Effect of Location of

Black Cherry Trees

on Growth Rate
Helen Mendenhall
Layout of the Study
• Black Cherry trees- Prunus serotina

• 2 locations- road vs no road

• 10 trees per location

• 3 branches from each tree

• pH measured with litmus paper

• Growth rate = number of rings/diameter=mm/year

• ttest to analyze data
Analysis
• ttest

• Independent variables
 Location

• Response variables
 pH
 Growth rate
Expected results
 Results
• Growth Rate ~ Location
 p-value = 2.938e-10

• pH ~ Location
 p-value = .2142

• Growth Rate x pH
 p-value = 2.2e-16
Drawbacks
• Human error
 Measuring pH
 Counting rings
 Measuring diameter
Potential Explanations
• Soil nutrition based off of:
 Slope of each site
 Topography
 Sun exposure
 Salt from road
 Wind

• Pedogenesis
 Place
 Environment
 History