2.1 Field Techniques for Biologists Flashcards
Unit 2: Organisms and Evolution
What is a hazard?
Something that has the potential to cause harm
What is a risk?
The likelihood of a hazard causing harm
What are potential hazards you could encounter during field work?
Terrain, weather conditions, isolation, contact with harmful organisms
What are possible control measures used to minimize the level of risk during fieldwork?
Appropriate clothing and footwear, appropriate and functional equipment, means of communication with other field work colleagues and the outside world
When deciding to sample a wild organism what must be considered?
-An appropriate sampling technique
-Ensuring the technique minimizes the impact of the organism or habitat
-The sample is representative of the whole population
-Consideration given to rare and vulnerable species and habitats
Examples of sampling techniques?
-Line transect (slow moving or stationary)
-Quadrat (slow moving or stationary)
-Capture techniques (moblibe)
-Camera traps (Elucsive species)
-Scat sampling (Elucsive species)
-Point count (Birds)
What is an indicator species?
The presence, absence or abundance of indicator species can give information of environmental qualities
What is a susceptible species?
Absences or reduced population indicates a species is susceptible to some factor in the environment
What is a favorable species?
Abundance or increased population indicates its favored by the environmental conditions
What are the different methods of tagging an organism?
Banding, tagging, surgical implantation, painting and hair clipping
What factors may lead to an inaccurate population estimate?
-If the R value is too low due to marking error the population will be overestimated
-If the R value is too high to inadequate dispersal from release site (not enough time given) the population will be underestimated
What is an ethogram?
A catalogue of behaviors or actions shown or carried out by a particular species
What is latency?
The time between the stimulus occurring and the response behavior
What is frequency?
The number of times a behavior occurs within the observational period
What is duration?
The length of time each behavior occurs during the observation period
What is anthropomorphism?
The attribution of human characteristics, motivations or emotions to animals or non-humans
What is taxonomy?
This involves the identification and naming of organisms and their classification into groups based onto shared charactersitics
What is classic taxonomy classification based on?
The morphology (the structure/form of the organism)
What is phylogenetics?
The study of evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms
What does phylogenetics use to make inferences about an organisms evolutionary history?
Heritable traits, such as morphology, DNA sequences and protein structure
What is divergent evolution?
A process by which a single ancestor species diverge into two, or more, descendant species. This results in a once related species becoming increasing dissimilar over time
What is convergent evolution?
The process where organisms not closely related independently evolve similar traits over time as a result of having to adapt to similar niches
What are examples of taxonomic groups and their defining characterisitcs?
-Chordata - sea squirts
-Arthropoda - joined leg intervebrates
-Chrordates - all have a natochrod (spinal cord) at some point in their devolopment
What is a model organism?
Those that have been well studied or can be easily studied
