GROUP 4 P

ROJECT

HA

YL E

Y,

ME

HA

R,

F RA

SE

R,

MI C

HA

EL J

AS

P AL &

RY A

N

PURPOSE

What is the effect of distance from a water source (due to change in moisture content), on energy in the surrounding environment – looking at the heat capacities, pH and soil organic matter?

COLLECTI

ON AND

ANALYSIS

OF

QUANTITA

TIVE D

ATA

DISTANCE FROM WATER AND MOISTURE CONTENT

PH OF SOIL IN RELATION TO MOISTURE CONTENT

HEAT CAPACITY AND MOISTURE CONTENT

SOIL ORGANIC MATTER AND MOISTURE CONTENT

Comparing All Different Factors

OUR CONCLUSIONS

• Increase Moisture Content towards Waterfall

• Both pH and Soil Organic Matter increased, whereas Heat Capacity decreased

• Inverse Relationship• Direct relationship between pH and Soil

Organic Matter

PROCESS

DISTANCE: 0 METERS

• Mosses

• Roots

• Very moist

• 2 small ferns

• Dark soil

• Pine needles

• Angiosperm seeds

• More sunlight

DISTANCE: 1 METER

• Less moss

• Very moist

• Rocks

• More tree branches

• Deciduous (3) and coniferous leaves

DISTANCE: 2 METERS

• Pine cones (7)

• Tree roots

• 7 deciduous leaves

• Pine needles

• Less direct sunlight

DISTANCE: 3 METERS

• More direct sunlight

• Drier soil

• Soil was loose and less compact

• More debris

• Tree branches

• Pine cones

• Some moss

DISTANCE: 4 METERS

• Grass is present

• Moss

• Pine needles

• Pine cone bits

• Possible angiosperm seedlings

• Rocks

• ~15% direct sunlight

• 11 pinecones

• Less organic soil matter – trail route (more compact)

• Temperature probe was not fully in drier soil

CALCULA

TIONS &

LAB

WORK

SAMPLE CALCULATION: HEAT CAPACITY𝑄= 𝑚𝑐∆𝑇

𝑄= 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 ሺ𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠ሻ,𝑚 = 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠,𝑐= 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦,∆𝑇= 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 300𝑠 × 150𝐽𝑠−1 = 0.02585𝑘𝑔 × 𝑐 × 3.5𝐾

𝑐= 4.97 × 105𝐽𝑘𝑔−1𝐾−1

SAMPLE CALCULATION: MOISTURE CONTENT

+/-0.02

SAMPLE CALCULATION: SOIL ORGANIC MATTER

LIMITA

TIONS A

ND

REFLECTI

ON

LIMITATIONS, IMPACTS, AND IMPROVEMENTS

Limitation Impact on Data

How To Improve

Assumption of Constant Light Intensity

• Temperature• Impact on biodiversity• Evaporation

• Constant light conditions

• Measure light intensity as a factor

Assumptions of Constant Energy Loss and Even Energy Distribution (150 Watts to each soil sample)

• Processed data will be less precise (systematic error)

• Increase in number of trials

• Controlled environment

Soil Compaction was not taken into account in data analysis

• More compact soil will have greater heat retention

• Collect samples from more isolated areas with no human interference

Sample Size • Did not get a full, accurate idea of soil in the environment

• Take more samples of soil to reduce random errors

FURTHER EXPERIMENTATION

• Simpsons Diversity Index

• Testing multiple locations

• Testing samples of matter other than soil (ex. Leaves)

THANK YO

U!!

Thank you!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFraser Christian: Measurement and Calculation of heat

capacity, SOM & Moisture Data collection

Michael Ji: Measurement of Heat Capacity, Ideas for further investigation, SOM experimentation, Theorizing and hypothesizing

Mehar Kang: Measurement of pH, SOM, and Moisture Content; Presentation Preparation

Ryan Matsuda: Soil sample collection, moisture content experimentation, SOM experimentation, Evaluating limitations

Hayley McIntyre: Soil sample collection, Calculation of SOM & moisture content, Powerpoint & pictures

Jaspal Sanghera :Soil sample collection, SOM and Moisture content experimentation