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Pine Forestry Ecology Statistics

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Pine Forestry Ecology Statistics

A forestry team is checking whether pine plantations support healthy ecosystems. Use the data and ecology knowledge in this worksheet. Show working for calculations and use evidence when you explain a conclusion.

Investigating the forest

A team uses the PPDAC cycle to investigate whether the number of native birds differs between pine plantation sites and nearby native forest sites.

1.Write what each letter in PPDAC stands for, in the order used in a statistical investigation.

2.The team can count birds at random points throughout each habitat, count only beside the road, or let volunteers choose their favourite locations. Which method is most likely to give a fair comparison, and why?

The same area and counting time were used at every point. Counts are numbers of native birds observed.

Site

Habitat

Bird count

Pine plantation

Native forest

3.Calculate the mean bird count for the pine plantation sites and the mean for the native forest sites. Show your working.

4.Find the median and range of all six bird counts combined.

5.Which habitat had the higher mean count? Give the difference and one conclusion the team could reasonably draw from these sample data.

Ecology and evidence

Use the food-chain information and forestry scenario below to connect ecological ideas with data.

6.In a simple food chain, pine seeds are eaten by mice, and mice are eaten by moreporks. Match each ecological role to the correct organism.

Producer
Primary consumer
Secondary consumer

7.A manager records 240 surviving trees out of 300 trees treated against a pest. Calculate the survival proportion as a simplified fraction and as a percentage.

8.A five-year survey measured average pine tree heights of 2.1 m, 2.8 m, 3.2 m, 3.9 m and 4.1 m in Years 1 to 5. Describe the overall trend, then estimate a reasonable Year 6 height by extending the recent pattern.

9.The team wants to test whether larger pine trees have seeds that travel farther. Describe a fair way to collect data, including what to measure and one factor to keep consistent.

10.Name one possible effect of climate change on a New Zealand pine plantation ecosystem, and suggest a measurement the team could repeat over time to monitor it.