Natalie Schwark

RNR 321 Ecological Surveys and Sampling

Dr. Verdolin
9 September 2020
Assignment 2
Data Source: Percent vegetation cover of shrubland versus desert plants in Tumacacori, Arizona
in 2011.
I. Definitions
Measurement of interest for this data set is defined as the percent of vegetation cover of land
plots in Tumacacori, Arizona in 2011.
Group of interest for this data set is defined as the vegetation type, shrubland or desert, per plot
where percent of vegetation cover was surveyed in Tumacacori, Arizona in 2011.
Mean by group for this data set is defined as the central value of the percent of vegetation cover
that consists of shrubland or desert plants observed in land plots in Tumacacori, Arizona in 2011.
Standard deviation by group for this data set is defined as the measure of how spread out percent
vegetation cover is from the average per vegetation type, shrubland or desert. It had the same
units as the mean.
Standard error by group for this data set is defined as how far the observed mean of percent type
of vegetation coverage in a land plot is likely to be from the real life mean of percent type of
vegetation coverage.
95% confidence interval by group for this data set is defined as an estimate determined from the
statistics of the observed data that proposes a range of probable values for the actual mean type
of vegetation coverage in a land plot.
t-test comparisons for this data set are defined as the statistical analysis which determines if there
is a difference between the mean of percent shrubland vegetation coverage and the mean of
percent desert plant vegetation coverage.
II. Hypothesis
If vegetation type effects vegetation coverage, then percent vegetation coverage will be larger for
shrubland species than desert species.
III. Data Dictionary
Data Field Field Description Field Units Field Source
UniqueID Unique Number Observer assignment
identification
number for data
point
DateObserved Calendar month, day Date, Observer assignment
 and year of MM/DD/YYYY
observation
Observer Name of person Text Observer assignment
collecting data
Location Nearest inhabited Text Google Maps
place
PlotID Unique String Observer assignment
identification
number for land plot
Latitude Angular distance Number, decimal Google Maps
north or south from degrees
the earth’s equator
measured through 90
degrees
Longitude Angular distance Number, decimal Google Maps
east or west from the degrees
earth’s meridian
measured through
180 degrees
PercentVegetationCover Relative percentage Number, percentage Observer count
of vegetation
coverage to bare
ground
PlantCommunity Type of vegetation – Text Observer
shrubland or desert determination
Family Taxonomic family Text Observer
name of species determination
LatinName Plant species’ Text Observer
taxonomic latin determination
binomial name
EnglishName Plant species’ Text Observer
common name in determination
English

IV. Graphs of Means & SE/CI and Explanatory Text

Figure 1: Average percent vegetation coverage of shrubland and desert plant communities in
Tumacacori, Arizona, USA in 2011. Desert plant communities make up slightly more %
vegetation coverage than shrubland plant communities. Means and standard error presented.

Figure 2: Average percent vegetation coverage by shrubland and desert plant communities in
Tumacacori, Arizona, USA in 2011. Desert plant communities make up slightly more %
vegetation coverage than shrubland plant communities. Means and 95% CI presented.
V. T Test Table and Explanatory Text
Compariso N Mean StDev SE 95% CI T Df p
n
Shrubland 145 9.38 13.76 1.14 2.24 1.98 144 0.7
Desert 146 10.05 16.36 1.35 2.65 1.98 145 0.7
Table 1: Shows t-test comparisons of the means evaluating percent vegetation cover of land by
shrubland and desert plant communities in Tumacacori, Arizona, USA in 2011. The results
reveal that while desert plant communities had a slightly higher percentage of vegetation
coverage, the difference was not statistically significant.