Author: Layton, Isa

Seasonal Grass Growth Rate

Bella Beattie, Rachel Clemons, Isa Layton, Alex Martinson

Model Analysis
o

Methods
- A 1X1 foot area in the sun and the shade was tested
o The grass growth rate in those places were tested because the sun would affect the grass growth height, so a plot was also tested in the shade
Four corners were designated to measure soil temp and grass height
o The corners were averaged together to get a more accurate average
The precipitation was tested every day
o The amount of precipitation was collected daily and averaged together between the days that data was collected.
· When setting up the experiment one of the factors considered was the grass being cut down, that’s why a specific area was staked out and orange caution tape was put around it.

Research Question: How does soil temperature and precipitation affect the grass growth rate in the sun and the shade?

· Graph 1: as precipitation goes up grass growth rate goes up
o This makes sense because the more precipitation the taller the grass will grow
· Graph 2: as soil temperature goes up starting at 14 degrees Celsius grass growth rate goes down
o This makes sense because if the soil temperature gets too high the grass might dry out and die.
· Graph 1: as precipitation goes up grass growth rate goes up as well
o This makes sense because as the precipitation goes up so would the grass growth rate.
· Graph 2: as soil temp goes up starting at 14 degrees Celsius grass growth rate goes down.
o This makes sense because if the temperature gets to high the grass will die
All of the graphs are an appropriate way to show the data. This is because they make sense in the results were collected.

Conclusion:
The data concluded that the grass tends to grow faster in the sun, rather than in the shade.
The precipitation increases the grass growth rate, and as the soil temperature decreases, the grass growth ate increases.
As the soil temperature increases, the grass growth rate decreases.
The observations make sense, because grass tends to grow faster when it precipitates.
When the temperature goes up, the grass growth rate tends to decrease because the plants dry out when the temperatures get too high because of the direct contact from the sun.
As the temperatures decrease, the grass growth rate increase because there is a less chance that the plants will dry out.
The data can be used for approximate predictions in the future seasons.
The data is not reproducible, because it is almost impossible to gather the same data over again. The data, however will be close in conclusions about the impacted variables.

This makes sense because if the temperatures get too high, the grass will die.
All of the graphs are an appropriate way to show the data. This is because they make sense in the results were collected.
Scratch was an inaccurate measure for our data:
- It showed us unreasonable conclusions (negative grass growth)
- There were too many factors that could not be constructed using scratch (wind, if/how much the grass had been trampled)

Data Analysis

· Graph 1: as precipitation goes up grass growth rate goes up as well
o This makes sense because as the precipitation goes up so would the grass growth rate.
· Graph 2: as soil temp goes up starting at 14 degrees Celsius grass growth rate goes down.
o This makes sense because if the temperature gets to high the grass will die