Question

Burkepile et al. (2016) investigated the effect of burning and herbivore exclosures (removing herbivores from areas) on grassland vegetation. In their abstract, they wrote: “In areas with diverse herbivore communities such as African savannas, the frequency of disturbance by fire may alter the top–down role of different herbivore species on plant community dynamics. In a seven year experiment in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, we examined the habitat use of nine common herbivore species across annually burned, triennially burned and unburned areas. We also used two types of exclosures (plus open access controls) to examine the impacts of different herbivores on plant community dynamics across fire disturbance regimes. Full exclosures excluded all herbivores > 0.5 kg (e.g. elephant, zebra, impala) while partial exclosures allowed access only to animals with shoulder heights < 0.85 m (e.g. impala, steenbok).”

1) What is the explanatory variable, and what is the response variable?

2) State the statistical null (Ho) and alternate (Ha) hypotheses

Answer 1

1) What is the explanatory variable, and what is the response variable?

The explanatory variable is Herbivore, and the response variable is total_cover.

2) State the statistical null (Ho) and alternate (Ha) hypotheses

The hypothesis being tested is:

H0: µ1 = µ2 = µ3

Ha: Not all means are not equal

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