ENVS2009\/Guidelines for Data SummaryReportonWilliams RiverFieldExcursion Data
DueDate:5pmMonday,October 12.
You must submit both aHardCopyANDanelectroniccopyviaTurnitin. Hard copies are to be submitted to the regular assignment boxes:Callaghan \u2013 outside the lab (Level1oftheScienceBuilding); Ourimbah \u2013 acrossfromtheScienceOffices.Latesubmissionswill be penalized at a rate of 10% per day.<\/p>\n
Pleasenote:
\u2022 Noconsultationonanyaspectofthereportwill be entered into, either in person or electronically, after 5pmon Wednesday October 7.All datapresentation\/analysesshould be attempted prior to this date to allow you to identify any issues with which you may require help.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Thewrittenreportsaretobecompletedindividually-thisincludesanydataanalyses\/presentationandinterpretation.AnyindicationsofcollaborationindevelopingthereportswillbetreatedasanAcademicIntegrityViolationandwillresultinafinalmarkof0forthereport.PlagiarismisalsoanAcademicIntegrityViolation.Ifyouareunsurehowtocitematerialfromexternalreferences,pleaseaskoneoftheinstructorsforassistance.<\/p>\n
BasicFormattingGuidelines:
\u2022 MaximumLength:9pagesnotincludingfiguresandtables
\u2022 1.5linespacingmax-nodoublelinesbetweensectionheadings.
\u2022 2.5cmmarginsonallsides.
\u2022 11pointfontsize-Arial,Calibri,TimesNewRomanFontsonly.
\u2022 Referencing:Harvard\/Author-DateFormat(SeeGuidelinesonBlackboardSite).<\/p>\n
ObjectiveinWritingtheReport:
Theobjectiveinwritingthisreportistousethedatacollectedduringthefieldexcursionstoaddressaresearchquestion\/hypothesisrelatedtopredicteddifferencesbetweenthefieldsites.Anunderstandingofthekeydifferencesbetweenthefieldsiteswillbeimportantforyoutodeveloptheresearchquestion.Asareview,thesitessampledwereasfollows:<\/p>\n
WilliamsRiveratTillegraBridge:ThissitewasupstreamoftheconfluencewiththeChichesterRiver.TherearenoimpoundmentsontheWilliamsRiverabovethispoint.<\/p>\n
Chichester River at Chichester Dam: This site is on the Chichester River downstream of confluence of Chichester and Wangat Rivers and Chichester Dam<\/p>\n
WilliamsRiveratBandonGrove: ThissiteontheWilliamsRiverisdownstreamoftheconfluencewiththeChichesterRiver.<\/p>\n
WilliamsRiveratAlisonRoadCrossing:Thissitewasthemostdownstreamofthesiteswesampled.TheWilliamsRiveratthispointhaspassedthroughthetownofDungog.<\/p>\n
Youshouldalsoreviewthephysicalhabitatassessmentdatathatwerecollectedduringthefieldexcursionsasthesemayhelpidentifyhabitatdifferencesbetweenthesitesthatcouldleadtodifferencesinwaterqualityandmacroinvertebratecommunitystructure.Additionally,youshouldconsultanelectronicresourcesuchasGoogleEarthand\/orhardcopytopographicmapstodeterminewhatthelandusecharacteristicswereupstreamandadjacenttothefieldsitesthatweresampled.Thinkaboutwhatmajorfactorsmaybe differentbetweenthesamplingsitesandhowthosefactorsmayinfluencewaterqualityandmacroinvertebrateassemblages.BackgroundinformationontheWilliamsandChichesterRivercatchmentsisavailableintheHunterWaterCatchmentManagementPlanthathasbeenpostedonBlackboard.Youmayalsoconsultadditionalexternalreferencestogatherinformationaboutlanduseinthesecatchments.<\/p>\n
ReportStructure<\/p>\n
Allreportsshouldincludethefollowingsections:<\/p>\n
1. TitleofReport,AuthorNameandStudentNumber(Doesnothavetobeaseparatepage).<\/p>\n
2. Introduction,SiteOverviewandResearchQuestion:Thissectionshouldinclude:
\u2022 Abriefbackgroundonthesites(withreferencingasnecessary).
\u2022 Asummaryofthephysicalcharacteristicsofthesitesbasedonthephysicalhabitatassessment-(Seenotebelow).
\u2022 Asummaryoftheupstreamandsurroundingcatchmentforeachsitebasedonyourconsultation of otherdigital resources (e.g.Google Earth) andtopographic maps.Youshouldindicatewhatsourcesyouusedforthispart.
\u2022 Aclearstatementoftheresearchquestionorhypothesisregardinghowwaterqualityandmacroinvertebrateassemblageswilldifferbetweenthesamplingsites.Youwillneedtochoosethree(3)waterqualityvariablestofocusonindevelopingthisquestionandinyoursubsequentanalyses.<\/p>\n
PhysicalHabitatAssessments:ThesedatahavebeensummarisedonanExcelspreadsheetavailableontheBlackboardsite.Thespreadsheetincludesallofthehabitatattributesthatwerelistedonthefielddatasheetswith\u201cXs\u201dusedtoindicateeachtimeaparticularattributewasselectedbyoneofthegroups.Assuch,thespreadsheetsrepresentfrequencydiagramsthatidentifythemostcommonlyselectedattributetypes.Insummarisingthedataforthissectionofthereport,youmaysimplychoosetohavenarrativetextthatexplainsthekeyhabitatcharacteristicsforeachofthefieldsites,includingcommentonanydifferencesthatexistbetweenthesites.Youmayalsochoosetouseagraphicalortabularpresentationofthesedata,butdonotsimplyregurgitateeverythingfromtheExcelspreadsheetontoagraphortable-anydatapresentationyouusemust\u201csay\u201dsomethingandberelevanttoestablishingtheresearchquestion.<\/p>\n
PagelimitfortheIntroduction,SiteOverviewandResearchQuestionsection:3pages(excludinggraphsortables).<\/p>\n
AssessmentcriteriafortheIntroductionsection:
\u2022 Adherencetopagelimits.
\u2022 Clarityofwriting,includingappropriategrammar,usage,sentencestructure,andreferencingformat.
\u2022 Clarity\/developmentoftheresearchquestion.<\/p>\n
3. Results:Thissectionisthemostimportantpartofthereport.Asfurtherexplainedineachofthesub-sectionsbelow,youhavebeenprovidedwithsummariesofalloftherawdatafromthefieldexcursionsanditisyourjobtodeveloptheseintoacohesivepresentation.Somepointstoconsider:<\/p>\n
Replicatedata:Eachofthegroupsworkingatthefieldsitescollecteddatathatnowformreplicatemeasurements.Youmustdeterminehowbesttodealwiththesereplicateswhendisplayingthedata.Anobviousapproachwouldbetotaketheaveragevalueofeachparameterbasedonthegroupmeasurementsfromeachfieldsite.Youshouldalsoincludeameasureofvariabilityofthedata-forexample;reporttheaveragevalueandthestandarddeviation.Thedataforthewaterchemistryandmacroinvertebratesarealsoprovidedforeachfieldtripseparately.Youneedtodecideifitisworthkeepingtheseseparateorcombiningthem-youmaywanttoconsider if there were any significant weather variations across the two days or dosomeexploratoryanalysestoseeifanyrealdifferencesexistintheresultsfromthetwodays.<\/p>\n
Tables,graphs,figures:Anytables,graphsorfiguresmustbe:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sequentiallynumbered(e.g.Table1,2,3,etc.)soyoucanreferencetheminthetextsectionoftheresults.
\u2022 Includeashortdescriptiveheadinginthecaseoftablesorcaptioninthecaseoffigures.Note:Researchpapersfromtheliteratureprovidegoodexamplesofhowtoformattableheadingsandfigurecaptions.Additionalinformationontheuseoftablesandfigureswillbeprovidedinthepracticalsessionthatdiscussesdevelopingthisreport.<\/p>\n
Thekeytowritingaresultssectionistouseanappropriateformatforpresentingthedata(table,figure),butalsoincludetexttoexplaintothereaderwhatthemajorresultsare.Youshouldnotassumethereaderwillsimplyreviewyourtablesandfiguresandcomeawaywiththemajorresultsyouaretryingtoconvey.<\/p>\n
Statisticalanalyses:Sincethewaterchemistryandmacroinvertebratedataarereplicated,theylendthemselvestobasicstatisticalanalysestodetermineifsignificantdifferencesexistbetweensites.Withthetypeofdataavailable,themostappropriateanalyseswouldbeaOne-WayAnalysisofVariance(ANOVA)withapost-hoctesttodeterminewhichsitesdifferfromeachother.Ifyoufeelcomfortablestatisticallyanalysingdata,youmaydosoaspartoftheresultssection.However,Iamawarethatnotallstudentshavecompletedastatisticscourseandthosethathave,maynotbesufficientlyfamiliarwiththe application of statisticalmethodssuchasANOVA.Assuch,statisticalanalysesofthedataarenotarequirementforthisreport.Youmaysimplysummarisethedatausingtablesandgraphsandthenuseavisualassessmenttodetermineifapparentdifferencesexistbetweensites.However,itisexpectedthatyouwillatleastbeabletocalculatemeansandmeasuresofvariabilityofthedata.
Thefollowingdatamustbeincludedintheresultssection:<\/p>\n
WaterChemistryData:ThesedatahavebeensummarisedonasingleExcelspreadsheetavailableontheBlackboardsite.Thedatacollectedonthetwodaysofthetriparepresentedseparately.Asmentionedabove,theweatherandstreamconditionwas different onthetwodays.Assuch,youmaywanttoconductaninitialcomparisonofwaterchemistrybetween the two daysto see ifthereareany major differences andthensimplycombine themifthereisnoobviousdifference.<\/p>\n
Summarisingthewaterchemistrydata:Thewaterchemistrydataarepresentedinrawform so,youmustdecidehowtobestsummarisethesereplicatedata.Theformatusedtopresentthesummariseddataisyourchoice-table,graph?NOTE(READTHISITISIMPORTANT)-INDEVELOPINGYOURRESEARCHQUESTIONANDDATAPRESENTATIONYOUONLYNEEDTOPRESENTTHREE(3)WATERQUALITYVARIABLESOFYOURCHOICE.Inchoosingwhichvariablestopresent,youshouldconsiderwhichthreetellthebest\u201cstory\u201daboutdifferencesbetweenthesitesandhowtheymayinfluencethemacroinvertebratesataparticularsite.<\/p>\n
Aspartoftheresultssection,youshouldincludeabriefstatementexplainingwhyyouselectedthethreewaterchemistryvariablesyouchosetoaddress.Howmightthesevariablesbeinfluencedbylanduse?Howcantheybeused togetherto characterisewater qualityatthesite?etc.<\/p>\n
MacroinvertebrateData:ThesedataarealsosummarisedinanExcelspreadsheetavailableonBlackboard.Somebasicdataanalyseshavealreadybeendoneforyou.Theseinclude:
\u2022 RelativeAbundance:Relativeabundanceisdeterminedbydividingthenumberofindividualsofaparticulartaxonomicgroupbythetotalnumberofindividualsinthesample.Thiscanbehelpfulifyouwishtoknowiftheinvertebrateassemblageatasiteisdominatedbyoneparticulargroupoforganisms.
\u2022 Totaltaxa\/Taxarichness:Thisissimplyacountofthenumberofdifferenttypesofinvertebratesthatwereidentifiedinasample.Taxarichnessisusuallyloweratdegradedsitesascomparedtomorepristinesites.SeethereferencematerialonBlackboardforfurtherdescriptionofmacroinvertebratesummarydatasuchastotalabundance,taxarichness,etc.<\/p>\n
Calculationofthe\u201cStreamPollutionIndex(SPI)\u201dfromtheSIGNAL2SensitivityRatingsInadditiontothedescriptivemetricsthathavebeencalculatedforyou,youwillneedtousethemacroinvertebratedatatocalculatetheSPIwhichispartoftheSIGNAL2riverassessmentmethod.<\/p>\n
ReviewtheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuideavailableontheBlackboardsite.Asdiscussedinlecture,thismethodaimstodeterminestreamhealthbasedonhowsensitivetheinvertebratescollectedfromthesystemaretopollutionorhabitatdegradation.Themoresensitiveaninvertebrategroupistopollutionorhabitatdegradation,thehighertheSIGNALsensitivityscore.Afinal\u201cStreamPollutionIndex(SPI)\u201discalculatedforthestreambasedonthecombinedsensitivitiesoftheinvertebrates.(Page13oftheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuideincludesanexampleofhowtocalculateanSPIbasedonidentificationofinvertebratestoPhylum\/Class\/Order.Anexampleusingdatacollectedduringthefieldtripsisalsoincludedbelow).<\/p>\n
SPIcalculation:
1. Basedonthenumberofindividualsofeachmacroinvertebrategroupidentifiedinthesample,determinetheappropriate\u201cWeightFactor\u201dtouseforthatgroupinthecalculation.ThisweightfactoradjuststheSPIbasedontherelativeabundanceofmacroinvertebratesin thesample. Table 1 belowliststhe WeightFactors-these are alsolistedintheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuide.<\/p>\n
2. Refertotheexampletablebelow-Multiplythesensitivityrating(ColumnA)bytheWeightfactor(ColumnC)andentertheanswerinColumnD.<\/p>\n
3. AddupColumnsCandDandrecordthetotalsinthe\u201cTotal\u201dlineundereachcolumn.<\/p>\n
4. Countthenumberofdifferentgroupsidentifiedinthesample.Thiswillserveasthetaxarichnessnumberthatwillbeusedinyourassessmentbelow.<\/p>\n
5. CalculatetheStreamPollutionIndex(SPI)=TotalColumnD\/TotalColumnC.<\/p>\n
6. ReviewthesitedescriptionslistedinTable2below(orintheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuide)andchoosetheonethatbestdescribesthesiteswesampled.Classifythetaxarichnessandstreampollutionindex(SPI)ashighorlowbasedonthesitedescriptionandlevelsindicatedinTable2.<\/p>\n
7. UseTable3todeterminetheSIGNAL2conditionassessmentforthesite.<\/p>\n
Table1.Weighttable.Usethenumbersbelowtodeterminetheweightfactorforeachoftheinvertebrategroupsidentified.RecordtheappropriateweightfactorincolumnCofTable1.Noticethatthemoreindividualsinagroup,thehighertheweighting.
No.ofindividualsineachinvertebrategroupfound
(ColumnB in Table 1)
WeightFactor(ColumnC in Table1)
1-2 1
3-5 2
6-10 3
11-20 4
>20 5<\/p>\n
Table2.SPIandtaxarichnessratingtable.
SPI Taxarichness
Sitedescription Low High Low High
Wetlands 0-3.1 >3.1 0-14 >14
WesternNSWriversorstreams
<300metresasl 0-3.1 >3.1 0-11 >11
Otherriversandcreeks 0-3.5 >3.5 0-15 >15
Table3.SIGNAL2sitescoringtable.<\/p>\n
SPI
Taxarichness Siteconditionsbasedonthemacroinvertebratesample
High High Goodwaterqualityandadiversityofhabitats.Itmaybeawell-managedsite,naturalbushland,oranationalpark.
Low High Waterqualitymaybeslightlyaffectedbyhumanactivityornaturalfactors.Theremaybehigherlevelsofsalinityand\/ornutrientlevelsatthissite.
High Low Waterqualityisaffectedbyapollutionsourceupstreamortherearefewhabitatsduetoharshphysicalconditions.
Low Low Waterqualityisaffectedbyhumanusesuchasurban,industrial,oragriculturalpollution,orbythedownstreameffectsofdamns.<\/p>\n
ExampleSPIcalculation.
A B C D<\/p>\n
TaxonomicGroup SensitivityRating Numberofindividuals WeightFactor SensitivityxWeightFactor
Ephemeroptera(Mayflies)
9
127
5
45
Coleoptera(Beetles) 5 5 2 10
Diptera(Flies) 1 3 2 2
Odonata(Dragonflies
&Damselflies)
4
2
1
4
Oligochaeta(Freshwaterworms)
2
5 2 4
TOTAL 12 65<\/p>\n
StreamPollutionIndex(SPI)=TotalColumnD\/TotalColumnC=65\/12=5.4(High-basedonTable2)<\/p>\n
TotalTaxa=5(Low-basedonTable2)<\/p>\n
SIGNAL2SiteScore(BasedonTable3):Waterqualityisaffectedbyapollutionsourceupstreamortherearefewhabitatsduetoharshphysicalconditions.<\/p>\n
Summarisingthemacroinvertebratedata:Useaseriesoftablesorgraphstocomparerelativeabundance,taxarichnessandtheSPIforeachsite.YourresultsshouldincludeatablethatsummarisesthesiteconditionsbasedontheSPIassessment(Table3aboveandSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuide).Inwritingthedescriptivetextfortheresults,youshouldcommentonhowthesedifferentmetricscomparedwitheachotherindifferentiatingthesites.Forexample,didthesitesthattheSPIindicatedwereaffectedbypollutionalsohavethelowestSCI?<\/p>\n
PagelimitfortheResultssection:Thetextoftheresultssectionshouldbenomorethan3pagesinlength.Figuresandtablesarenotcountedinthemaximumpagenumber.<\/p>\n
AssessmentcriteriafortheResultssection:
\u2022 Adherencetopagelimits.
\u2022 Clarityofwriting,includingappropriategrammar,usage,andsentencestructure.
\u2022 Clarity\/developmentofthefiguresandtablesusedtopresenttheresults,includingtheuseof tableheadings and figure captions, appropriatelabelling of figure axes, anduseofappropriateunitsinthecaseofthewaterchemistrydata.
\u2022 Clarity\/developmentofthedescriptivetextthatyouusetopointoutthemajorresultsindicatedbythetablesandgraphsofthedata.<\/p>\n
4. Conclusion:<\/p>\n
Thissectionshoulddothefollowing:
\u2022 Explainifthedatacollectedsupportedtheresearchquestion.
\u2022 Iftheresearchquestionwasnotsupported,giveapossiblereason(s)why.
\u2022 Commentonhowthestudymayhavebeenimproved-forexample,howdoyouthinkonlyidentifyinginvertebratestothelevelofordermayhaveinfluencedtheresults?<\/p>\n
PagelimitfortheDiscussionsection:TheDiscussionsectionshouldbenomorethan2pagesinlength.
AssessmentcriteriafortheDiscussionsection:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Adherencetopagelimits.
\u2022 Degreetowhicheachofthethreeobjectivesindicatedabove,wereaddressed.
\u2022 Clarityofwriting,includingappropriategrammar,usage,andsentencestructure.<\/p>\n
5. References:<\/p>\n
Note:Thereisnotastrongemphasisonusingexternalreferencesforthisreportalthoughyoumaywanttoincludesomeintheinitialintroductorysection.<\/p>\n
Appropriatereferencematerialforuseinthisreportincludes:
\u2022 Textbooks (e.g. Boulton and Brock, Australian Freshwater Ecology)
\u2022 Thefieldmanualandrelevantpracticalexerciseinstructions.
\u2022 Primaryresearchpapers(includinganyofthosepostedontheBlackboardsite).
\u2022 Reviewpapers
\u2022 Governmentreports(includinganyofthosepostedontheBlackboardsite)
\u2022 Reputable websites (e.g. those from government agencies or recognisedorganisations).<\/p>\n
Note:Ifyouareunsureaboutwhatconstitutesaprimaryresearchpaperorareviewpaper,pleaseask.<\/p>\n
Format:Harvard\/AuthorDateReferencingFormat-SeeresourcematerialonBlackboardforfurtherguidanceonthisstyleofreferencingformat.<\/p>\n
AssessmentcriteriafortheReferencessection:
\u2022 Adherencetoformatguidelines.<\/p>\n
6. Appendices:<\/p>\n
Youmayincludeanappendixsectiontoprovideoutputfromanystatisticalanalysesorothermaterialnotcriticaltothebodyofthereport.
Parameter Williams R.- Williams R.- Chichester R. Williams R.-
Bandon Grove Tillegra Alison Rd.
Temperature (\u00b0C) 13.13 13.41 14.83 13.60
Dissolved Oxygen 9.40 7.02 14.86?? 8.50
Concentration (mg\/L)
pH 7.50 7.96 8.30 7.78
Electrical Conductivity 135.00 112.00 65.00 231.00
(\u00b5S\/cm)
Turbidity (NTU) 1.80 0.00 2.30 1.20
Total dissolved solids 87.75 72.80 42.25 150.15
(mg\/L, calculate)
Nitrate (mg\/L)
Orthophosphate
(mg\/L)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ENVS2009\/Guidelines for Data SummaryReportonWilliams RiverFieldExcursion Data DueDate:5pmMonday,October 12. You must submit both aHardCopyANDanelectroniccopyviaTurnitin. Hard copies are to be submitted to the regular assignment boxes:Callaghan \u2013 outside the lab (Level1oftheScienceBuilding); Ourimbah \u2013 acrossfromtheScienceOffices.Latesubmissionswill be penalized at a rate of 10% per Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}