Christle Page

9/28/12
Tree Sampling

Tree Sampling
IntroThere are many types of trees in the forest. A forest is an area full of different tress, such as Sugar
Maple or a Red Oak. The animals that live in that forest depend on the types of trees because the animals
eat parts of those trees. The kind of tree you have depends on where you live. if you live in the rainforest,
then you are going to have tropical trees. If you live in Vermont you're going to have trees that can endure
the cold. Sampling is counting a small number of organisms to get an idea of what your larger population
is without looking at all of your population. In my case sampling was looking at a few trees to get an idea
of what the larger population was without looking at all of it. The way we sample is by counting a small
number of trees that was in the forest. How we was by taking a ten meter rope and going into the woods.
On the rope there was a piece of tape to mark the meter .We took four samples, every time we went to
take a new sample we went farther into the woods. Once we found our spot in the woods we spread the
rope out on the ground. To figure out what tree crossed rope we started off at one end of the rope and
worked our way to the other end. We measured how much of the trees branches crossed over the rope, if
any .It was an approximate answer because sometimes we couldnt clearly see the branches. Once we
figured how much of the rope the tree crossed we had to figure out what kind of tree it was, to figure out
that we had to look at the leaves of the trees. If the tree didnt have any leaves or the leaves that were on it
were to far up for us to see, we had to look at the leaves that were on the ground. One time when we were
sampling my group had o decide what the tree was using the leaves that were on the ground. We knew
that our tree was a Maple tree but we werent sure if it was a Red Maple or a Sugar Maple, so we looked
at the leaves on the floor of the forest. Once we figures out one tree we moved onto the next one farther
down the rope. Some trees took up almost the entire rope, but most of the trees only took up a third of the
ten meter rope. You might ask why we sample, well we sample because its easier then going out into the
forest and looking at every kind of tree and the counting how many trees of that kind are there. We sample
because its easier and quicker. If you were a logger would you want to waste your time and go out into
the forest to count how many trees would be good for logging? It would be much easier if you count just
take a samples of the trees and get and get an approximate answer. Sampling is good for figuring out if
you could have a sugar bush in that area . Its also good for forest management, it lets you know if you
could.

Problems-What are the trees in the forest?

-What is the percent composition in the forest?
-Does the tree composition of the forest change as you go from the edge of the forest towards the
middle?

Hypothesis1.

I think that the trees in our forest are going to be mostly Maples, Oak, and some

Pine trees (conifers).

2.

I think that Maple trees make up most of our forest.

3.

Yes, because the amount of sunlight changes as you go farther into the forest.

Materials

Ten meter rope

Field guide

Paper to record your results

Procedure1.

Get a ten meter rope that on it each meter is marked.

2.

Go to an area in the forest were you have plenty of space to take four samples.

3.

Once in the forest, spread your rope out and lay it on the ground.

4.

Figure out the kind of trees that cross your rope.

5.

Record the trees and how much of the rope they cover.

6.

Example-If they cover 9 meters of the rope then put a 9 next to the name of the

tree.
7.

Once you have recorded one tree move onto the next tree that crosses over the

rope.
8.

After all the trees are recorded in that sample spot, move your rope to the side to

get the next sample space.

9.

Repeat steps 3-8. Do this 4 times, so at the end you will have four samples.

Data-See other paper.

ConclusionThere is a variety of kinds of trees in our forest. We have Maples, Quaking Aspens,
Whites Pines, White Birch, Red Oak, and a few others. The kind of tree that my group found the
most was White Pine. In all four of our samples there was at least 80% White Pine. In all but one
of the samples there was Quaking Aspen. Also in all but one there was Red Maple. There was
very little American Beech, White birch, Red Oak, Sugar Maple, and Iron Wood in our samples.
My hypothesis for this part was wrong. I thought that there would be a lot of Maples and Oak
trees, but in reality there was very little of both. I thought that Maples trees would be the
dominate species of trees but there werent, White Pines were. The farther you go into the forest,
the less light there is, so that means that the types of tree are going to be different. On the outside
of the forest youre going to have a lot of White Pines, and a lot of Quaking Aspens. Those kinds
of trees like to have a lot of light, therefore they grow on the outside of the forest where the can
get the most light. Trees like Maples or Oaks dont mind having less light, so the live in the
middle of the forest where there is less light. Sampling is just as estimation; you cant get the
exact space that the tree covers. My hypothesis for this part was right. In this lab Im sure that
my group made some mistakes with this, we might have counted the wrong branch, and we

might have thought the branch that crossed over the rope was longer or shorter then it really was.
We could use the data that my group took for figuring out if it would be a good place to log, or
have a sugar bush. This area that we tested would not be good for either. Thats because there
wasnt a lot of hard wood trees for logging and there wasnt a lot of Maple trees for sugaring.