Ecological Experiment

Question

Hi, I need your help.

In school, we need to come up with an ecological hypothesis. We can go to our park to collect info on animals/plants ex. Ducks, moorhens, swans etc.

I am not sure about what experiment I could do and then statistical analysis of that test.

Do you know any relatively straightforward beginner ecological experiments?

I am relatively new in Ecology, so I am not sure what to do.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello Vivian! It's exciting that you're doing some experimental design work!

The types of research questions you can ask depend a lot on what your park is like and what kinds of samples/measurements you can realistically collect. Everyone is different, but below are some key questions I think I would ask myself to help determine what to do for this project. But as an example of types of experiments you could do ecologically, here's an interesting write-up on the Park Grass experiment which has been going on continuously for over 160 years! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4766081.stm

1. Do you want to focus on animals or plants?
2. Animals are exciting and you may have more questions about them, but they're mobile so observing them could be difficult and measuring specific things about them could be impossible unless you have the resources to trap or track. Plants may be less exciting, but they're stationary and therefore easier to measure and track. There's a reason so much of early genetics was done on plants!
3. Is there a specific species you'd like to hone in on? An interesting cluster of species you'd like to hone in on? A specific plot of land/lake?
4. Location location location. What types of plants/animals are at your park? Are there trees? Are there areas where there's an abundance of life or a strange absence of life? Are there any other types of strange outliers?
5. What do you want to know about them?
6. This part is tough to work out over text! But there are lot of interesting questions you could ask. Here are a hundred open questions in plant biology that might give you some ideas. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03859.x
7. What can you measure to begin answering your question?
8. As a professional scientist I have access to tools that most students don't, which allows me to ask different types of questions. For you, what tools do you have available for this experiment? A light microscope can be used to look at plant cell structure. Binoculars can be used to count the number of birds in a particular area. A ruler can be used to the measure the height/width of flowers and grasses.
9. How many samples can you realistically measure and how many times will you measure them?
10. This will define what types of statistical analysis you will do, but if you are just starting out I'd wager that you're most likely to be using a student's t-test.

I'd be happy to talk more! Best of luck!