Laura Macklin

Dr. Moore

ESS 130

March 8, 2019

Ecosystems Study II

Explore the dataset in the ways you find most interesting. Summarize and visualize your dataset.
You can include a table of summary statistics, a figure and/or graph that highlights interesting
trends in the data, etc. In your assignment submission, you must include two different
visualizations of your data. Interpret your dataset in an ecological context. What patterns do you
see in the data? What ecological mechanisms could explain the patterns that you observe?
Provide one interpretation and discussion for each of the two different visualizations of your
data.

Figure 1 and Table 1. This figure above displays the fluctuations in bacterial biomass quantity
and fungal biomass quantity in hardwood trees soil with different concentrations of nitrogen in
the soil in the Harvard forest. The graph shows that the bacterial biomass of hardwood trees soil
is clearly disturbed and describes in quantity as nitrogen concentration in the soil increases. The
bacterial biomass does fluctuate throughout the graph but ultimately has a downward trend. The
fungal biomass clearly thrived in the absence of nitrogen but as its concentration increased, the
fungal biomass quantity decreased in its overall trend. This clearly shows that the nitrogen
concentration in the soil has a negative effect on the biomes quantity of bacteria and fungus in
hardwood trees soil. The table above displays this data in numerical terms and you can see that
the number of bacteria and fungi in the soil around hardwood trees overall decrease. With the
increase in nitrogen in the soil around hardwood trees, clearly there is a negative effect on the
hardwood trees in the Harvard forest due to anthropogenic activities that have increased nitrogen
in the soil and altering the soil biomass.
Figure 2 and Table 2. This figure above displays the fluctuations in bacterial biomass quantity
and fungal biomass quantity in pine trees soil with different concentrations of nitrogen in the soil
in the Harvard forest. The graph illustrates that the fungal biomass quantity fluctuated in its
control measurements but at higher nitrogen concentrations, the soil had a lower amount of
fungal biomass in its soil. This trend shows that nitrogen has a negative effect on the quantity of
fungal biomass in pine trees. The bacteria biomass in the soil around pine trees was very low to
start within the control part of the experiment. There is somewhat of a decreasing trend but
overall pinewood trees bacterial biomass isn’t as greatly affected as the soils fungal biomass.
Overall, the increase in nitrogen in the soil due to anthropogenic activities has altered the amount
of fungal biomass in the soil around pinewood trees but has only a slight effect on the bacterial
biomass of the soil.