OBIO103 Practical Manual 1 EXTERNAL ASSIGNMENT III Practical No. 5Submit a report of 1000 words desc
OBIO103 Practical Manual 1 EXTERNAL ASSIGNMENT III Practical No. 5Submit a report of 1000 words describing yourexperiment as part of your submission for Practical 5.VEGETATION AND PLANT SAMPLINGObjectives You will need Assessment After completing this practical you should be able to:1. Describe some problems you may encounter in vegetationsampling. 2. Demonstrate common techniques used for vegetation samplingand the type of data generated by it. These notes.2. A lawn area of 60m2 – 100m2 in which to work. A weedy lawn isbest! It’s OK if shrubs or trees are planted in it. 3. A tape measure (at least 1m), 4 thin stakes (tomato stakes areideal) and record sheets (included with these notes). Submit a report of 1000 words describing your experiment as part ofyour submission for Assignment III. OBIO103 Practical Manual Introduction 2 One of the aims of Environmental Biology is to introduce you to theidea of sampling in biological systems. In science, sampling—what,how much, where and how often to take samples is a vital part ofstudying any organism or ecological system. The reliability of your datais often more dependent on how you selected your samples than on howyou analysed them. No degree of accuracy in analysis can make up forunrepresentative or inappropriate sampling.In field biology we are often interested in quantifying the number oramount of organisms that are present in any area. Animals and plantsinvolve different problems for sampling. In particular, animals maybe cryptic or elusive so it is difficult to count them. Plants on theother hand at least stand still, but there are usually large numbers ofthem so unless there are only a few specimens in any area in whichyou are interested you must rely on an estimate.Important government legislation restricts what field work we can askyou to do, so the project is designed to be completed on a back lawnor in a park. Your aim is to determine the optimum size of quadrat tosample relative plant abundance and cover in your chosenenvironment. Methods1. CommunitySpeciesComposition In studying the species composition of a community we must obtain anadequate sample of the different species present in order to characterisethe community. The quadrat method is the most commonly usedmethod in plant ecology to sample the number of species (richness) inany plant community. By collecting species records from a number ofquadrats which increase in size and plotting cumulative species againstquadrat size it is possible to determine the optimal area of a quadratneeded to sample any community. Species Area Curve CumulativeNumber ofSpecies Area sampled (m2) The optimal area of the quadrat is where the curve flattens out and fewnew species are recorded with increasing area sampled. OBIO103 Practical Manual 3 Problems may be encountered in the identification and measurementof some plants. Arbitrary criteria may be needed for exclusion orinclusion of plants on the boundaries of quadrats and for theidentification of individuals of some species.Field Procedure(in an area of lawn atleast 100m2) (i) (ii) Organise your sampling programme, data sheets and equipmentbefore going into the field. You will need :• 1 tape measure, or measured pieces of rope or string markedin metres up to 10 m. • 4 thin stakes to mark quadrat corners. • Record sheets (included at the end of this exercise). • 2 plastic bags. Choose a lawn area to begin marking out your quadrats. It willhelp if it has not been mowed for at least a fortnight. A weedylawn is best! It’s OK if shrubs are planted in the lawn. (iii) Measure out a 0.5m x 0.5m plot.(iv) Record the number of species in this plot in the data tableprovided at the end of this exercise. It is not actually necessaryto know all the different names of the species. It is really onlynecessary to distinguish between the different plant species soyou know how many different types are present. You can callthem by your own names just as long as you remember whateach one is. It is important to examine the small plants verycarefully as they will only be distinguished from each other bycareful examination of leaf form, arrangement and thepossession of various features. Look carefully and do not rushthe exercise! Most lawns will contain a variety of weeds andmaybe some mosses, so try to find them all. Shrubs orornamental trees planted in the lawn should of course be countedif the stem is within your plot. Also record the number ofindividuals of each species if you can. The lawn itself is actuallya mat of many different small plants growing together and youwill not be able to tell how many plants are involved. OBIO103 Practical Manual Analysis ofData (v) Take a pace to one side of the plot and measure out a new 0.5mx 0.5m plot. Record all species in the second plot, making aspecial note of any new species you did not see before. Alsonote the number of individuals of each species. (vi) Assume a straight line runs through your two plots and take apace along that line away from the second plot and position athird plot. Record all species in this third plot, making specialnote of any new species you did not see before. Also note thenumber of individuals of each species. (vii) Take a further pace along your imaginary line, position a fourthplot and record the data. Repeat this procedure until you havecompleted 20 plots. Should you come to the edge of the lawn,take a pace at right angles to your last quadrat and position thenew sample there. Then move back the way you came withsuccessive plots, parallel to your original line. Field 1. 4 Plot the species-quadrat area curve for your quadrats anddetermine at what quadrat area a representative sample of specieshas been recorded (equivalence point), if you think this has beenreached. 2. Plot a bar graph of plant density (number/m2) on the y axisagainst plant species name on the x axis for the summed data ofthe 20 plots. 3. Plot a bar graph of the number of plots in which each speciesoccurred (i.e. number of plots/species) on the y axix against thespecies name on the x axis. This is the frequency of occurrenceof the species. Report Submit a report of no more than 1000 words describing your work.Note carefully the directions below and refer back to Notes forBiological Sciences if necessary. Abstract You may find it easiest to write this section last. Remember to keep itshort! (50 words, 5 lines) Introduction(150 words, 15 lines) Make sure you use the correct approach if you wish to cite your text orother reference material. Remember that your main aim in this exerciseis the determination of the optimal number of quadrats to sample yourenvironment. OBIO103 Practical Manual Materials and methods(200 words, 20 lines) Results 5 Think carefully about what you should say here so that someone elsecan follow your work exactly. It’s OK to refer back to the notes if theysay exactly what was done, rather than copying details. However, if youdo so, remember to reference the notes! (200 words,) Present here all the data requested. The raw data table from your notescan be given as well as your graph. Discussion Make sure you answer these questions: (400 words, 40 lines) Acknowledgments 1. Do you think you have the full complement of species for the site?Will the season have any influence on this? 2. How many quadrats do you think are adequate to sample this areaof lawn? Support your answer by reference to your species/areagraph. 3. Were all species evenly distributed across the quadrats? Were themost abundant species also evenly distributed? If necessary. (20 words)References You should include two references to journal articles in this report. Tofind the articles, use the data base research skills you learned in thelibrary exercise. ‘Species area curves’ and ‘quadrat sampling’ are twosearch terms you could try to locate a relevant article. If you do not haveaccess to the internet and hence cannot find any journal articles, pleaseadvise your tutor when you submit the report. OBIO103 Practical Manual 6 Record sheet for Practical 5. The top table is an example of how to fill out the records and the bottom table is blank for your own records.Plot1234567891011121314151617181920 Species found and numbersA*AA B(2) C(1)AA C(1) D(1)A B(1) D(1) E(1)A E(1)A B(1) F(3)A B(1) G(1)Bare groundAAAA D(1) E(2)A G(5)A B(1) D(1)A C(1) G(2)A B(1)Bare groundA Cumulative species richness11334556777777777777 *NB: A is the lawn and the number of plants cannot be counted.Plot12345678910111213141516 Species found and numbers Cumulative species richness OBIO103 Practical Manual 17181920 7 OBIO103 Practical Manual 8
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