 Hello, I'm Mick, and today we'll look at how you can assess plant diversity in your sites. Identifying the plant species present at your camp will help you understand whether you are attracting native or invasive species, but it will also tell you something about the quality of your soil. For this test, we will need the one square meter quadrat, a camera, if you have a plant ID guide, some marking sticks, and eventually a tape measure if you want to use a transect. If you can, explore some plant identification and local botany resources in advance. On your site, select at least two points in the area you wish to survey. Label these points physically and on your site map. It's important to avoid areas where reading by humans takes place. Then place the quadrat on each of these points. Count the number of different plant species you can see inside the quadrat. Try to identify as many as you can. You could also try out mobile applications to identify species you don't know yet, such as plant net. Record the occurrence of the different species in your datasheet, by species name or assigned code. When you assign codes, consider taking pictures to match the codes. If you have no camera, take leaf samples for identification later on. Perhaps try and estimate the abundance or percentage cover of each species in your quadrat. If you do so, document these values as well. Before you leave, take a picture of the quadrat. If you are interested in the effects of certain environmental factors, such as moisture or altitude, use a 10 meter long transect along that environmental gradient. And survey your quadrat every one or two meters, depending on the effort you are willing to put into your research. Assessing plant diversity on a given site tells something about the overall health and resilience of the ecosystem. Repeating the tests throughout the restoration process indicates whether we are successfully promoting the species we wish to see on the land. Depending on the goals of our project, this could be nitrogen fixing plants or native species.