Travis Weaver
Biology 265L
Lauren Van Heukalem
Section No. 1
December 1st, 2014

Wa’ahila Ridge: Percent Cover of Megathyrus maximus and Senna surattensis and its relation to Elevation Abstract
Percent cover of both Megathyrus maximus and Senna surattensis is estimated using quadrats on 11 separate plots along Wa’ahila Ridge. Percent cover of these two plant species were compared to the measured elevation using a GPS, in each plot. A p-value greater than .005 for each indicates a lack of significance between elevation and percent cover. A correlation analysis was used to determine that there is no significance between the elevation and percent cover as M. maximus had a p-value of .873 and S. surattensis had a p-value of .380. Sample size …show more content…

Results

Figure 1. Percent cover of S. surattensis versus elevation along the 11 sampled plots.

Figure 2. Percent cover of M. maximus versus elevation along the 11 sampled plots.

After data collection, a correlation test was used to determine whether or not there was a relationship between elevation and the percent cover of M. maximus as well as S. surattensis. The null hypothesis suggested that there was no significance between elevation and percent cover. For both species, the correlation analysis showed that there was no correlation between the two variables, thus we accept the null hypothesis. The values seen after data was calculated were (correlation, r=.055, df=9, p=.873) of M. maximus. The p-value was (.873), well outside of the accepted limits. The p-value for the correlation S. surattensis was (.380), again, this is far outside of the accepted parameters. The values were (correlation, r=-.294, df=9, p=.380).

Discussion
Percent cover for both M. maximus and S. surrattensis was estimated on each of the 11 plots on Wa’ahila Ridge. Percent cover was compared to the average elvation at each of the plots. Data was collected on three trips to Wa’ahila ridge on September 16th and 23rd, and October 14th. Initial information and research was conducted on the first two trips, while data for the hypothesis was collected on the final date. After reviewing the correlation analysis results, it was found