Team+Dharma

== =**THE DHARMA INITIATIVE TEAM WELCOMES YOU! **=

**Ali Nackers. Lindsay Aylward. Sara Nealis. Liz Campbell **
Our specific area of research is located by the back baseball field in the golden rod. It is up the hill towards the right of the containment pond when you are facing away from the school. If you are traveling down the back driveway leading from the school, you make a direct right turn before you reach the containment pond. Continue traveling towards the baseball field but before you reach it, make a left turn. Eventually you will reach a dead end, unless you want to walk through the thick golden rod. This is our site we used to collect multiple aspects of data to form the different microclimates in our area.

WEST VIEW: Looking to the West of our microclimate there is an amazing view of all the plants in our microclimate. The plant Bitterweed (See Figure 5) is shown.

NORTH VIEW: Looking to the North of our microclimate there is a clear view of the baseball field. Crabgrass was the most common and majority of the ground was made up of it (See Figure 1).



SOUTH VIEW: Looking to the South of our microclimate there is an overwhelming wall of plants growing from the ground. If you continue walking in a southern direction it will take you to the deep parts of our microclimate. New plants like Foxtail Grass (See Figure 4), and Daisy Fleabane (See figure 6) have appeared.

EAST VIEW: Looking to the East of our microclimate there are a sea of different varieties of vegetation plants. Crabgrass (See figure 1), Queen Anne’s lace (See figure 2), Golden Rods (See figure 3) are among the most popular. In the distance there is a view of a local office building and the school’s back driveway. 

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 * ﻿ AVERAGE OF ABIOTIC FACTORS **

Our site is facing Northeast so it receives a lot of sunlight in the morning as the sun is rising. Since we did our research in the morning, we have a relatively high temperature and light intensity (when it is sunny). There were many rainstorms around the time we collected our data so our area was usually wet. This wetness caused by the rainstorms plus the morning dew affected our dew point. Also, the sunlight mixed with this wetness made our relative and absolute humidity pretty high.
 * ** Temperature ** || ** Light Intensity **  || ** Dew Point **   || ** Relative Humidity ** || ** Absolute Humidity ** ||
 * 18.37 ̊ C ||  71.189 Lux  ||    9.55 ̊ C  ||  65.5%  ||  9.38 g/m3  ||

__Common Vegetation __
 * Crabgrass: **is native to tropical and warm temperate regions. It is an annual and perennial lawn, pasture, and forage plant; often considered a lawn pest. They typically have spreading stems with wide flat leaf blades that lie on the ground with the tips ascending. Crabgrass seed has a long germination period; if conditions are right, it can germinate throughout the growing season. Crabgrasses occur in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of both hemispheres.


 * Queen Anne's Lace: **is a flowering plant that is commonly found in the North American region. It is a biennial plant that grows to 1m tall and blooms in June to August. The "umbrels" are claret-coloured or pale pink before they open, then bright white and rounded when in full flower, measuring 3–7 cm wide. The dried umbels detach from the plant, becoming tumbleweeds.

 <span style="color: #67f939; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">**Goldenrod:** <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">is a herbaceous perennial species found in the meadows and pastures, along roads, ditches and waste areas in North America. Some American species have also been introduced into Europe and other parts of the world. They have stems that stand tall, ranging in height from 5 to 100 or more centimeters. Some species have stems that branch near the top. The leaf margins are often dented, and leaf faces may be hairless or barely hairy; the distal leaves are sometimes 3-nerved, and hairless or sparsely to densely hairy with scabrous, strigillose, or villous hairs. <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="color: #4bef1f; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">**Foxtail Grass:** <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">occurs in northern temperate regions. It can be annual or perennial. It grows in tufts and has flat leaves. Few are considered weeds, others are very decorative and are used in bouquets of dried flowers. There are 25-35 species that have similar traits as the foxtail grass that make up a biological family. <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="color: #4bef1f; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">**Bitterweed:** <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">is an annual plant that grows to 12-18 in. The color is typically yellow and the leaves have a smooth texture. It needs constant exposure to sunlight. This plant blooms from late spring/early Summer, <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">mid summer, and late summer/early fall. It also is attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds.

<span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">
 * <span style="color: #4bef1f; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">Daisy Fleabane: **<span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">is a native annual plant that grows to 3 in. tall. It is largely unbranched, except for a few side stems and the ridged central stem has spreading white hairs near the base. It cultivates in full sun, dry conditions, and poor soil containing clay or stony material. This plant tends to fade away after flowering and setting seed. Habitats include upland areas of black soil prairies, gravel prairies,limestone glades, dry savannas, eroding clay banks, pastures and abandoned fields, and areas along roadsides and railroads.

__<span style="color: #dc00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%;">Common Organisms __ <span style="color: #dc00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 250%;"> <span style="color: #4bef1f; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">**BEES:** <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Bees all have two pairs of wings, the hind pair being the smaller of the two; in a very few species, one sex or caste has relatively short wings that make flight difficult or impossible, but none are wingless.

<span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">
 * <span style="color: #4bef1f; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">Butterflies: ** <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">are a day-flying insect and have large, often brightly coloured wings, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; however, some species are agents of pollination of some plants, and caterpillars of a few butterflies eat harmful insects.

<span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;"> <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">PLOTS: 2,3,6
 * <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">SAYID'S MICROCLIMATE #1 **

|| ** Light Intensity ** || ** Dew Point (⁰C) ** || ** Relative Humidity (% ** ) || ** Absolute Humidity ** || 8:20am || 22.2 C || 70.5 Lux || 11.5 C || 57% || 11.2 || 8:05am || 22.4 C || 76.9 Lux || 12.1 C || 54% || 11.0 ||
 * ** Sample ** || ** Temp (⁰C) **
 * (g/m³) **
 * 2 -10/11 8:20am || 20.4 C || 64.09 Lux || 12.4 C || 61% || 11.1 ||
 * 3-10/11
 * 6- 10/14

<span style="color: #dc00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Microclimate one is located on the east side of our transect line. Because of this, more sunlight is able to reach this area. This is why the temperatures and light intensities were pretty high. Also since more sunlight can reach this are, the average relative humidity is fairly low. We believe the absolute humidity is high for this area because the sunlight gets trapped on the ground floor which mixes with water to create humidity. The most common vegetation found in this microclimate is crabgrass and Queen Anne’s lace (Figure 2). Other vegetation found was Daisy Flea Bane (Figure 6), Fox Tail Grass (Figure 4), and bitter weed (Figure 5). These plants are medium sized so they receive plenty of sunlight in the morning, but as the sun is going down, the golden rod casts a shadow over them. They also attract bees and butterflies which were common organisms in our area.



<span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;"> <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">PLOT: 10 || ** Dew Point (°C) ** || ** Relative Humidity (%) ** || ** Absolute Humidity (g/m³) ** || 8:15 am || 15.9 C || 70.5 Lux || 8.4 C || 65 % || 8.4 || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Our microclimate 2 is located in the tall golden rod (Figure 3) plants in relation to the other microclimates which are located in shorter plants. Therefore, the light intensity in microclimate 2 was relatively low. The temperature was also low since it was harder for sunlight to travel through the tall plants. The relative and absolutely humidities are high in this area because the plants are so tall. This cause more sunlight to be trapped at the ground floor which mixes with the morning dew to create humidity.This microclimate is located near a creek so the plants that are located in it are more related to water. The most common vegetation in our microclimate #2 is golden rod. Since golden rod cannot be mowed, there is little human disturbance. This allows for more organisms to live in this microclimate. Other common plants found in this microclimate is Bitterweed (Figure 5) and Daisy Flea Bane (Figure 6).
 * <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">KATE'S MICROCLIMATE #2 **
 * ** Sample ** || ** Temp. (°C ** ) || ** Light Intensity (Lux) **
 * Plot 10- 10/14



<span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;"> <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">PLOTS: 5,7,8
 * <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">HURLEY'S Microclimate #3 **

(°C) ||  ** Light Intensity ** (Lux) ||  ** Dew Point ** (°C) ||  ** Relative Humidity ** (%) ||  ** Absolute Humidity ** (g/m3) ||
 * ** Sample ** ||  ** Temperature **
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">5 || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">15.7  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">64.1  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">7.5  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">63%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">8.1  ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">7 || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">17.7  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">70.6  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">7.1  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">52%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;">7.7  ||

<span style="color: #ee7efc; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Our microclimate number 3 is located towards the middle of the transect line in our site. It is located in between our grassy microclimate (#4) and our golden rod microclimate (#2). The plants that were most common in this microclimate were Daisy Flea Bane (Figure 6) and Bitterweed (Figure 5). These flowers are very attractive to bees and butterflies so this is where we mainly saw all of our organisms. This microclimte had a low dew point compared to the other microclimates and had a low absolute humidity measurement because more sunlight reaches this area to dry up the water. This also causes the temperature and the light intensity to be relatively high, but not as high as microclimates 1 and 4.

<span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">


 * <span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">SAWYER'S Microclimate #4 **

<span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">

<span style="color: #ff0006; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 175%;">PLOT: 1

<span style="color: #37d00e; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Our final microclimate is located at the very beginning of our transect line. The most common organisms in this micrclimate are backyard grass and crabgrass. Because these organisms are very short, more sunlight can reach this area. This causes a higher temperature and supposedly a higher light intensity (our tool was not working too well). We also thought that this should create a lower dew point. However, we thought that the roots of these grasses were shorter then the roots of the other plants in our area, so it takes longer for the grass to soak up the dew. We also assumed that the relative humidity is low because the sunlight can dry up the water, but the absolute humidity is higher because the sun mixes with the water to cause more humidity.
 * <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sample || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Temp (⁰C) || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Light Intensity (Lux) || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Dew Point (⁰C) || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Relative Humidity (%) || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Absolute Humidity (g/m3) ||
 * <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">1- 10/11 8:20AM || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">20.4 || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">64.09 || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">12.4 || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">61% || <span style="color: #1b70ee; font-family: Georgia,serif;">11.1 ||

<span style="color: #fd7723; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">ABIOTIC VS. BIOTIC FACTORS <span style="color: #fd7723; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Our transect line runs from a regular grassy area back to the tall golden rod plants. In between these different microclimates there are two more layers of different flowers and plants which make two more microclimates. Our first microclimate is mainly made up of the biotic factor crabgrass (figure 1). This plant takes on the form of regular backyard grass so they have many similar properties. Crabgrass can be mowed by the yard workers of Great Valley so the lawnmowers (an abiotic factor) do not allow the crabgrass to grow to its full potential. While the crabgrass is short, more sunlight can reach this area. This causes a higher temperature and a higher light intensity.

<span style="color: #fd7723; font-family: Georgia,serif;">The microclimate in the middle of our transect line contains many flowering plants such as Bitterweed (figure 5), Daisy Fleabane (figure 6), and Queen Anne’s lace (figure 2).Since these are flowering plants, they have interactions with organisms such as bees and butterflies. These plants are medium-sized so sunlight can still reach the ground floor pretty well. This creates higher temperatures and more humidity. The lawnmowers do not cut these areas so there is little human disturbances which allows the plants to grow fully.

<span style="color: #fd7723; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Our transect line is located near the containment pond, the school’s back driveway, and Rt. 401. Because of this location there is a lot of dirty run-off water after ran storms and a lot of pollution from cars. We found that most of our plants, especially golden rod, which makes up the majority of our final microclimate, and daisy fleabane, are custom to grow in fields and meadows alongside roads and waste areas. The abiotic factor of pollution does not cause these plants to grow here, but instead the plants can sustain life in areas such as this one.



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