Example of Research Looking at Marsh Bird Density And Relationship to Vegetative Characteristics Upland Habitat Water Marsh

Example of Research Looking at Marsh Bird Density And Relationship to Vegetative Characteristics Upland Habitat Marsh Basic sampling design Random points selected with a marsh At each point, counts of birds made at monthly intervals At each point, vegetative characteristics determined during late summer -plant species and stem density with Daubenmire frame -percent horizontal cover at 3 heights (0-50 cm, cm, cm Main goals are to determine if the density of bird species is related to purple loosestrife density, and to determine if bird species richness at the plot level is related to loosestrife presence/absence

Bird Table Year Month Day Site Redwing Blackbirds Swamp Sparrow Yellow Warbler Counts of Other Species Method of detection Location Species Richness Vegetation Table Year Month Day Site Location Plant Species Count Percent Horizontal Cover Percent purple loosestrife First Cut at Developing Tables

Refinements to Bird Table Bird Table Year Month Day Site Redwing Blackbirds Swamp Sparrow Yellow Warbler Counts of Other Species Method of detection Location Species Richness What is the unit of observation? - It seems like the plot is, but really it is the individual bird - Thus, we shouldn’t have fields that are for redwings, swamp sparrows, etc. The field should include a species id for each bird. - We need to think if we need a separate plot table or not. Other Problems - The species richness is a computed field (we do this by counting species within the plot. Thus, we don’t store this in the data, but get it by a summary query - The field name location is redundant with Vegetation table, and more importantly means something different. Here, location means distance bird is from plot center, and not the latitude/longitude of the plot itself. Remember, the table’s unit of observation is individual birds

Refinements to Bird Table Original Bird Table Year Month Day Site Redwing Blackbirds Swamp Sparrow Yellow Warbler Counts of Other Species Method of detection Location Species Richness Refined Bird Table Year Month Day Site Bird Species Method of detection Distance from plot center

Vegetation Table Year Month Day Site Location Plant Species Count Percent Horizontal Cover Percent purple loosestrife Refinement to Vegetation Table What is the unit of observation? - It seems like the plot is, but really here have two separate samplings. We use the Daubenmire frame to get plant density, and a cover board to get horizontal cover. - Thus, we need at least two tables Other Problems - Location, meaning latitude and longitude is really a multipart field. Thus, we split it into two fields - Location is really a characteristic of the plot, not the individual plants. This emphasizes the need for a plot table - The field percent purple loosestrife is really a computed field. Thus, we obtain this information via a query

Original Vegetation Table Year Month Day Site Location Plant Species Count Percent Horizontal Cover Percent purple loosestrife Refinements to Vegetation Table Refined Vegetation Density Table Year Month Day Site Plant Species Count Plot Table Site (meaning plot ID) Latitude Longitude Notes: We don’t include any date information here, because that only applies to the bird or vegetation sampling There may be other plot-level information (e.g., elevation) that could be included, but I haven’t for this example Refined Horizontal Cover Table Year Month Day Site Height (e.g., 0-50 cm, cm) Percent Horizontal Cover