Several methods of estimating the number of seeds in soil samples have been developed by ecologists.

An article in the Journal of Ecology (“A Comparison of Methods for Estimating Seed Numbers in the Soil”

[1990]: 1079– 1093) considered three such methods. The accompanying data give number of seeds detected by the direct method and by the stratified method for 27 soil specimens.

Specimen Direct Stratified Specimen Direct Stratified 1 24 8 2 32 36 3 0 8 4 60 56 5 20 52 6 64 64 7 40 28 8 8 8 9 12 8 10 92 100 11 4 0 12 68 56 13 76 68 14 24 52 15 32 28 16 0 0 17 36 36 18 16 12 19 92 92 20 4 12 21 40 48 22 24 24 23 0 0 24 8 12 25 12 40 26 16 12 27 40 76 Do the data provide sufficient evidence to conclude that the mean number of seeds detected differs for the two methods? Test the relevant hypotheses using a .05.