Autumn Olive tolerates wider
ranges of PH and nitrogen
availability
Author: Amanda Heisler
Outline
• Hypothesis
• Species in Focus
• Methods
Reasoning
• The reason for autumn olive being more successful is due to its ability
to uptake a lot of nitrogen, stripping it from the soil, making nitrogen
less available to the surrounding plants.
• Autumn olive is known to withstand a variety of soil PH
Hypothesis
• If invasive plants change the soil chemistry, then soil around invasive
will have different PH and nitrogen levels than soil around native
plants.
Species in Focus
Autumn Olive
Raspberry & Blackberry
Prediction
• Autumn Olive will be found in more acidic soils
• Autumn Olive will have less nitrogen in the surrounding soil
PH Values
Nitrogen Level
7
6
5
PH
Trace to High
4
3
2
1
0
Autumn Olive
Blackberry
Raspberry
Autumn Olive
Blackberry
Raspberry
Methods
• Find 10 samples of each species
• Collect a soil sample within a 0.5 meter from individual using soil
probe
• Test PH and nitrogen content
• Statistical analysis