Team name: EINSTEINS
Quadrat location: Overgrown native (but not really) garden in the corner of our school.
Species found:
Centipede III
Worm IIIIl
Spider II
Grub II
Maggot I
Enhancement plans:
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ADD WORMS=To improve the ¼ where they
are
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PRUNING – to add light and hopefully get
rid of mozzies.
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CONTROL – to compare things |
COMPOST – to improve soil
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Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC:
Your four plans sound very
interesting. It’s good that you have kept one quarter as a control.
Pruning and composting look like good ways to change and hopefully
improve the conditions. Remember you will measure your enhancement by
counting species again – looking for more of each species and a
greater variety. Adding the worms may bring other species – so they can
be counted, but not the worms you add in. Perhaps instead of adding the
worms you could dig over the soil to see if that brings more worms and
other species.
Team name: PYTHAGORAS
Quadrat location: Sheltered part of our school native garden.
Species found: ivy, woolly nightshade tree x 1, millipede, ladder fern, dead cabbage tree leaves x3, dead huhu grubs, 3 x impatiens flowers, woolly nightshade leaves x 10
Enhancement plans:
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ADD WORMS=TO MAKE SOIL
FERTILE
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CONTROL
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CUT DOWN WOOLY NIGHTSHADE – will make the soil more fertile |
ADD ROCKS AND SUN – will attract skinks
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Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC:
Again good to see your
control areas included. As I said to the Einsteins you CAN add worms –
but will not be able to add those to your next audit – only the other
species they may attract.
Removing the woolly nightshade will be a good enhancement experiment – and also make the area safer for other pupils as this is a mildly poisonous plant. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly – and/or wear gloves when you dispose of it.
Team name: MARIE CURIE
Quadrat location: Under a bushy tree , in a carpet of dead fallen leaves.
Species found: 27 Passion vine hoppers ,2 Aphids ,1 Baby centipede ,1 Adult centipede ,several Ants ,1 Baby Huhu grub , 3 Spiders , A lot of leaves ,Small red bug.
Enhancement Plan:
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CONTROL
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WORMS – will make the soil more
nutritious
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Add SUN Prune surrounding trees)– will
help the plants grow and attract more wildlife and hopefully take away
mozzies!
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Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC
Good controls in place. As said
above the worms being added can be an experiment – but you cannot them
as increased numbers of worms as you have added them yourselves. An
alternative could be to add water – or to aerate the soil by digging it
to the depth.
Pruning is a nice, simple and effective way of changing the conditions.
Team name: LOUIS PASTEUR
Quadrat location: Our old school native garden.
Species found: Tree bark, ants, spider, mosquitos, pregnant spider, red ant, cricket, hopper, seeds, centipede, slater, maggot, mushroom, woolly nightshade, pink bindweed.
Enhancement plans:
We were thinking about putting a hollow log in the quadrat because a lot of bugs breed there and the worms will make the soil good.
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HOLLOW LOG
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WORMS
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CONTROL
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Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC:
The hollow log sounds like a
very interesting way to enhance your plot. Try to record the species
which may be on it (without destroying it!) so you can keep them on a
separate list and not count them in your next audit.
Glad to see you have a control area. Please read what I have said to the other groups about adding worms – it is OK but do not count the added worms in your next audit.
You have two hollow logs – so two versions of the same experiment. That’s OK – but you could get some different data if you had a different enhancement. You could try layered rocks which could provide nooks and crannies for invertebrates or maybe add leaf litter – which could be a good comparison as to which brings more species - log or leaves?
Team name: LEONARDO DA VINCI
Quadrat location: Native Bush. Dry crumbly dirt. Messy overgrown bush.
Species found: Vines x8, ants x 100, grub x 2, black larvae thing x3, mozzies 1,000,000!!
Enhancement plans:
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PLANT NATIVE GRASS to keep soil
moist
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Control
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TAKE OUT WEEDS – let the natives grow
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Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC:
More good ideas. Again read
above about adding worms. I like your idea of planting native grass –
remember you will not be able to water it as that would be changing two
elements and a fair test only changes one. Perhaps instead of adding
worms you could just add water to the other area?
Team name: Einstein
Quadrat location: In our school’s native garden in the corner of the junior field on top of a stony path.
Species found:
Chicory
Scotch Thistle
Spurvalerian
Musky Storksbill
Pink Birdweed / pohue
Creeping buttercup
Dandelion
Nipplewort
White clover
Dead flax
Ants (100)
Centipede (baby)
Spider
Slug
Mosquitoes (100,000)
Enhancement plans:
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ADD WORMS = To make soil
healthy and nutritious
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GET RID OF WEEDS – clear leaves
and weeds – stopping mosquitoes and to make it look better.
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TAKE OUT STONES – to let roots grow
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Expert Feedback from Sue Barker of DOC:
Hello Einsteins – and you
certainly are! These are great enhancement plans and good to leave the
fourth as a control.
Just remember when you do your next audit that you cannot count the added worms – as they did not get there by themselves. And remember you removed the weeds – so you cannot compare audit 1 weeds with audit 2 weeds for any real data. Also in the weed-free quarter don’t take the dead leaves and the weeds out – that will be changing two things – so choose either the weeds OR the leaves.
Einstein quote: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."