Background.
A long term experiment was set up at the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboaratory (BCCIL) to investigate the potential impacts of drought and heat treatments on the growth of the typical plant species that may grow on calcareous grassland. The experimental approach was to establish areas of the chalk grassland (1m x 1m) that received various treatments (detailed below) on the same calcareous grassland species.

The treatments were:
a) Control. No artificial temperature increase or additional water applied. Exposure to local climate weather conditions.
b) Heated treatment with water.
c) Heated treatment with no water.
d) Not heated with water treatment.
e) Not heated with no water treatment.

Each treatment combination was replicated 8 times, using a fully randomised design (see photo above).
The experiment was run over 4 years and at the end of this period, the plants were harvested from the sites and the biomass established in terms of kg dry mass m2 plot.
The data.
The data for the results of this biomass harvest are contained in the excel spreadsheet â€˜Buxtonâ€™.

Analysis.
Apply appropriate statistical analyses to this data to investigate:
a) whether the temperature or water treatments have resulted in changes in plant biomass after the four years,
b) the pattern of response in total biomass to these changes in temperature and water treatment, after the 4 year period.

Interpretation of your analysis.
Interpret the results of your statistical analyses so that you can test the appropriate null hypotheses and assign significance levels to them.

Report. (This section should be no longer than two sides of A4)
Write a concise scientific report on your analyses in no more than one A4 side (minimum 10 point font in Arial, single line spacing) in which you summarise the results and conclusions from your statistical analyses. Follow normal scientific journal procedures to summarise the reporting of null hypotheses (see LIFE 763 lecture and workshop notes, workshop 3 in particular). Do not include more than two tables or figures, or alternatively 1 table and 1 figure, in presenting the results, if you decide to use them. Your report does not need to discuss biological mechanisms and reasons underlying observed responses. It should provide the basis on which you might subsequently write the discussion of the biological findings in a wider context.

Appendix.
In an appendix to the report, include the output from your statistical analyses on which your conclusions are based. The appendix may be of any length and the output should be very briefly annotated. Information in the appendix will not carry a mark, though you can reference the output within the body of your report.
Submission.
The assignment should be a single word document of the form:
â€¢ Analysis.
â€¢ Interpretation of your analysis.
â€¢ Report. (This section should be no longer than one side of A4)
â€¢ Appendix.

Background. A long term experiment was set up at the Buxton Clima...