<p>A2 Geography Psammosere Investigation</p><p>When ? - in the 6 weeks of this last half term - this assignment needs to be written up in full and handed in on Thursday 17 July 2009 - Monday 29 June – is the field trip day to Holkham Bay to collect </p><p>Why ? - it is preparation for your A2 skills paper in January - it underpins the Ecosystems module that you will be studying in the Autumn term </p><p>How ?</p><p>- this unit will be delivered by a mixture of formal lessons and periods in the IT room. You will need to work independently however to complete the Tasks in full - as it is a hectic half term and you may miss some lessons for Open Days etc. That is no excuse as these tasks have been set out to allow you to complete the assignment in your own time. - If you do have any problems please see staff asap </p><p>Sand Dune or Psammosere Primary Plant Succession</p><p>Aim : How and why does vegetation vary in relation to soil (edaphic ) factors in primary plant succession at Holkham Bay, North Norfolk ?</p><p>HYPOTHESES  The variety and number of plant species increases across a dune system with distance inland  Vegetation height will increase across a dune system with distance inland</p><p> Soil pH will become more acidic across a dune system with distance inland  Soil moisture will increase across a dune system with distance inland </p><p>1 Theoretical Background which underpins the aim of this enquiry.</p><p>Related in simple terms :- </p><p>. Sand dunes are an e.g. of a SUCCESSION, a plant community where the structure of the vegetation develops over time. At each stage, certain species have evolved to exploit the particular conditions present. At first only a small number of species will be capable of surviving the harsh environment. . These hardy pioneering plants slowly change the conditions by altering things such as the mineral content moisture content of the soil and the amount of shade. . As each new plant species takes hold, the process is repeated. . The changes made by the plants allow other species which are better suited to the new conditions to succeed the old species. . When the succession reaches the point where it is in balance with the climate, a climax is reached. . A succession that develops on sand is known as a PSAMMOSERE</p><p>Task 1 ( See Appendix page 15 – 30 ) a. Write your own theoretical background and include the terms :- primary plant succession , pioneer species , sere , seral stage , climax vegetation, psammosere, edaphic </p><p> b. Include a detailed diagram which has a table below which shows theoretically how physical conditions should change with distance inland across a sand dune cross section </p><p>2 Geographical Setting Task 2 a. Read the information below carefully </p><p>Geographical Setting Holkham Bay is part of a 75 km stretch of coastline which has developed naturally as a result of a number of coastal processes which have resulted in a series of shingle ridges, sand dunes , mud flats and coastal spits. The geology of the area is mainly chalk which has been overlain by glacial boulder clay and glacial gravels Land use is mainly agriculture but the key to the economy is tourism as the coast has huge recreational and tourist potential. The influx of visitors, especially in the summer time dramatically increases the population of the coastal towns and villages.The success of the tourist industry is the attraction of wide expanses of beach and undeveloped countryside. Activities include walking, cycling, horse riding swimming and beach recreation or bird watching as well as water sports and angling. Holkham Bay is a National Nature Reserve which at 4100ha is the largest in England and Wales. The North Norfolk coast remains in mainly in its natural state as a large expanse of undeveloped inter tidal sands and mud. It is recognised as an outstanding wildlife area with a diversity of habitats, associated plant communities and bird population making it an area of international importance. It has been designated an SSSI or Site of Special Scientific Interest, and AONB ( area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a National Heritage coast as well as a Biosphere Reserve. A shoreline management plan sets out a strategy for the area’s coastal defence which takes into account the natural coastal processes working in that area. With a high tidal range ( approximately 5 m Spring tide )- sea defences are in place along the coast. At Holkham Bay there are high, flat sandy beaches of which large areas are exposed at low tide. The back shore is formed by sand dunes which have developed naturally but which are also a very vulnerable form of sea defence often weaken during storms or as a result of being down trodden by visitors to the area. Although the dunes are eroded easily they do regenerate naturally. This rebuilding process is often aided by coastal management projects which include the erection of sand fencing and planting species such as sea buckthorn and marram grass which will trap wind blown sand. This ‘soft’ defence management works along side and complements natural processes. Hard engineering is only used as a flood defence system where it is economically viable, so protecting communities such as Cley and Wells </p><p>Answer the following questions in full :- 1. Where is Holkham Bay ? – use at least two maps in your description to locate the study area ( Appendix page 31-32 ) 2. Give five reasons why you think that it is a suitable site for studying plant succession.</p><p>3 3. Task 3 Risk Assessment </p><p> a. Make a copy of the table below and complete the missing details for each hazard. b. Add in at least one other additional hazard </p><p>RISK ASSESSMENT/ HEALTH AND SAFETY</p><p>HAZARD RISK (low, medium, CONTROL Effect of the high) MEASURE Strategy Likelihood of Impact of risk risk if occurred SLIPS, Medium Low ? ? TRIPS, FALLS DROWNING Low High IN SEA ? ?</p><p>DOG MESS There are lots of dog walkers in the area. Watch where you step and especially where you are putting your bare hands. Wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly if contact is made with the mess. ? ? ? ? ?</p><p>? ? ? ? ?</p><p>4 Task 3 - Use of ICT </p><p>1. Downloading and printing off maps – give details – types of maps , use etc </p><p>2. Use of GPS- give details </p><p>3. Micosoft Stats Program – explain exactly how you used the program to produce your kite diagrams – complete later !</p><p>The model example below is for an excel spreadsheet – use it as a guide </p><p>Answer: When carrying out an investigation into dune succession I used an excel spreadsheet (Microsoft office). The first thing that I did was open a new document, I then typed the column headings and the row headings into the correct cells on the spreadsheet. For example; the quadrat numbers formed the column headings and physical characteristics (eg. Soil penetration) were the row headings. I needed to make sure that there were enough cells for each group to enter their data, in total there were 6 groups. Once I had set up the table I was able to enter the data that I had collected into the appropriate cells. The remaining 5 groups then entered their primary data. The excel spreadsheet could then be used to calculate averages. For example, the average soil moisture content for quadrat 1 could be calculated by entering the following formula …………………….</p><p>The ‘chart wizard’ function on excel could also be used to create graphs from the data in the table.</p><p>This helped me with my investigation because I was able to see all of the data on a single piece of paper and it was clear to read because it was in a table. This method of ICT also made it very quick and easy to calculate the mean of the data collected. Drawing graphs by hand is time consuming and mistakes can be made, using the ‘chart wizard’ function made this task much easier and the resulting graphs more accurate. It also made it possible to trial various graphs before choosing the graph that represented the data best.</p><p>5 Task 4 – Plant Adaptations ( Sheet 1&2 are in the Appendix page 33 -35 )</p><p> a. Research a diagram / photograph of at least two plants per stage and annotate them showing how they have adapted to the dune conditions. Use sheet 1 which gives details of some of the plants you may find at each seral stage along the dune transect b. Use sheet 2 – it includes a list of 15 other plants you are likely to find – produce a photo page with them on but make sure that they are labelled </p><p>Task 5 Sampling </p><p> a. What is SYSTEMATIC BELT TRANSECT ?</p><p> b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of :- </p><p>- using a systematic system ?</p><p>- using a belt transect ?</p><p>After the Field Trip</p><p>Task 6 – Methodology </p><p> a. Write up your three data collection methods and include diagrams </p><p>6 1. Measuring out the transect ( See Appendix page 36-37 ) Equipment – two ranging poles, tape measure, compass, clinometer, flags Data Collected - Angle of slope</p><p>2. Collecting the vegetation data : Equipment - half meter quadrat, plant ID chart / book, ruler Data Collected - % bare earth Number of species and names Name of four dominant species and % cover Average height of four dominant species</p><p>3. Collecting the Soil Data Equipment- tape measure, Ph testing kit, moisture probe, water, metal ring Data Collected - Soil p H Soil moisture</p><p>Task 7 Results and Data Representation </p><p>A completed data collection table will be given to you of your results as well as the dune profile that has been generated from your clinometer readings </p><p>1. Using the stats program and the % species data produce a series of Kite diagrams with the transect at the bottom of the page 2. Using graph paper construct one kite diagram manually following the instructions on the next page and completing the details where necessary </p><p>7 A slope profile of the sand dune system showing the angles and distances measured was drawn to scale on graph paper. The scale was 1cm represents ___ metres. Kite diagrams were placed directly beneath this to see how the vegetation varied along the transect and with slope angle. The kite diagrams show the percentage of each vegetation type found at each sampling point along the transect. Each different type of vegetation can be plotted on a separate kite diagram directly beneath each other to see if certain vegetation types are found in different positions along the transect and on certain slope angles.</p><p>The x axes of the kite diagrams are drawn to the same scale as the slope profile (1cm:___m) and the y axis plotted as a percentage with 50% above the x axis and 50% below the x axis – scale 1cm: 50%. </p><p>Vegetation is then plotted at the sampling distance along the x axis (every __m). Half of the percentage is plotted above the x axis and half is plotted below it. The plotted points on both sides of the x axis are then joined together with a straight line to produce kite/diamond shapes and these can then be shaded. If only a trace of vegetation was found at a sampling point this was indicated by a letter T at the correct point on the x axis. When a vegetation type has been recorded at for e.g. 3m and not at 0m and 6m then this is recorded as 0% and joined to the reading at 3m. </p><p>By placing kite diagrams for individual species directly below each other comparison of vegetation types across the dune system can be made </p><p>Task 8 Data Analysis </p><p>A. Scattergraphs For two plant and two soil hypothesis produce a scattergraph each – plotting the plant / soil variable along the y axis and the sites ( to scale ) along the y axis – using graph paper </p><p>B. Calculate the location of the best fit line and plot it ( see instruction box )</p><p>8 The best fit line on a scatter graph is constructed by :- - calculating the mean value of the dots on the horizontal axis and then - calculating the mean value of the dots on the vertical axis - mark the point on the graph where the mean values intersect - draw a trend line through the mean point There are two types of trend lines – chose the most helpful one – either - Line of Best Fit – this is a straight line and when it passes though the mean point, there should be a similar number of points abouve and below the line - Line of Regression – drawn when one set of data is dependent on the other. On the graph the dependent data is plotted on the vertical axis and the independent data are plotted the horizontal axis . The regression line is draw between the two extremes</p><p>C. Spearman’s Rank Correlation For one hypothesis (not pH as this has been done for you as a possible answer) :-</p><p>Hypotheses to choose from : </p><p> The variety and number of plant species increases across a dune system with distance inland</p><p> Vegetation height will increase across a dune system with distance inland</p><p> Soil pH will become more acidic across a dune system with distance inland</p><p> Soil moisture will increase across a dune system with distance inland Now :- - turn it into a null hypothesis - calculate its Spearman value - look up the results on the significance table D. Now write an analysis of the data that you collected and show how the results helped your E. understanding of the topic studied</p><p>9 Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient – example answer </p><p>Hypothesis The soil pH will become more acidic across the dune system with distance inland Null Hypothesis There is no significant relationship between increased pH acidity and distance inland across the dune system </p><p>The results were analysed using Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient. This tests to see if there is a link or correlation between 2 variables. It tests for correlations between ranks of values rather than raw data. 1st you need to formulate a null hypothesis and a research hypothesis NULL HYPOTHESIS : RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS: Formula used: R = 1- 6∑d² n³n ∑ = sum of d = difference between the ranks n = number of pairs of measurements</p><p>The 2 variables are ranked from highest to lowest and put into a table.The highest value is rank 1 (variable x = distance inland, variable y = pH (draw a version of the table). Tied values receive tied ranks e.g. values which would have been 5, 6, 7 all become 6 when tied. The difference between the ranks is then calculated (d) and this is then squared. (d²) The d² values are then added together ( ∑ ). The values are then placed into the above formula. The result gained for my hypothesis was -0.85. To see if this was a significant correlation for 14 sets of data and for the 99% significance level I needed a value of 0.65. This means that I can reject the null hypothesis and be 99% confident that there is a significant negative correlation between distance inland and pH i.e. the pH value decreases with distance inland . This helped my understanding of the sand dune system as it showed that as the pH decreases inland the soil is becoming more acidic changing from pH 7.8 at the stand line which may be the result of salt spray and calcarious shells to a more acidic pH 5.5 at site 14 inland . This is also reflected in the changing nature of the vegetation which become increasingly more acid loving species inland . Other results back this up e.g. further inland the variety of vegetation species increases e.g. in the dune slack 18m inland there is an increase in meadow grass (30%) and soil moisture had increased to 2 probably because this was closer to the water table. Lots of moss appeared between 27m and 36m greatest at 30m (100%) and this was found on the grey dune which can retain moisture better (soil moisture increased here to 4 on the soil moisture reading ) and due to the addition of organic matter from a greater variety of vegetation types e.g. meadow grass (10%), lyme grass (20%), dandelion (trace), couch grass (5%). pH has also decreased to 6.5 which is less alkaline. This can be explained by the reduced exposure to salt spay and the increased organic acids released by decomposing vegetation. Some anomalies, such as in the dune slack where the pH rises may be due to the close proximity of the footpath and human interference, not shown by the Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient.</p><p>10 Task 9 A. What conclusions can you draw ? B. How did the results that you obtained help improve your understanding of the topic studied? </p><p>Sample write up for task 9b On the yellow dune which was found 12m inland there were very few vegetation types and the 2 main species being couch grass (70%) and lyme grass (5%). This helps my understanding because it shows that not many vegetation species can survive in the dry environment (soil moisture reading 1 out of 10 on the soil moisture comparator). This shows that couch grass and lyme grass are xerophytic and can survive in dry conditions and alkaline conditions (pH 7.5 on the yellow dune). The area is obviously dry because it was mainly sand and water can percolate through it easily. Further inland the variety of vegetation species increases e.g. in the dune slack 18m inland there is an increase in meadow grass (30%) and soil moisture had increased to 2 probably because this was closer to the water table. Lots of moss appeared between 27m and 36m greatest at 30m (100%) and this was found on the grey dune which can retain moisture better (soil moisture increased here to 4 on the soil moisture comparator) and due to the addition of organic matter from a greater variety of vegetation types e.g. meadow grass (10%), lyme grass (20%), dandelion (trace), couch grass (5%). pH as also decreased to 6.5 which is less alkaline. Overall there is an increase in the number of species along the transect but there are some anomalies e.g. in the dune slack 18m inland there is a decrease in the number of species present and this was due to human interference as there was a footpath found here. Also the text book theory of a sand dune indicates the presence of embryo dunes and trees such as oak and Scots pine beyond the grey dunes. However at South Sands these were not present due to human interference e.g. the embryo dunes are removed by tractors cleaning the beach and a car park has been built behind the grey dunes.</p><p>11</p>