropods to survive than the pond. Another claim that could be made is that that diversity in the woods is lower than in the grass. On the graph, the mean of the woods is about 13.5 and the mean of the grass is about 16. The +/- SD bars do not overlap, so the difference is significant. A reason for this is could be because there is more opportunity to blend in with either grass or dirt by being green or brown, rather than having to be brown to blend in in the woods. Lastly, you can make the claim that all three environments have a similar number of individuals within them. The mean from the grass is 44, the mean from the woods is 36, and the mean from the pond is 37. Not only are these means similar, but the +/- standard deviation bars overlap as well. This indicates there is no significant difference between the three. This could be due to the fact that all three environments were of similar size. However, it surprises me. I thought that there would be significantly less arthropods in the pond environment. b. Seeing as the experiment was done in nature, weather could easily be a source of error. Temperature could affect what arthropods are active and in the area. For example, the data would likely be very different if it was taken in the middle of winter versus the middle of spring. Spring is a much better environment for the arthropods to out and about in.

c. I think that when comparing data from Fall versus Spring, you would see a difference in biomass. Spring is optimal time for babies to be born and they are a lot smaller. Therefore, they would bring the average biomass downwards....