Kaikorai Valley College Enhancement Plans

Group

Current features of quadrat

Enhancement Plan

Expert Feedback from SueBarker of DOC

Nikita, Alex, Lucy, Emily

Flora: Moss, grass, clover, buttercup, wound heal.
Fauna: two little white spiders
Very shady, under horse chestnut trees, very sandy soil.

Bird feeder?
Put compost down
Add more plants around tree

To be a fair test you can only change one factor – so divide your quadrat into 4 and a feeder in one, compost in the next, more plants in the third & leave the fourth for a control. Check the # of species and tally of each after a month.

Samantha, Grace, Desiree, Angel

Flora: Convolvulus, aluminium plant, grass, tree lupin, potatoes 
On top of stream bank under large willow tree. Gets a bit of sun

Remove weeds from ¾ of the metre

Great girls – simple and clear. Check for species in a month to check your success, especially with new plant species and lichen/fungi.

Adam, Thomas, Hamish, Jayde, Mike

Flora: Under very shady hawthorn tree. Grass, buttercup
Hard dirt
Fauna: almost none. Bellbirds nearby
Part of bank, next to small stream

Put compost down for worms to thrive: make sure that this does not wash down into creek.

How about putting compost on one third, digging it in to the second third and leaving the last third for a control. Increased species and tally of each will measure enhancement, say, after a mont?

Todd, Jesse, Callam, Phillip, Reegan

Flora: grass, clover, dandelion
Open, sunny, closely mown, pasture around weather station ‘pole’

Put a bird feeder on the pole!

This is a pretty specific enhancement – and if you are trying to increase bird species visits only, it may be successful, but it may not enhance the number of plant and insect species. And measuring success will require some monitoring – as they may not visit on the day you do your count! If your enhancement plan is for avians only, go ahead; try different food and see who visits.

Nathaniel, Alister, Zane, Anthony, Bradlee, Michael

Flora: under thick larches
Heavily shaded slope with no undergrowth, just layer of larch needles on top of bare earth

Soil was very dry. Our plan is to water the bottom half of the quadrat and leave top half dry to see the difference.

Great simple enhancement guys. You will need to add a specific amount and at specific times – and some plan around what to do if it actually rains. Monitor for increased species after a month, but remember there are uncontrollable variables such as season change.

Zac, Logan, Cameron, Aiden

Edge of larch forest, grass, thistles
native climbing plant (Muhlenbeckia?)
rusty fencing wire wrapped around larch trees

Remove wire and rest branches against larches to create climbing frame for vine to grow up.

A fair test will only change one factor and keep all the others consistent  so why not remove non-organic elements from a third of your quadrat, put a frame in the next third and leave the last third as a control. Apart from seeing if more species come to your plot it will be interesting to see which part of the plot has provided a better home for the climber. Good luck.