Needle Length in Conifers 1B

This is experiment 1B from Ecology On Campus by Robert W. Kingsolver.
I worked on this experiment with the help of Lauren and Krystaal my stalwart ecology experiment partners. Attached you will see the Summary of Results and the Histogram (lovingly drawn by Krystaal). We looked at Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) needle length variation among individual trees.

1. As evident by our histogram, our data does not fit into a bell curve. I would have to say that more than anything our histogram is skewed with brief moments of flattened and sharply peaked. If I were to perform statistical tests using this data I would seek a non-parametic alternative since the data is not evenly distributed (roughly 75% on one side of the peak).  Though I do not feel I made enough measurements to make a certain judgment on this question. If I had more time I would have liked to collect more data.

2. The sample mean of my data was 23.6 cm. The sample median of my data was 23.8 cm. The sample mode of my data was 26 cm. I believe that it would be acceptable to use either median or mean, since both measurements are very close to one another. However, the same cannot be said for using the mode. This relates to question one since the data does not fall under the bell curve and is instead more skewed.

3. The mean is another word for "average" taking the mean of all the pine needles lengths would simply give you the average length of all the pine needles you sampled. Standard deviation, on the other hand, describes the ranges of needle length.

4. To do this experiment I would collect the leaves of one kind of tree, preferably a tree not surrounded by any other trees of the same species and see if there is a correlation between number of seeds produced. I would assume that broader (or more numerous) leaves belong to trees that produce more seeds. However, it is important to realize that many seeds may be carried off my granivores. I would then collect the seeds and head off to part two of my experiment, to see if seed production is an inherited trait. I would encourage community participation and planning and planting the new trees around the community. When ready to reproduce I would compare new seed data with the seed data of the parent tree. This would be a great way to help the environment, get the community involved in ecology, and an opportunity to teach kids about the environment and native trees.

Further interesting reading (though not red pine) Inheritance of Needle and Bud Characteristics of Slash Pine