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)