Field Techniques for Biologists

Question 1

What is a risk assessment?

Answer 1

document that

• identifies the potential hazards
• assesses the likelihood of them happening
• clearly describes the steps that can be taken to minimize their occurrence

Question 2

What are two extra risks of fieldwork compared with lab-work?

Answer 2

terrain
weather
unpredictability, lack of control

Question 3

What are the four hazards involved in field work?

Answer 3

<em>T</em>errain
<em>W</em>eather Conditions
<em>I</em>solation
<em>T</em>ides

Question 4

What can you do to prepare for

• terrains
• tides

Answer 4

• appropriate footwear

- consult tide tables

Question 5

how should sampling be carried out

Answer 5

manner that minimizes impact on wild species and habitats

Question 6

What are the three main sampling techniques

Answer 6

Transect Surveys
Point count
Remote detection

Question 7

Describe a transect study

Answer 7

• A transect is a line along which different samples can be taken
• set up in an area where abiotic factors are changing
• plant abundance/abundance of sessile organisms are sampled
• can use quadrats or meters

Question 8

What is a point count? Give an example of a species that is sampled using a point count

Answer 8

• sampling technique where counting all the species seen/heard in a given area over a set period of time
• stationary point
• comparisons can be made throughout the year
  Example - birds

Question 9

Give a sampling technique that can be used for elusive species

Answer 9

remote detection

Question 10

Give examples of remote detection

Answer 10

Scat sampling

Camera traps

Question 11

What are the three types of sampling techniques?

Answer 11

Random
Stratified
Systematic

Question 12

Describe random sampling

Answer 12

Individuals selected from the larger populations must be chosen completely at chance

Question 13

What is this an example of?

10 people from each year were chosen to complete a health test

Answer 13

Stratified

Question 14

What type of sampling are transect surveys?

Answer 14

Systematic

Question 15

How can a species be identified?

Answer 15

Classification guides
Biological Keys
Lab Analysis of DNA

Question 16

What is a benefit of being familiar with taxonomic groupings?

Answer 16

Allows predictions to be made about the biology of an unknown or lesser-known organism

Question 17

What is a model organism?

Answer 17

Model organisms are organisms that scientists already know a lot about and have been studying for many years

Question 18

Give examples of model organisms

Answer 18

E. coli, Drosophila, Yeast and Mice

Question 19

Give a benefit of model organisms

Answer 19

Help biologists understand many processes that happen in organisms that are harder to study
Let scientists make predictions about more complex organisms

Question 20

Give a benefit to humans of model organisms

Answer 20

Knowledge of pathway in one organism can provide insight into same pathway in humans

Question 21

What is the difference between convergent and divergent evolution?

Answer 21

convergent - organisms who are not closely related, same pressures, develop similar phenotypes
divergent - closely related species with different selection pressures, develop opposite phenotypes

Question 22

What are the three domains of life?

Answer 22

Archae
Bacteria
Eukaryota

Question 23

What are the five plant kingdom divisions?

Answer 23

Mosses
Liverworts
Ferns
Gymnosperms
Angiosperms

Question 24

What are the main characteristics of a fern?

Answer 24

flowerless plants
reproduce using spores
have a vascular system

Question 25

what type of plant is this describing: | flowerless plant, without seeds or vascular system

Answer 25

mosses

Question 26

Describe a liverwort

Answer 26

flowerless plant, produce spores, overlapping leaves

Question 27

what type of plant is this describing: | flowerless plant that produces seeds for reproduction and have a vascular system

Answer 27

Gymnosperms

Question 28

describe an angiosperm

Answer 28

flowering plant

Question 29

what are the five animal kingdom divisions

Answer 29

``` chordata arthropoda nematoda platyhelminthes mollusca ```

Question 30

what animal kingdom division are we

Answer 30

chordata | sea squirts and verebrates

Question 31

what animal kingdom are round worms in

Answer 31

nematoda

Question 32

describe platyhelminthes

Answer 32

flat worms, many parasitic, show bilateral symmetry and internal organs

Question 33

what animal kingdom is this describing: greatly varied, characterized by the presence of a shell

Answer 33

mollusca

Question 34

describe arthropoda

Answer 34

joint legged invertebrates, segmented body and paired appendages example : spidee

Question 35

what about a indicator species can give information on the quality of the environment

Answer 35

presence absence abundance

Question 36

what can biodiversity of lichen species in an area indicate

Answer 36

the levels of sulphur dioxide in the air

Question 37

What is the mark and recapture equation

Answer 37

n = mc/r n - estimate of total population m - number captured and released in first sample c - number captured in second sample r - number of marked recaptured in second sample

Question 38

what can marking techniques not do

Answer 38

make the animal more conspicuous

Question 39

what are the assumptions made when doing a mark and recapture

Answer 39

- all individuals have an equal chance of capture - no immigration or emigration during study - no birth or death during sample time - sampling methods are the same each time

Question 40

what are some methods of marking

Answer 40

``` banding tagging surgical implantation painting hairclipping ```

Question 41

what is ethology

Answer 41

the study of animal behaviour

Question 42

what is an ethogram

Answer 42

the recording of all observed behaviours shown by a species over a particular period of time

Question 43

what is the application of human qualities to animal behaviours

Answer 43

anthropomorphism

Question 44

what are the measurements made in time budgets

Answer 44

latency - time taken to respond to a stimulus frequency duration

Question 45

what can be constructed with latency, frequency and duration data

Answer 45

a time budget