Effect of pH on Plant Diversity in Metro Vancouver

Abstract

Plant species are known to be affected by soil bacteria (Chu et al.). The pH of the soil, which is greatly affected by nearby water sources (Khatri et al.), influences these bacterial species (Chu et al.). This relationship between plant diversity and the pH of local water sources was investigated in the Metro Vancouver region. Various bodies of water in this region were randomly selected and plant species count and pH were measured in streams connected to the bodies of water. A Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R = -0.066) was used to see the strength of the correlation between pH and plant species count overall. There was no significant correlation (p-value: 0.8385 with n = 12) between the two variables. There was also variation in the plant species present and pH of nearby water streams in each location which indicates others factors the influence plant diversity. Interplant interactions are a potential source of the observed variation in plant species count between observations. Furthermore, pH values outside the optimal zone (pH = 7-8) were not observed and therefore more extreme pH values may have a more significant effect (Chen et al.).