Results: The data shows that the pH of soil has little change from a residential home to LBA park.
Conclusion: My hypothesis was correct in that I predicted that the soil in the residential home would be neutral. I did not think that the LBA soil would be so close to the residential home yard soil. There was very little difference between the two which I did not predict. Based off of the tests, the back yard had the most acidic soil. The average pH of 5.8 adds up perhaps because of the dog that pees constantly in the backyard and since the space is smaller, the effect of the urine on the acidity may be greater than it is at the park. The soil at LBA averaged only slightly less acidic than the back yard. This makes sense because it is a big area that has a good amount of leaf litter but not as much acidity dependent plants growing in the area so an average pH of 6.7 seems reasonable. Lastly, the pH in the front yard was the most neutral. The average pH of 6.9 makes sense because the area is most untouched except by the elements course, but the sparse amount of plant growth might be just enough to balance out the pH to a mostly neutral state. If I were to expand further on this project, I would test for a longer period of time and test different types of soil in the different areas of both the residential and public sites.
Conclusion: My hypothesis was correct in that I predicted that the soil in the residential home would be neutral. I did not think that the LBA soil would be so close to the residential home yard soil. There was very little difference between the two which I did not predict. Based off of the tests, the back yard had the most acidic soil. The average pH of 5.8 adds up perhaps because of the dog that pees constantly in the backyard and since the space is smaller, the effect of the urine on the acidity may be greater than it is at the park. The soil at LBA averaged only slightly less acidic than the back yard. This makes sense because it is a big area that has a good amount of leaf litter but not as much acidity dependent plants growing in the area so an average pH of 6.7 seems reasonable. Lastly, the pH in the front yard was the most neutral. The average pH of 6.9 makes sense because the area is most untouched except by the elements course, but the sparse amount of plant growth might be just enough to balance out the pH to a mostly neutral state. If I were to expand further on this project, I would test for a longer period of time and test different types of soil in the different areas of both the residential and public sites.