Moisture Content Analysis

We collected our soil moisture by measuring out 1 gram of each soil sample, and then putting it in an oven at 105-110 degrees C for one week to dry out. We then took out our samples one week later and weighed them separately. Then we subtracting the before oven mass from the post oven mass and then multiplying by 100 to get the percent of the moisture. 

Figure 2 Evidence: From the data in figure 2 we can conclude that there is a statistically significant difference between the moisture of the native soil and the non-native soil. This can be seen through the p-value of 0.00016 which is less than 0.05 making the difference great enough to be compared. We can also see the difference in the standard deviation where the native is 1.94 and the non-native is 3.06 which is a large difference of 1.12. It can also be seen in the mean on both the graph where the error bars do not overlap and because the value of the native soil moisture is 11.5625 and the non-native soil moisture is a value of 18.5287. All these values show that the average moisture of our soil samples is statistically significant. 

Figure 2 Conclusion: In conclusion, the moisture values of our two different soil types show significant statistical difference, as the p-value is less than the threshold of 0.05. The difference in average between the two samples is 6.9662, and the difference in standard deviation is 1.12, showing fairly large differences in the values of our data. This tells us that the moisture content in our two plants is different, which could mean that one plant is healthier than the other. All this data matches with the P-value of 0.00016 which is much lower than the threshold value of 0.05, meaning that we can confidently say that the soil moisture content has a statistically significant difference in the values between the native and non-native samples.  

Figure 2 Explanation: All of our data makes sense because of what we know in observed and because of what we know. When we were in the garden, we observed that our soil textures were very different with the native soil being very dry and dusty, while the non-native soil was moist and soft. With our data results it makes sense that there was more moisture in the non-native soil because of what we observed. In a study done on soil moisture in relation to plan growth, it states that plants in soil with a lower storage capacity of water/nutrients will exhaust those resources faster and not have enough to grow healthy, while soil with a high capacity will help plants grow healthier (Kramer P. J,1944) Using this knowledge, we can assume that a soil with a higher retention rate of water will be more effective at keeping the plant healthy. When we consider this information while looking at our results it means that our native soil sample could be struggling more than our non-native soil sample because the native soil had less moisture content than the non-native soil.