Ecology Class Community Analysis Project

For the past several weeks, students in Dr. Deb Eustis-Grandy's Ecology class have been spending each Wednesday afternoon outside collecting data for a biological community analysis project.  Students were divided into 3 groups, with each group working on one of the following communities:  deciduous forest, coniferous forest, tree plantation.  Students laid out a roughly 90-meter transect through their habitat, and at 10-meter intervals are assessing tree, shrub, and herb biodiversity, collecting soil samples to determine moisture and color, and recording air temperature, dew point temperature, and wind velocity at ground level and 2 meters above the ground.  They also set out data loggers which record light intensity and temperature information at one-hour intervals.  These data loggers will remain outside for approximately 60 days to capture changes in light intensity and temperature over time.  Ecology students will also be collaborating with Dr. Eustis-Grandy's Genetics class, who will be sequencing DNA extracted from soil samples from each community to determine bacterial (and possibly fungal) biodiversity.