Field Techniques Flashcards
What is a hazard?
Something that can cause harm (fieldwork may involve a wider range of hazards than lab work)
What are the considerations when assessing fieldwork for risks?
Terrain- type of ground where fieldwork id conducted, dictates safest type of footwear and other safety gear required
Weather conditions- must consider the associated hazards
Isolation- long distance from habitation, medical help or transport links so moving equipment is more difficult and evacuation procedures in case of injury/illness must be considered, hazards associated with lone work must also be considered
What is risk?
Likelihood of harm occurring
Risk assessments should have…
Level of detail appropriate to the types of hazards and size of risks
What is sampling?
Gathering of data from part of a population
What does sampling eliminate?
the need to measure and record every member of a population, so long as the sample selected is representative of the variation in the population
Sampling should be carried out in a manner that…
Minimises the impact on wild species and habitats
If sampling is… then benefits of study must outweigh any negative impact of sampling
Invasive or involves temporary or permanent removal of individuals from the population
When sampling consideration must be given to…
rare (low density/small population) and vulnerable (easily harmed) species and habitats protected by legislation (may be illegal without licence)
Sampling techniques must be appropriate to…
Species being sampled
4 sampling techniques
Point count
Transect
Remote detection
Quadrats
What is a point count?
Carried out from stationary location and records all individual organisms observed
Used to determine species abundance
What is a transect?
In the form of a line for a narrow focus of sampling or a much wider band for more variable communities
Higher variability at each point along transect=wider band used
Used to determine changes I. a community across an environmental gradient
What is remote detection?
Monitoring carried out at a distance using sensors e.g. satellites
Used for global vegetation surveys and gathering data in area difficult to access
What are quadrats?
Ensures a standard ares is being sampled each time a measurement is taken to increase reliability and reduce bias
Sample shape is not important but must be uniform and of known area
Smaller used for for more densely packed areas
More samples taken when higher diversity
What types of sampling are used for plants or other sessile/slow-moving organisms?
Quadrats of suitable size and shape
Transects
Capture techniques are used for…
Mobile species e.g. bats, birds, small mammals
Allows animal to be released unharmed
What are elusive species?
Organisms that are difficult to sample through observation
How are elusive species sampled?
Directly using camera traps
Indirectly using scat sampling
What is identification?
Process of putting a name to a sample
Identification of an organism can be made using…
Classification guides- provide info on one order of organism
Biological keys- series of questions e.g. paired-key statement
Analysis of DNA and proteins- can separate subtly different species
What is taxonomy?
Involves identification and naming of organisms and their classification into groups based on shared characteristics
What is phylogenetics?
Study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms, changing the traditional classification of many organisms
Phylogenetics can use… to…
Heritable traits such as morphology, DNA sequencing and protein structure, create a phylogeny (diagrammatic hypothesis of relationships)
Genetic evidence evidence such as DNA sequences can…
Reveal relatedness between species which was obscured by convergent or divergent evolution
What is convergent evolution?
Process in which individuals which are not closely related independently evolve to have similar features e.g. structure of human and octopus eye
What is divergent evolution?
Process whereby groups from the same common ancestor evolve and accumulate differences resulting in the formation of a new species
Familiarity with taxonomic groupings allows…
Predictions and inferences to be made about the biology of an organism from a better known model organism
What is a model organism?
Organisms that are easily studied or have been well studied, information obtained from them can be applied to other species which are more difficult to study directly
Examples of model organisms which have been important in the advancement of modern biology
Bacterium- E.coli
Flowering plant- shale cress
Athropod- fruit fly
Chordate- mice, rats, zebrafish
What is an indicator species?
Presence, absence or abundance can give information on environmental qualities e.g. presence of a pollutant
What does absence or a reduced population indicate?
Species is susceptible to some factor in the environment
What does abundance or increased population indicate?
Species is favoured by conditions
Methods of marking
Banding
Tagging
Surgical implantation
Painting
Hair clipping
Methods of marking and subsequent observation must…
Minimise impact on species
Mark and recapture is a technique for…
Estimating population size
Method for mark and recapture
- A sample of the population is captured, Marked and released
- After an interval of time, a second sample is Captured
- If some of the individuals in second sample are Recaptured then total population is given by…
N=MC/R
Mark and recapture method assumes…
All individuals have an equal chance of capture
There is no immigration/emigration
Marked and released individuals can mix fully and randomly with the total population
What measurements are used to quantify animal behaviour?
Latency- the time between the stimulus occurring and the response behaviour
Frequency- the number of times a behaviour occurs within the observation period
Duration- the length of time each behaviour occurs during the observational period
What is an ethogram?
List species specific behaviours to be observed and recorded in the study
Recording the duration of each of the behaviours in the ethogram, together with the total time of observation…
Allows the proportion of time spent on each behaviour to be calculated in the time budget
What is anthropomorphism?
Attribution of human motivation, characteristics or behaviour to non-human animals, must be avoided when analysing behaviour as it leads to invalid conclusions
