Working as a Scientist Presenting and Analysing Data
Conducting a Habitat Study Over the course of two lessons, a class of students planned a habitat study of the local park. The teacher told the students to follow the six steps of a habitat study.
The students were asked to carry out a quantitative study of rushes and calculate abundance. Each pair randomly selected ten sample sites within the habitat and recorded the number of rushes at each site using a quadrat. At each sample site, the students also collected a small sample of soil from a depth of 5 cm using a trowel. Each soil sample was stored in a separate plastic specimen bag and returned to the laboratory for analysis.
1 Calculate the total area of the habitat under study by the students in Fig. 6.7.1.
2 Calculate the area of the quadrat used by the students in Fig. 6.7.2.
3 Calculate the number of individual quadrats needed to scale up to the total area of the habitat.
4 Why is it important that the sample sites were chosen randomly and were well distributed throughout the habitat?
When the students began their survey, they realised it was not always easy to count the rushes, as some of them were only partially inside the quadrat. The teacher told them to count only those plants that were halfway or more inside the quadrat.
5 How many rushes are recorded in the quadrat in Fig. 6.7.3?
108 z Fig. 6.7.3 Rushes in a quadrat 0.5 m z Fig. 6.7.2 Quadrat used during habitat study 100 m 75 m
