OCR - A-Level - Biology - Sampling Techniques

Animals
1. Sampling via Observation
  1. Footprints
    1. Tells timing of passage
  2. Faeces
    1. Tells food and timing
  3. Bark rubbing
    1. Territorial
    2. Scratching, biting, scent, etc.
  4. Leftover food
    1. Saliva, appetite, teeth/claw marks
  5. DNA Sequencing
    1. Expensive but accurate
2. Methods of Sampling
  1. Sweep nets
    1. Ponds
      1. Poke the mud then sweep backwards
      2. Figure of 8 sweeping
    2. Meadows
      1. Figure of 8 sweeping
  2. Pooters
    1. Suck in one side, bring insects in
  3. Pitfall Trap
    1. Smaller organisms fall in, cannot get out
  4. Tullgren Funnel
    1. Light trap attracts insects, which fall in and cannot get out
Plants
1. Random sampling
  1. Look to see which species are present
    1. AVOID BIAS
  2. Methods
    1. Take samples at regular distances (random transect line)
    2. Randomly generate numbers to correspond to coordinates in a region
    3. GPS with random generation for deciding locations
2. Transect line
  1. Decide on a line and take quadrat samples along this line
  2. Biased if decided where to place the line
  3. Random if the line was generated (or the like)
  4. Gives a full range of samples
3. Number of samples should correspond to the size of the habitat
4. Tree sampling is easier because they can be seen clearly
Done to determine the biodiversity of an area
1. Biodiversity is the measure of the range of different species that live in a habitat

Resource summary

	Created by Josh Anderson almost 9 years ago