Edge effects are a fundamental consideration in nature preserves. We usually expect to fin...

Edge effects are a fundamental consideration in nature preserves. We usually expect to find dramatic edge effects in pristine habitat with many specialized species. But you may be able to find interior-edge differences on your own college campus, or in a park or other unbuilt area near you. Here are three testable questions you can examine using your own local patch of habitat: (1) Can an edge effect be detected or not? (2) Which species will indicate the difference between edge and interior conditions? (3) At what distance can you detect a difference between edge and interior conditions? To answer these questions, you can form a hypothesis and test it as follows:

Gather data. Get a meter tape and lay it along the ground from the edge of your habitat patch toward the interior. (You can also use a string and pace distances; treat one pace as a meter.) This line is your transect. At the edge end of the tape (or string), count the number of different species you can see within 1 m 2 on either side of your line. Repeat this count at each 5 m interval, up to 25 m. Thus you will create a list of species at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 m in from the edge.