A Walk Through the Woods assignment 2024

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Memorial University of Newfoundland *

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2010

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Statistics

Date

Feb 20, 2024

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docx

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A WALK THROUGH THE WOODS: DATA ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURAL ADAPTATION IN WOOD Assignment modified from: a walk through the woods: data analysis of structural adaptation in wood by: Jean s. DeSain, Elena M. Feinstein and Amy E. Zanne THE ASSIGNMENT: Worth: 10% Due: Handed in on Brightspace the day of your lab during the week of February 12th You will use a data set provided to study structural adaptations in plant stems in relation to environmental factors. You will formulate hypotheses and analyze the data set provided by making a series of graphs, then you will interpret and explain the results. Once you have read through the assignment requirements and before you approach the assignment you should review:  The PowerPoint shown in the lab  The background information provided on Brightspace  The data (woods.csv file)  The R instructions https://ahurford.github.io/walkThroughWoodsGuide/ You are required to investigate whether there is a relationship between latitude and the structure of plant stems. ( Please note: latitude relates to climate). You will present your results in scatterplots with a regression lines (line of best fit) and find the r 2 . This will show how much latitude affects/does not affect the structure you are looking at. You will also compare a stem trait (one of the columns of data of your choice) between two plant families (also of your choice) by making a box plot (make sure your box plot isn’t using the exact same data as the example) SPECIFIC SECTIONS: TITLE: Your title should be informative. It should give an idea of the questions posed or the results found in the project and include what was studied. The title of the assignment should not be used as the title for your write up. INTRODUCTION : Present background information about stems and the link between latitude and climate. (Note: latitude and elevation are separate things! Make sure you know the difference!) Touch briefly on plant families either in general or the specific ones you have chosen. This background information or theory should help the reader understand how you came

to your hypotheses, however you do not need to go into depth, save this for the discussion. Include hypotheses for the following problems. Does latitude have an affect on the 1) area of vessels, 2) number of vessels, 3) fraction of stem area taken up by vessels. You will also hypothesize if you expect to see a significant difference in a stem trait between two families (stem trait and families of your choice). Cite information from at least one source in your introduction. METHODS : state the columns of data that you worked with and the source of the data (we are working from a selection of data from the Global Wood Density and Vessel Anatomy Databases). State the analysis done and the software used. (This will just be a sentence or two) RESULTS: You should have four graphs in total. Three scatterplots with regression lines and a box plot. Graphs should have description titles and axes should be labeled. Graphs should be done in R (partial marks will be given for graphs completed in another program but need to use R for full marks) Include a results summary, describe the relationships you see (ex. positive, negative), give the r 2 value for each line and state whether or not each relationship is significant. For the box plot state the results of the T-test and if there is a significant difference between families in the chosen stem trait. There should be no explanation in this section, leave that for your discussion. DISCUSSION : For each hypothesis state whether or not the results support your hypotheses. Then, explain why you see a relationship or, if appropriate, why not. As part of your explanation, find two related journal articles and include specific details of their studies or relevant findings and state if the study results are consistent with yours (don’t forget to cite these articles in your discussion). Regardless of whether or not your hypotheses were supported, you should explain multiple factors that could affect the results (what are we not taking into account when using latitude in place of specific climate data, what other factors such as herbivory, growth form etc. are we not accounting for? Don’t just list factors, explain how they may affect results). Your discussion should be well thought out and show an understanding of the topic studied and the factors that may affect tissue allocation in stems. IN-TEXT CITATIONS : Please use APA Format. See the guide here .  Acceptable sources: Peer-reviewed scientific journals (original research or reviews), textbooks, government/university/research institution websites. Do not use information from open source sites like Wikipedia, hobby sites etc. REFERENCES (5 points): Please use APA Format. See the general guide here .

You may also want to refer to specific guides for articles in periodicals , books , other printed sources and electronic sources (websites). FORMAT/PRESENTATION:  Font style: Times New Roman  Font size: 12  1 inch margins  1 1/2 line spacing  Grammar and writing style will be considered o The writing centre (SN-2058 and QEII library) is available to help you improve your writing. Staff will help you review your paper and correct common grammatical and formatting errors  Follow the headings given for the report format

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