SHERMAN RANCH LABORATTORY
INTRODUCTION
For this laboratory experiment, the Environmental Systems and Societies class wanted to know and find out the differences about an unhampered soil or a one that has been tampered with in this case a plane crash. On May 7th 1964, Pacific Airlines flight 773 on its way from Reno, Nevada to San Francisco International Airport crashed in Contra Costa County not far from the Quarry Lane School. Presently, the crash site is part of the Sherman Ranch in San Ramon. Hence a possible site for experimentation was presented. During the experiment, the abundance of lush flora is compared with the Sherman ranch foothill and the Quarry Lane foothill order for the study to be conducted, a method of quadrat sampling was needed. First of all, a quadrat is a small sampling device, usually a square of fixed size which may be 0.25m^2 (0.5m * 0.5m) or 1m^2 depending on the area being sampled. Quadrat sampling is a tool for the study of ecology, especially biodiversity. Quadratic sampling is a method in which a proportion of organisms in an ecosystem are counted directly. All the individuals in a fixed number of quadrats are counted and the data used to calculate the abundance or percentage cover for the whole area. For this particular experiment, a passive quadratic sampling method was used meaning quadratic sampling is done without removing the organisms found within the quadrat and can be done by hand, with researchers carefully sorting through
