Sampling Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is biodiversity?
-variety of organisms that there are somewhere
What are the two things we look at when measuring biodiversity?
-abundance
-distribution
What is distribution?
-where species are found
What is abundance?
-how many of a species there are
Why do we need to know how many organisms in a population?
-useful for monitoring the impact of conservation projects that aim to conserve endangered species or
habitats
How to trap ….. for sampling?:
A) small mammals
B) small insects
C) aquatic organism/animal
A) pitfalls
B) pooters
C) kick-sampling
Why might we use systematic sampling?
-for if there is a trend or a pattern across the habitat, such as a distance up a beach
What is a quadrat?
-used for random sampling
-square frame of known area used for sampling the abundance and distribution of slow or non-moving organisms
How is a quadrat usually built?
-square frames of wire
-usually 0.25m2
What do we look at with quadrats?
-plants or slow-moving animals
What sampling do we do with quadrats?
-record the number of an individual species
-record number of different species
-record the percentage of the quadrat area that is covered by a species, to estimate frequency
Required practical:
-measure the species richness on the school field in areas in which the grass is regularly and irregularly cut
-choose a starting point on the school field in an area where the grass is often cut
-use random numbers to generate a set of coordinates to place your first quadrat
-count number of different plant species within this quadrat and record in a results table
-return to your starting position and repeat steps two and three 10 more times using different numbers for repeatability
-repeat steps one to four for a part of the school field which the grass is infrequently cut
-calculate a mean for each location from table of results and compare them
How do we make our sampling random?
-use a random number generator
YOU GOT THIS???
YES I DOOOOOO
What are the two tools we use for sampling?
-quadrats
-transects
What is the name of the small area investigated?
-sample
If we sample 10m2 of a 100m2 field, what do we do to our results?
-multiply by ten to estimate the total number
Why do we do random sampling?
-so it is not biased and makes the sampling more valid
What are transects?
-used for systematic sampling
-lines created with tape measure, where a quadrat is placed at regular intervals along it
What is sampling?
-when organisms within a sample site are recorded and the results are used to estimate the total number of organisms/different species/species frequency
