ENVS2009/Guidelines for Data SummaryReportonWilliams RiverFieldExcursion Data

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 - outside the lab (Level1oftheScienceBuilding); Ourimbah - acrossfromtheScienceOffices.Latesubmissionswill be penalized at a rate of 10% per day. Pleasenote: •    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. •    Thewrittenreportsaretobecompletedindividually-thisincludesanydataanalyses/presentationandinterpretation.AnyindicationsofcollaborationindevelopingthereportswillbetreatedasanAcademicIntegrityViolationandwillresultinafinalmarkof0forthereport.PlagiarismisalsoanAcademicIntegrityViolation.Ifyouareunsurehowtocitematerialfromexternalreferences,pleaseaskoneoftheinstructorsforassistance. BasicFormattingGuidelines: •    MaximumLength:9pagesnotincludingfiguresandtables •    1.5linespacingmax-nodoublelinesbetweensectionheadings. •    2.5cmmarginsonallsides. •    11pointfontsize-Arial,Calibri,TimesNewRomanFontsonly. •    Referencing:Harvard/Author-DateFormat(SeeGuidelinesonBlackboardSite). ObjectiveinWritingtheReport: Theobjectiveinwritingthisreportistousethedatacollectedduringthefieldexcursionstoaddressaresearchquestion/hypothesisrelatedtopredicteddifferencesbetweenthefieldsites.Anunderstandingofthekeydifferencesbetweenthefieldsiteswillbeimportantforyoutodeveloptheresearchquestion.Asareview,thesitessampledwereasfollows: WilliamsRiveratTillegraBridge:ThissitewasupstreamoftheconfluencewiththeChichesterRiver.TherearenoimpoundmentsontheWilliamsRiverabovethispoint. Chichester River at Chichester Dam: This site is on the Chichester River downstream of confluence of Chichester and Wangat Rivers and Chichester Dam WilliamsRiveratBandonGrove: ThissiteontheWilliamsRiverisdownstreamoftheconfluencewiththeChichesterRiver. WilliamsRiveratAlisonRoadCrossing:Thissitewasthemostdownstreamofthesiteswesampled.TheWilliamsRiveratthispointhaspassedthroughthetownofDungog. Youshouldalsoreviewthephysicalhabitatassessmentdatathatwerecollectedduringthefieldexcursionsasthesemayhelpidentifyhabitatdifferencesbetweenthesitesthatcouldleadtodifferencesinwaterqualityandmacroinvertebratecommunitystructure.Additionally,youshouldconsultanelectronicresourcesuchasGoogleEarthand/orhardcopytopographicmapstodeterminewhatthelandusecharacteristicswereupstreamandadjacenttothefieldsitesthatweresampled.Thinkaboutwhatmajorfactorsmaybe differentbetweenthesamplingsitesandhowthosefactorsmayinfluencewaterqualityandmacroinvertebrateassemblages.BackgroundinformationontheWilliamsandChichesterRivercatchmentsisavailableintheHunterWaterCatchmentManagementPlanthathasbeenpostedonBlackboard.Youmayalsoconsultadditionalexternalreferencestogatherinformationaboutlanduseinthesecatchments. ReportStructure Allreportsshouldincludethefollowingsections: 1.    TitleofReport,AuthorNameandStudentNumber(Doesnothavetobeaseparatepage). 2.    Introduction,SiteOverviewandResearchQuestion:Thissectionshouldinclude: •    Abriefbackgroundonthesites(withreferencingasnecessary). •    Asummaryofthephysicalcharacteristicsofthesitesbasedonthephysicalhabitatassessment-(Seenotebelow). •    Asummaryoftheupstreamandsurroundingcatchmentforeachsitebasedonyourconsultation of otherdigital resources (e.g.Google Earth) andtopographic maps.Youshouldindicatewhatsourcesyouusedforthispart. •    Aclearstatementoftheresearchquestionorhypothesisregardinghowwaterqualityandmacroinvertebrateassemblageswilldifferbetweenthesamplingsites.Youwillneedtochoosethree(3)waterqualityvariablestofocusonindevelopingthisquestionandinyoursubsequentanalyses. PhysicalHabitatAssessments:ThesedatahavebeensummarisedonanExcelspreadsheetavailableontheBlackboardsite.Thespreadsheetincludesallofthehabitatattributesthatwerelistedonthefielddatasheetswith“Xs”usedtoindicateeachtimeaparticularattributewasselectedbyoneofthegroups.Assuch,thespreadsheetsrepresentfrequencydiagramsthatidentifythemostcommonlyselectedattributetypes.Insummarisingthedataforthissectionofthereport,youmaysimplychoosetohavenarrativetextthatexplainsthekeyhabitatcharacteristicsforeachofthefieldsites,includingcommentonanydifferencesthatexistbetweenthesites.Youmayalsochoosetouseagraphicalortabularpresentationofthesedata,butdonotsimplyregurgitateeverythingfromtheExcelspreadsheetontoagraphortable-anydatapresentationyouusemust“say”somethingandberelevanttoestablishingtheresearchquestion. PagelimitfortheIntroduction,SiteOverviewandResearchQuestionsection:3pages(excludinggraphsortables). AssessmentcriteriafortheIntroductionsection: •    Adherencetopagelimits. •    Clarityofwriting,includingappropriategrammar,usage,sentencestructure,andreferencingformat. •    Clarity/developmentoftheresearchquestion. 3.    Results:Thissectionisthemostimportantpartofthereport.Asfurtherexplainedineachofthesub-sectionsbelow,youhavebeenprovidedwithsummariesofalloftherawdatafromthefieldexcursionsanditisyourjobtodeveloptheseintoacohesivepresentation.Somepointstoconsider: Replicatedata:Eachofthegroupsworkingatthefieldsitescollecteddatathatnowformreplicatemeasurements.Youmustdeterminehowbesttodealwiththesereplicateswhendisplayingthedata.Anobviousapproachwouldbetotaketheaveragevalueofeachparameterbasedonthegroupmeasurementsfromeachfieldsite.Youshouldalsoincludeameasureofvariabilityofthedata-forexample;reporttheaveragevalueandthestandarddeviation.Thedataforthewaterchemistryandmacroinvertebratesarealsoprovidedforeachfieldtripseparately.Youneedtodecideifitisworthkeepingtheseseparateorcombiningthem-youmaywanttoconsider if there were any significant weather variations across the two days or dosomeexploratoryanalysestoseeifanyrealdifferencesexistintheresultsfromthetwodays. Tables,graphs,figures:Anytables,graphsorfiguresmustbe: •    Sequentiallynumbered(e.g.Table1,2,3,etc.)soyoucanreferencetheminthetextsectionoftheresults. •    Includeashortdescriptiveheadinginthecaseoftablesorcaptioninthecaseoffigures.Note:Researchpapersfromtheliteratureprovidegoodexamplesofhowtoformattableheadingsandfigurecaptions.Additionalinformationontheuseoftablesandfigureswillbeprovidedinthepracticalsessionthatdiscussesdevelopingthisreport. Thekeytowritingaresultssectionistouseanappropriateformatforpresentingthedata(table,figure),butalsoincludetexttoexplaintothereaderwhatthemajorresultsare.Youshouldnotassumethereaderwillsimplyreviewyourtablesandfiguresandcomeawaywiththemajorresultsyouaretryingtoconvey. Statisticalanalyses:Sincethewaterchemistryandmacroinvertebratedataarereplicated,theylendthemselvestobasicstatisticalanalysestodetermineifsignificantdifferencesexistbetweensites.Withthetypeofdataavailable,themostappropriateanalyseswouldbeaOne-WayAnalysisofVariance(ANOVA)withapost-hoctesttodeterminewhichsitesdifferfromeachother.Ifyoufeelcomfortablestatisticallyanalysingdata,youmaydosoaspartoftheresultssection.However,Iamawarethatnotallstudentshavecompletedastatisticscourseandthosethathave,maynotbesufficientlyfamiliarwiththe application of statisticalmethodssuchasANOVA.Assuch,statisticalanalysesofthedataarenotarequirementforthisreport.Youmaysimplysummarisethedatausingtablesandgraphsandthenuseavisualassessmenttodetermineifapparentdifferencesexistbetweensites.However,itisexpectedthatyouwillatleastbeabletocalculatemeansandmeasuresofvariabilityofthedata. Thefollowingdatamustbeincludedintheresultssection: WaterChemistryData:ThesedatahavebeensummarisedonasingleExcelspreadsheetavailableontheBlackboardsite.Thedatacollectedonthetwodaysofthetriparepresentedseparately.Asmentionedabove,theweatherandstreamconditionwas different onthetwodays.Assuch,youmaywanttoconductaninitialcomparisonofwaterchemistrybetween the two daysto see ifthereareany major differences andthensimplycombine themifthereisnoobviousdifference. Summarisingthewaterchemistrydata:Thewaterchemistrydataarepresentedinrawform so,youmustdecidehowtobestsummarisethesereplicatedata.Theformatusedtopresentthesummariseddataisyourchoice-table,graph?NOTE(READTHISITISIMPORTANT)-INDEVELOPINGYOURRESEARCHQUESTIONANDDATAPRESENTATIONYOUONLYNEEDTOPRESENTTHREE(3)WATERQUALITYVARIABLESOFYOURCHOICE.Inchoosingwhichvariablestopresent,youshouldconsiderwhichthreetellthebest“story”aboutdifferencesbetweenthesitesandhowtheymayinfluencethemacroinvertebratesataparticularsite. Aspartoftheresultssection,youshouldincludeabriefstatementexplainingwhyyouselectedthethreewaterchemistryvariablesyouchosetoaddress.Howmightthesevariablesbeinfluencedbylanduse?Howcantheybeused togetherto characterisewater qualityatthesite?etc. MacroinvertebrateData:ThesedataarealsosummarisedinanExcelspreadsheetavailableonBlackboard.Somebasicdataanalyseshavealreadybeendoneforyou.Theseinclude: •    RelativeAbundance:Relativeabundanceisdeterminedbydividingthenumberofindividualsofaparticulartaxonomicgroupbythetotalnumberofindividualsinthesample.Thiscanbehelpfulifyouwishtoknowiftheinvertebrateassemblageatasiteisdominatedbyoneparticulargroupoforganisms. •    Totaltaxa/Taxarichness:Thisissimplyacountofthenumberofdifferenttypesofinvertebratesthatwereidentifiedinasample.Taxarichnessisusuallyloweratdegradedsitesascomparedtomorepristinesites.SeethereferencematerialonBlackboardforfurtherdescriptionofmacroinvertebratesummarydatasuchastotalabundance,taxarichness,etc. Calculationofthe“StreamPollutionIndex(SPI)”fromtheSIGNAL2SensitivityRatingsInadditiontothedescriptivemetricsthathavebeencalculatedforyou,youwillneedtousethemacroinvertebratedatatocalculatetheSPIwhichispartoftheSIGNAL2riverassessmentmethod. ReviewtheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuideavailableontheBlackboardsite.Asdiscussedinlecture,thismethodaimstodeterminestreamhealthbasedonhowsensitivetheinvertebratescollectedfromthesystemaretopollutionorhabitatdegradation.Themoresensitiveaninvertebrategroupistopollutionorhabitatdegradation,thehighertheSIGNALsensitivityscore.Afinal“StreamPollutionIndex(SPI)”iscalculatedforthestreambasedonthecombinedsensitivitiesoftheinvertebrates.(Page13oftheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuideincludesanexampleofhowtocalculateanSPIbasedonidentificationofinvertebratestoPhylum/Class/Order.Anexampleusingdatacollectedduringthefieldtripsisalsoincludedbelow). SPIcalculation: 1.    Basedonthenumberofindividualsofeachmacroinvertebrategroupidentifiedinthesample,determinetheappropriate“WeightFactor”touseforthatgroupinthecalculation.ThisweightfactoradjuststheSPIbasedontherelativeabundanceofmacroinvertebratesin thesample. Table 1 belowliststhe WeightFactors-these are alsolistedintheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuide. 2.    Refertotheexampletablebelow-Multiplythesensitivityrating(ColumnA)bytheWeightfactor(ColumnC)andentertheanswerinColumnD. 3.    AddupColumnsCandDandrecordthetotalsinthe“Total”lineundereachcolumn. 4.    Countthenumberofdifferentgroupsidentifiedinthesample.Thiswillserveasthetaxarichnessnumberthatwillbeusedinyourassessmentbelow. 5.    CalculatetheStreamPollutionIndex(SPI)=TotalColumnD/TotalColumnC. 6.    ReviewthesitedescriptionslistedinTable2below(orintheSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuide)andchoosetheonethatbestdescribesthesiteswesampled.Classifythetaxarichnessandstreampollutionindex(SPI)ashighorlowbasedonthesitedescriptionandlevelsindicatedinTable2. 7.    UseTable3todeterminetheSIGNAL2conditionassessmentforthesite. 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 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. SPI Taxarichness    Siteconditionsbasedonthemacroinvertebratesample High    High    Goodwaterqualityandadiversityofhabitats.Itmaybeawell-managedsite,naturalbushland,oranationalpark. Low    High    Waterqualitymaybeslightlyaffectedbyhumanactivityornaturalfactors.Theremaybehigherlevelsofsalinityand/ornutrientlevelsatthissite. High    Low    Waterqualityisaffectedbyapollutionsourceupstreamortherearefewhabitatsduetoharshphysicalconditions. Low    Low    Waterqualityisaffectedbyhumanusesuchasurban,industrial,oragriculturalpollution,orbythedownstreameffectsofdamns. ExampleSPIcalculation. A    B    C    D 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 StreamPollutionIndex(SPI)=TotalColumnD/TotalColumnC=65/12=5.4(High-basedonTable2) TotalTaxa=5(Low-basedonTable2) SIGNAL2SiteScore(BasedonTable3):Waterqualityisaffectedbyapollutionsourceupstreamortherearefewhabitatsduetoharshphysicalconditions. Summarisingthemacroinvertebratedata:Useaseriesoftablesorgraphstocomparerelativeabundance,taxarichnessandtheSPIforeachsite.YourresultsshouldincludeatablethatsummarisesthesiteconditionsbasedontheSPIassessment(Table3aboveandSIGNAL2.ivUsersGuide).Inwritingthedescriptivetextfortheresults,youshouldcommentonhowthesedifferentmetricscomparedwitheachotherindifferentiatingthesites.Forexample,didthesitesthattheSPIindicatedwereaffectedbypollutionalsohavethelowestSCI? PagelimitfortheResultssection:Thetextoftheresultssectionshouldbenomorethan3pagesinlength.Figuresandtablesarenotcountedinthemaximumpagenumber. AssessmentcriteriafortheResultssection: •    Adherencetopagelimits. •    Clarityofwriting,includingappropriategrammar,usage,andsentencestructure. •    Clarity/developmentofthefiguresandtablesusedtopresenttheresults,includingtheuseof tableheadings and figure captions, appropriatelabelling of figure axes, anduseofappropriateunitsinthecaseofthewaterchemistrydata. •    Clarity/developmentofthedescriptivetextthatyouusetopointoutthemajorresultsindicatedbythetablesandgraphsofthedata. 4.    Conclusion: Thissectionshoulddothefollowing: •    Explainifthedatacollectedsupportedtheresearchquestion. •    Iftheresearchquestionwasnotsupported,giveapossiblereason(s)why. •    Commentonhowthestudymayhavebeenimproved-forexample,howdoyouthinkonlyidentifyinginvertebratestothelevelofordermayhaveinfluencedtheresults? PagelimitfortheDiscussionsection:TheDiscussionsectionshouldbenomorethan2pagesinlength. AssessmentcriteriafortheDiscussionsection: •    Adherencetopagelimits. •    Degreetowhicheachofthethreeobjectivesindicatedabove,wereaddressed. •    Clarityofwriting,includingappropriategrammar,usage,andsentencestructure. 5.    References: Note:Thereisnotastrongemphasisonusingexternalreferencesforthisreportalthoughyoumaywanttoincludesomeintheinitialintroductorysection. Appropriatereferencematerialforuseinthisreportincludes: •    Textbooks (e.g. Boulton and Brock, Australian Freshwater Ecology) •    Thefieldmanualandrelevantpracticalexerciseinstructions. •    Primaryresearchpapers(includinganyofthosepostedontheBlackboardsite). •    Reviewpapers •    Governmentreports(includinganyofthosepostedontheBlackboardsite) •    Reputable    websites    (e.g.    those    from    government    agencies    or    recognisedorganisations). Note:Ifyouareunsureaboutwhatconstitutesaprimaryresearchpaperorareviewpaper,pleaseask. Format:Harvard/AuthorDateReferencingFormat-SeeresourcematerialonBlackboardforfurtherguidanceonthisstyleofreferencingformat. AssessmentcriteriafortheReferencessection: •    Adherencetoformatguidelines. 6.    Appendices: Youmayincludeanappendixsectiontoprovideoutputfromanystatisticalanalysesorothermaterialnotcriticaltothebodyofthereport. Parameter    Williams R.-    Williams R.-      Chichester R.     Williams R.- Bandon Grove    Tillegra        Alison Rd. Temperature (°C)     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 (µS/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)