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2.3 Biological Characteristics
5.
Starting at the beginning of your tape measure, drop your pin every 3 inches and record what
is on the ground surface using a tally mark in each of the category boxes on your data sheet.
This should give you about 100 total data points.
6.
See the example data sheet below for the calculations. Tally the total for each category,
divide by the total number of points in each area, and multiply by 100 to get the percentages.
Our sample data sheet is based on Option 2 in the instructions above. All three options work the
same way. Make tally marks, total them, calculate the percentages.
Note: There are many ways to gather more/different data from
this activity, but for now, focus only on the surface cover.
Date: 5/9/21
Recorder: Jill
Location: East Field
Species / Groups:
Transect
Bare
ground
Annual
forb
Perennial
grass
Annual
grass
Perennial
shrub
Perennial
forb
Total
1
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103
Calculate:
23 / 103
x 100 =
22%
15 / 103
x 100 =
15%
20 / 103
x 100 =
19%
8 / 103
x 100 =
8%
16 / 103
x 100 =
16%
21 / 103
x 100 =
20%
100%