Farmers from Maldevta Village, who work in the lowest sector of the economy, have minimal land and resources to help them grow crops. This obligates them to enter the hills with their cattle to allow grazing. Farmers also clear some forest areas, to increase their farm land for more income, thus reducing the biodiversity. As a result of the reduced in forest area and resources, wild animals invade villages and destroy farmlands. In some cases, because of minimal knowledge of the chemical Pesticides, it’s overuse affects not only the farmland, but also nearby water resources as it leads to eutrophication. This relates to my RQ because after surveying the villagers and collecting the raw data from the Simpson’s Diversity index it allowed me to evaluate the effect of human intervention on the natural environment and thus evaluating the effect of Ecological Footprint.

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Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Criteria 1 – Identifying the context ..................................................................................................... 4
Aim...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Research Question (RQ)..................................................................................................................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 4
Environmental Context...................................................................................................................5
Criteria 2 – Planning............................................................................................................................. 5
Planning............................................................................................................................................... 5
Background Information.................................................................................................................5
Simson’s Diversity Index.................................................................................................................... 5
Location............................................................................................................................................... 6
Variables ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Controlled Variables .......................................................................................................................6
Other Variables for Ecological Footprint............................................................................................ 7
Apparatus Required............................................................................................................................. 7
Sampling Strategy Justification (Ecological Footprint)...................................................................... 7
Procedure (Ecological Footprint)........................................................................................................ 8
Controlled Variables for Simpson’s Diversity Index.......................................................................... 9
Independent Variables for Simson’s Diversity Index ......................................................................... 9
Dependent Variables for Simpson’s Diversity Index........................................................................ 10
Apparatus Required......................................................................................................................10
Sampling Strategy Justification (Simpson’s Diversity Index).......................................................... 10
Procedure (Simpson’s Diversity Index)............................................................................................ 10
Risk Assessment................................................................................................................................ 11
Hypothesis ....................................................................................................................................11
Scientific Justification....................................................................................................................... 11
Criteria 3 – Result and Analysis ........................................................................................................ 11
Ecological Footprint............................................................................................................................ 11
Data Collection .............................................................................................................................11
Simpson’s Diversity.......................................................................................................................... 13
Raw Data.......................................................................................................................................13
Data Processing and Results (Simpson’s Diversity Index)............................................................... 19
Data Processing (Ecological Footprint) ............................................................................................ 22
Standard Deviation.......................................................................................................................23
Criteria 4 – Discussion, Evaluation and Conclusion........................................................................ 27
Discussion and Data Analysis........................................................................................................... 27
Real Life Examples ........................................................................................................................29
Evaluation ......................................................................................................................................... 30
Ecological Footprint......................................................................................................................30
Simpson’s Diversity Index....................................................................................................... 31
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................... 31
Modification and Alternative Methods of Research ......................................................................... 31
Published Source ..........................................................................................................................32
Criteria 5– Application....................................................................................................................... 33
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 34

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Abstract
Farmers from Maldevta Village, who work in the lowest sector of the economy, have minimal land
and resources to help them grow crops. This obligates them to enter the hills with their cattle to
allow grazing. Farmers also clear some forest areas, to increase their farm land for more income,
thus reducing the biodiversity. As a result of the reduced in forest area and resources, wild animals
invade villages and destroy farmlands. In some cases, because of minimal knowledge of the chemical
Pesticides, it’s overuse affects not only the farmland, but also nearby water resources as it leads to
eutrophication. This relates to my RQ because after surveying the villagers and collecting the raw
data from the Simpson’s Diversity index it allowed me to evaluate the effect of human intervention
on the natural environment and thus evaluating the effect of Ecological Footprint.

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Criteria 1: Identifying the context
Aim
The aim of this report is to investigate how activities of villagers affect plant diversity and how
knowledge of the environment can help bring changes to lives through the sustainable use of
resources.
Research question (RQ)
How does the ecological footprint of the villagers of Maldevta and their knowledge of the
changing environment due to agricultural processes, affect the species living and growing
around the area?
This question supports the analogous effects and comparison of Ecological Footprint (EF) and
the species diversity of plants in the Maldevta village. The plant diversity (dependent variable),
which not only is affected by the natural factors like sunlight (independent variable) and pH
(dependent variable), but also by human interaction (dependent variable) which affects growth.
Introduction
The focus of this investigation is an analogy of EF in two villages of Dehradun. Semi-
urbanization in one, where inhabitants have better housing facilities, sanitation etc. Women
dependency on men was apparent despite the younger generation being encouraged to study.
In comparison, the real challenge was the second village, which is in a remote area,
underdeveloped due to lack of basic amenities such as proper sanitation and minimal
electricity. All families work in fields for their survival and education. Despite these
challenges, both dwellings have a footprint on the ecosystem.
Consequently, the EF influences the plant and animal species of the adjacent areas. By this
investigation, the effect on plant species is calculated through Simpson’s Diversity. The
random sample of this activity is conducted at mid-distance from both the villages.

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Environmental Context
INDIA, a land of villages with farming as the
primary source of livelihood is shown in the
image is a rough indicative of the
productivity.
Every year, farmers increase their EF by
extracting resources, burning firewood,
resultant, a release of greenhouse gases
contaminating the air. Grazing, further
increases EF and a reduction of plant species.
Yearly activity causes significant depletion in
the plant diversity causing the village
inhabitants to relocate and continue farming
which increases the load on the soil, and, in
some extreme cases, led to exhaustion in the
level of oxygen and nutrients.
Criteria 2: Planning
Planning
To conduct the practical, 3 areas were chosen. Area 1 and 2 were villages where a survey was
conducted. Villagers were asked questions about their daily activities to understand their EF.
Area 3, near a river and mid distance from both villages was where Simpson’s diversity index
was carried out to know how intervention affect the species growing.
Background information
Simpson’s Diversity Index (SDI)
The SDI provides information about community composition i.e. species richness; they also
take the relative abundances of different species into account. The formula for calculating the
Diversity Index is mentioned under Data Processing on page 17.

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Location
Variables
Controlled Variable for Ecological footprint
Variable Units Why to control? How to control it?
Time of the day Morning /
evening
Apt timing for farmers to
answer our questions.
Visited homes of farmers &
requested them to help us
answer the survey.
Number of
questions
9 questions Interactive and open-ended
questions to avoid irrelevant
answers.
Probing questions about their
lifestyle gave us more
knowledge about their EF.
Number of
questionnaires
30
questionnaires
completed
All houses were asked about
their views on the
environmental changes.
More surveys are able to give a
holistic view.

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Other variables for Ecological Footprint
Types Variables Impact
Uncontrolled Variables • Weather of the day when
the survey was conducted.
• Population of the village.
• Good weather conditions allowed
us to spend time in the village.
• Higher population helped more
data collection.
Independent Variables • Age of the people whose
survey was conducted.
• The area they live in.
• Older people might have more
information about the
surroundings.
• Developing and underdeveloped
areas have a different perspective.
Dependent Variables • Accuracy of their answers
were dependent on their
knowledge and
understanding of the
question.
• The villagers time taken to
answer the questions.
• Accurate answers would impact
the analysis of data.
• If too much of the farmer’s time is
wasted they may get irritated and
give illogical answers.
Apparatus Required
• Questionnaire – Our teacher helped us with the questionnaire of the survey.
• Pen or pencil to write down notes and information the villagers provided us.
Sampling Strategy Justification
Ecological Footprint Survey
The topography of the two villages are very similar, however collecting an average of 30
surveys helped achieve a justified evaluation because the point of view of different villagers
who have been inhabitants of the area for years provided knowledge to evaluate their ecological
footprint and assess the effect of their dependence on the ecological system.

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Procedure
1. Before starting for the trip to Dehradun, research was conducted to gather information
about the villages and plant diversity in Maldevta village.
2. Questionnaires were formed to fit the and the questions were re-written in the Hindi so
that it would be easier for us to ask the villagers.
3. When we reached the village, observations were made to assess the living standards
and the population of the area.
4. The questions were then structured according to the requirement in order to receive the
maximum amount of information and spending the least amount of our time with the
families.
5. The houses chosen in the village by a method of random sampling in order to reduce
the chance of any biasness. Also before the question answer session was conducted, the
family members were asked if they are comfortable answering questions.
6. Interviews conducted informally in the houses, in the common language, Hindi, so that
the villagers would not be intimidated by the idea of their visitors being the city folk.
7. Photographs were clicked of the villagers and of us performing our practical to support
the evidences that we have added.
8. After the data collection was complete, we made basic observations of the villages to
notice the effects of human activity on the plant diversity.
9. The graphs and data collected in analysed further in the analysis in order to draw
conclusions about the effect of human intervention.

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Controlled variables for Simpson Diversity Index
Variables Units Why to control it? How to control it?
Quadrat size 50 cm X 50 cm Different sizes of the quadrats
give different results of the
distribution of the plant
species.
Keeping all the sample sizes
the same provide better
results.
Sample size 7 samples The results may not be
suitable if large samples are
not collected
The practical was carried
out 7 times. The more times
the activity is carried out,
the more information we
get.
Location Ecological
community type
Variations can be seen as
environmental differences in
the areas impacts the data
collected.
Areas where the sample is
collected should be
carefully chosen to get a
proper result.
Independent Variables for Simpson’s Diversity
Variables Units Impact
Sunlight High or low Better sunlight suitable for
plants to grow, however
extreme heat can make the
soil dry
Soil quality More fertile or less fertile If the fertility level is high,
then there would be more
species
Altitude High or low Sunlight intensity and
presence of nutrients
decreases as the altitude
increases.

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Dependent Variables for Simpson’s Diversity
Variables Units
Number of species Individual plants population
Biodiversity Species, habitat, genetic diversity
Presence of animal species Death and birth rate of the animal species living in the area.
Apparatus Required
Sampling Strategy Justification
Simpson Diversity Index
The raw data was collected mid-distance from two villages, where human intervention, thus
Ecological Footprint, would be encountered by the environment from both sides. This provided
a wide range of information about the plants that were present. The experiment was carried out
at 7 different distances, twice, to allow us to avoid uncertainties for the growing saplings.
Procedure
1. To obtain the information about species diversity, the area where the practical was
conducted was examined. Then the quadrat was placed randomly to avoid a biased
outcome.
2. The plant species were identified and was separated into the different categories.
3. Names were given by alphabets to make the identification of the plans easier.
4. A note was made of the number and diversity of species in the quadrat.
5. The process was conducted 9 times at a distance of 5-10 meters apart.
6. The data collected was processed with the help of our instructor to ensure we have the
correct data.
7. To answer the research question, the Simpson Diversity formula was used to

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Risk Assessment
Hypothesis
Relating to my RQ, the topography of Maldevta Village elevated level of human intervention
triggered a decrease in the diversity of plant species. The mid-distance from both villages,
where the species diversity practical was conducted, helped calculating the effect of human
intervention on plant life and their growth laterally with the dependent and independent
variables, barring the unchangeable.
Scientific justification
Agriculture has a significant effect on biodiversity because of its prevalence over the landscape.
Effects include habitat alteration, exotic pest introductions and pollution from pesticides etc.
This affects the underground water and the river near human settlements. It can also cause
runoffs of pesticides and fertilizers that are applied in abundance to commercial crops.
Understanding the environment is a central idea to allow people to cut back on their EF,
whether it is through reduction of domestic waste or farmers keeping a check on the agricultural
processes.
Criteria 3: Result, Analysis and conclusion
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Data Collection
Data collection was a day’s long process where I visited the villagers and asked them
questions about their lifestyle. Focused questions were formed previously with the help of our
teacher to get precise answers based on their knowledge of the area. The qualitative data
collection process that recorded the response are appended below –
1. What mode of transport do you use most often?
2. How much time do you spend travelling to the city and back?
3. Do you recycle the waste you accumulate and/or pick up on the roadside?
4. How many bags of waste do you accumulate in a month’s time?
5. On a daily basis, how much electricity do you use?
6. Do you think that an increase in the population has affected the plant diversity?
7. Do you think the animal diversity has reduced after an increase in the population?
8. Are you concerned about the plants disappearing due to deforestation?
9. What is the most recent thing you purchased that runs on electricity?

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On the day of the survey data collected from about 30 houses… most of the answers were
repetitive as they live similar lifestyles. These are provided in the following table –

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• SIMPSON’S DIVERSITY
Raw data
The plant species found mid distance from both the species are the following –
Plants were differentiated in such a manner as all 9 all unknown and wild. The table above
shows symbols of the nine planets of the solar system used to define them.
Simpson Diversity Index

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Data Processing and Results
• Simpson’s Diversity Index
To calculate the species diversity of the area, the following formula will be used –

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• Ecological Footprint

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Standard deviation
Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out the data of a set of variables is. The
following formula is used to calculate the standard deviation of the different sample
areas.1
1
Pearson’s – Environmental systems and societies, page 139

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Criteria 4: Discussion and Evaluation
Discussion and Data Analysis
The purpose of this lab is to examine effects of the human activities from two different villages
on plant diversity. My RQ explores ‘the effect of human intervention and their knowledge
about the depleting environment that affects the plant growth’ in brief, explains how farmers
spread across an area, develop it according to their needs, but sometimes ignore the effects on
the environment. The survey conducted in the villages, gathered an outline of information
concerning human intervention and their knowledge about their contribution to the
environmental changes. The experiment conducted in the field, collected information about the

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plant diversity at different distances to convey the approximation of the density and the scarcity
of the plant population.
Human intervention in ecosystems is one of the leading causes of depletion of natural habitats.
The ecosystem has the capacity to hold only a certain load under which it is able to renew them,
thus Ecological Footprint need to be kept under check to allow the regeneration to happen.
Ecological Footprint defined as the impact of human activities, measured in terms of the area
of the biologically productive land and water required to produce the goods consumed and to
assimilate the wastes generated2.
Tables 1.1 - 1.7 show seven different areas where the SDI experiment was conducted which
according to our instructor is located approximately mid-distance from the two villages. From
the calculations, it can be seen that the land was extremely barren. The average of each plant
species varies from 0.86 to 4.71, which show high human intervention from both the villages
in opposite directions.
Urbanization, animal grazing etc for agricultural processes cause soil erosion, salinization and
loss of habitat in the area. The species diversity index calculation seen in the graph 6 shows
how people do not realise that farming effects plant growth to such large extent that the process
of succession is altered repeatedly.
Graph 3 shows the domestic waste generated by each household which mostly consists of
plastic bags and other farming residues. After an informative conversation with the locals it
2
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/ecological_balance/eco_footprint/
Graph 6

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was evident that they were unaware about recycling useful farm wastes and would usually
dump these resources into the forest. This leads to mixing of plastics with the soil, creating
toxins and thus the degradation.
Use of electricity, shown in graph 4, is fairly balanced. Many villagers who do not have basic
amenities like lights to use at night are dependent on the renewable resources like firewood.
Which lead to increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, cutting down trees for firewood
leads to soil erosion and a fall in the number of plants photosynthesizing reduces the conversion
from CO2 to O2. The increasing dependence also increases their ecological footprint.
A negative effect is created on the ecosystem as the earth is not able to sustain the human
activities. The Earth should be able to renew all its resources within one year’s time, however,
because of the rising EF, now it takes 1.5 years to do so.
To answer the Research Question, the ecological footprint of the local inhabitants of Maldevta
seems to increase every year. This leads to a reduction in the plants diversity which is linked
to my hypothesis as an increase in ecological footprint reduces the biodiversity.
Real Life Example
The Amazonian rainforest has the world’s highest abundance of plant and animal endemic
species with the largest number of freshwater fish in its river basin. However, because of the
unsustainable development, the rainforest is seen to be the biggest deforestation fronts with
many irreversible disasters due to many human activities.

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Since 1978 approximately 289,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed
across Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, and French Guiana.3
Evaluation
Ecological Footprint
Limitation Impact Improvement
Length of questionnaires Answering irrelevant questions
could lead the respondent to
provide random answers.
Questionnaires could be made
specific and short to avoid the
villagers to get irritated.
Lack of Quantitative data The questions asked to the
respondent based more on their
knowledge thus, analysis and
graphical representation would
become difficult.
Solution based questions can
be created which the villagers
choose an option they find
most suitable.
Uncertain responses Villagers could be ambiguous
about questions that we ask them
because they were not cultured
with the thought of
environmental degradation.
Questions could be made easier
for the villagers to understand.
For example, by talking in the
language and ask them
questions about the subject
they understand the best.
3
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_destruction.html

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Simpson Diversity index
Limitation Impact Improvement
Quadrat Size If every square on the
quadrat measures a different
area, there will be an
incorrect measurement of
the Simpson’s diversity.
Avoiding too small or too
large squares on the quadrat
by dividing the area into
equal smaller parts so that
more samples could also be
included in the study.
Samples per area Too few samples would not
be enough for the calibration
of the data.
The more areas sampled, the
more variation calculated,
thus making it easier to
evaluate data.
Number of species identified More species counted could
create imprecise readings
because of the presence of
minor variations leads to
double counting.
Spending more time with the
data collection to avoid any
mistakes in the calculations.
Conclusion
The discussion above, relating to my RQ helps to conclude a higher footprint creates low
chances for plant diversity to increase because high human intervention curbs the plant
growth. According to my hypothesis when there is an increase in the EF due to continuous
changes made in the landscape there is a disturbance the process of succession, preventing
any visible changes to occur for a prolonged period. Thus, my hypothesis is true as area 3,
mid distance from the villages has low biodiversity as a result of human activities.
Modification and Alternative Methods of Research
The best method to reduce the fall in diversity is by educating the local population about the
importance of the biodiversity and the human dependence on the scarce natural resources to
motivate them to improvise their agricultural techniques. Villagers could be educated about
the use of organic fertilizers, like manure or degradable farm waste, thus, reducing the need
for chemicals like NPK.

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Another method to reduce the use of fertilizers is by informing the villagers about the
negative effects of monocropping and promoting crop rotation, thus preventing the fall in the
quality of the soil by zapping out the useful nutrients.
Because, many villagers also practice animal farming, villagers could be taught to avoid
feeding the animals in a single area and continuously shift the feeding ground to avoid
overgrazing.
Published source4
The average human's ecological "footprint" around the world is rising because human
populations are increasing and they are destroying biodiversity hot spots where animal and
plant species are found moving to extinction. Overall, 75 per cent of the Earth's land surface
is experiencing human impacts and the remaining 25 per cent are mostly places like deserts
and mountains with low diversity probably because they are already exploited.
4
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/human-footprint-1.3733738

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Criteria 5: Application
Solution Strength Weakness
Efficient Farming – organic
crops
Energy of the farmers is
saved as lesser resources
would be used when the
crops are growing.
Farming can be burdened by
higher costs.
Government to take
initiative to control the
pollution levels
Increase in awareness of the
harm and persuasion to use
resources that do not affect
the environment.
Increase in the governments
costs to educate the villagers
about the environmental
problems.
Laws can be introduced to
control the dumping of
wastes.
Dumping wastes can only be
done in particular areas thus
avoiding the harm on crops
wherever the waste is
thrown.
Increased costs of
monitoring where the waste
generated by the farmers is
dumped.

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Bibliography
http://gurumantra.wikispaces.com/Internal+Assessment+Criteria
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/human-footprint-1.3733738
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_destruction.html
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/ecological_balance/ec
o_footprint/