Haylee ( Documenter) Adlee (visual) Owen (researcher)
Visual lead wrote
"We took pictures of the flowers from each plot which was 6, 12, and 18 then we tested the moisture in each plot including the ones we didn't have to see what the difference was between them. And tested our plots as well everyday we went out."
Researcher wrote
The plots are set up so there are no similar plots adjacent to each other. There are 3 kinds of plots, the first kind was planted with only grass seeds, the second kind of plot was grass seed and forb seeds, the third kind of plot was planted with grass seeds and two times the amount of forb seeds. Our testable question was “Does the amount of plants in a plot affect the soil moisture level?” We wanted to test this because it would show that more plants doesn't always mean less soil moisture.
The food chain in each plot is pretty similar the grasses and flowers to the insects who are eaten by birds and snakes. There are a lot of a biotic factors in the prairie including rocks, soil/dirt, there is a field goal posts at either end of the prairie, etc. There are 4 trophic levels starting with producers, then first consumers, second level consumers, and predators. The two sights we used to get our information from were URSALINK and EEA. Both of these sights talk about soil moistures effect on plants in that certain environment and what causes soil moisture to decrease.
Documenter wrote
Day 1- We went out to test the moisture in our plots 6, 12, and 18 and as well as all the other plots. I also took pictures of the certain plant we were researching on to see the difference in looks.
Day 2- We went out and tested the moisture again and took pictures of each one again.
Day 3- Just took pictures and Owen created a chart for the soil tests.
Our conclusion:
Our conclusion is that when you look at the moisture levels in each of our plots you see not a high distinction between them but you can see that there is some diversity of the soil moisture among the three different kinds of plots. The moisture in plot 6 with grass only has almost the same amount of moisture as plot 18 with grass + 2x forbes. Well plot 12 has the highest moisture level having grass and forbes. So in conclusion the one holding the most moisture is the one thats in the middle of the other two being only grass and forbes showing that too much planted can use a lot of moisture and less plants may need less but produce more frequently or it could also be the fact of having too much of an imbalance or too heavy meaning it rejects the water instead of drowning the plants.
maps with pins
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=199HYAvYxxA1WVF9BDlg_RBKfN3WGZLw&usp=sharing