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Lashia Veng Project Report

Student(s):Lashia Veng
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Steven Frantz
Contributors:
Report Type(s):
Protocols:Soil Characterization, Soil Temperature
Language(s):
Date Submitted:05/03/2013
My project is about invasive plants and soil temperature correlation. The reason why I am doing this project is because my grandmother likes to garden in the backyard and I noticed lots of weeds in the garden. This weed is called Henbit. The Latin name for Henbit is Lamium amplexicaule. I wanted to know if the soil temperature with the plant will be warmer than normal soil temperature. To do so, first use a nail to dig into the ground and measured 5cm. Then put the soil temperature thermometer in the hole. Wait a few minutes then record the data. Next use the nail to dig the hole deeper to 10cm. Record the data. I did this procedure for ten days. This data supported my hypothesis because the soil temperature with the plant was warmer than the normal temperature.



Comments

Interesting project. Why do you think the invasive species caused an increase in soil temperature? If you could, how would you continue this research?
What a creative idea!
I would like to have seen the data in a table.
On the colder days the soil with the invasive plant was colder than the control, but on warmer days it was warmer. Why do you think this was?
Hello Lashia,
Was there any vegetation on the ground (like grass for example) on the areas where there was no Henbit or was it bare soil?
From your graph, it looks like whhen the soil temperature is below 0 (days 1, 2 and 3) that the soil temperature with the invasive plants was colder than without the invasive plants. But when the soil temperature was above 0 (especially days 8, 9 and 10) that the soil temperature with the invasive plants was warmer than the soil without the invasive plants. Why might this happen? Do you think that if the weeds were removed that the soil temperature would change after time?