Data Analysis
Most of the trees that had a lot of sand were in Good or fair condition and had less than 60% sand. The trees that were excellent had less than 50% of sand. But the ones that were in poor condition were near north pond and had a surplus amount of sand in it which might be because sand isn't able to retain as much water and nutrients the tree needs to survive.
The trees with more than than 33% of silt are found to be in excellent condition because silt has been carried by water during flood and it forms a fertile deposit on valley's floor which is why the trees near water were in better condition than those that were found further away from water.
Since none of the trees had a lot of clay we didn't find a trend between the amount of clay and the condition of the tree. We believe that the soil condition was affected by the amount of soil and silt rather than the amount of clay because their was such a small amount of clay in each sample.
Conclusion
We found that there was no correlation between levels of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, or Potassium and tree species or location. The levels of these elements appeared to be random and inconsistent. However, there appeared to be a strong correlation between soil texture and the location of the trees. The trees found by South Lagoon had the most clay while the trees found by North Pond had less than 10% of clay in their soil. All of the tree locations had a lot of sand in the soil. Since all of the trees are in the Urban area of Chicago there is a lot of silt due to high amount of foot and car traffic. However, the trees by South Lagoon had the lowest amount of silt because it was closer to a body of water than a busy street.
Next Steps
Other people can join in on our project. With new data brought in by other people, we can see if the soil texture is different in different areas across the U.S. We can also figure out the health of different trees by looking at the soil chemistry. Other people doing this project don't have to only test honey locust and maple trees. They can test any type of tree in any condition. Now we understand the effect that we have on trees and soil as a society.