Aquatic Macroinvertebrates and Urbanization: Exploring urbanization’s effect on leaf litter decomposition in six streams of Puerto Rico using R
Author(s): John McIntosh
Virginia Commonwealth University
990 total view(s), 639 download(s)
ImpSA_DecompRate.csv(CSV | 111 B )
Instructor Version.pdf(PDF | 608 KB)- Leaf litter decomposition and macroinvertebrate assemblages along an urban stream gradient in Puerto Rico.pdf(PDF | 884 KB)
- LeafDecompData.csv(CSV | 2 KB)
Presentation1.mp4(MP4 | 164 MB)
Presentation1.pptx(PPTX | 16 MB)
READ ME.docx(DOCX | 16 KB)
RLesson.Rmd(RMD | 6 KB)- Stream_Decomposition_Rates_Table.csv(CSV | 64 B )
- Student Version.pdf(PDF | 593 KB)
- License terms
Description
In this lesson, the student will re-create a portion of an analysis done in the supporting paper of this Qubes Lesson. They will look at how the leaf litter decomposition rates differ between six streams in Puerto Rico, and from there, build their own dataset based off the results from their linear regressions. This will allow the student to re-import their dataset into R to due one last linear regression: linking urbanization (as a measure of impervious surface area) to the leaf litter decomposition rate that each stream experienced. This will allow the student to build inferences on the ecological interaction happening here and to think critically about why the decomposition rates change due to urbanization and actions that can be taken to mitigate this problem.
Notes
The R Markdown file was updated to make the R code to be as streamlined as possible while also fixing some grammatical errors. The "Read Me" word document was also updated to warn others that files downloaded from this Qubes lesson may have a few extra values added on to each file name after they are downloaded. These extra values must be deleted from the file name in order for the R Markdown to be able to read in datasets with no issues. Windows users may experience some re-naming of dataset columns when reading in datasets. Extra codes have been added to the Markdown file to change column names back to their original state if this is an issue. The extra codes are in the annotations of the Markdown file.
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
- John McIntosh (2023). Aquatic Macroinvertebrates and Urbanization: Exploring urbanization’s effect on leaf litter decomposition in six streams of Puerto Rico using R. VCU Environmental Research Methods, (Version 2.0). QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/RB7Z-EP04