Key Area 1 - Field Techniques For Biologists Flashcards
Health & Safety
List examples of hazards in fieldwork
Hazards in fieldwork include adverse weather conditions, difficult terrain, problems associated with isolation, and contact with harmful organisms.
What is a risk?
Risk is the likelihood of harm arising from
exposure to a hazard.
What do risk assessments involve?
Risk assessment involves identifying control measures to minimise risk.
List examples of control measures
Control measures include appropriate
equipment, clothing, footwear, and means of communication.
Sampling of Wild Organisms
How should sampling be carried out?
Sampling should be carried out in a manner that minimises impact on wild species and habitats.
What must consideration be given to?
Consideration must be given to rare and
vulnerable species and habitats that are
protected by legislation.
What must be appropriate to the species being sampled?
The chosen technique, point count, transect or remote detection must be appropriate to the species being sampled.
What does a point count involve?
A point count involves the observer recording all individuals seen from a fixed point count location. This can be compared to other point count locations or with data from the same location gathered at other times.
What is used to measure plants and other
sessile or slow-moving organisms?
Quadrats, of suitable size and shape, or
transects are used for plants and other
sessile or slow-moving organisms.
What are used for mobile species?
Capture techniques, such as traps and nets,
are used for mobile species.
How can elusive species be sampled?
Elusive species can be sampled directly
using camera traps or an indirect method,
such as scat sampling.
Identification & Taxonomy
How can identification of an organism in a sample be made?
Identification of an organism in a sample can be made using classification guides,
biological keys, or analysis of DNA or protein.
Name the two ways organisms can be classified
Organisms can be classified by both
taxonomy and phylogenetics.
What does taxonomy involve?
Taxonomy involves the identification and
naming of organisms and their classification into groups based on shared characteristics.
What is classic taxonomy classification based on?
Classic taxonomy classification is based on
morphology.
Phylogenetics is the study of what?
Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms.
Phylogenetics is changing the traditional
classification of many organisms.
What does phylogenetics use?
Phylogenetics uses heritable traits such as
morphology, DNA sequences, and protein
structure to make inferences about an
organism’s evolutionary history and create a phylogeny (or phylogenetic tree) — a
diagrammatic hypothesis of its relationships to other organisms. Genetic evidence can reveal relatedness obscured by divergent or convergent evolution.
What does familiarity with taxonomic groupings allow?
Familiarity with taxonomic groupings allows predictions and inferences to be made about the biology of an organism from better-known (model) organisms.
Name examples of taxonomic groups
Nematodes, arthropods and chordates are
examples of taxonomic groups.
What are model organisms?
Model organisms are those that are either
easily studied or have been well studied.
Model organisms, such as the bacterium
E. coli; the flowering plant Arabidopsis
thaliana; the nematode C. elegans; the
arthropod Drosophila melanogaster (a fruit
fly); mice, rats, and zebrafish, which are all
chordates, have been very important in the
advancement of modern biology.
Information obtained from them can be
applied to other species that are more difficult to study directly.
Monitoring Populations
What can give information on
environmental qualities, such as presence of a pollutant?
Presence, absence or abundance of indicator species can give information of
environmental qualities, such as presence of a pollutant.
What can be used to monitor an ecosystem?
Susceptible and favoured species can be
used to monitor an ecosystem.
What can absence or reduced populations indicate?
Absence or reduced population indicates a
species is susceptible to some factor in the
environment.
What can abundance or increased
populations indicate?
Abundance or increased
populations indicate it is favoured by the
conditions.
A sample of the population is captured and
marked (M) and released. After an interval of time, a second sample is captured (C). If
some of the individuals in this second sample are recaptured (R), then the total population:
N= MC
R
This method assumes that all individuals
have an equal chance of capture, that there
is no immigration or emigration, and that
individuals that are marked and released can mix fully and randomly with the total
population.
Give examples of methods of marking
Methods of marking animals such as:
banding, tagging, surgical implantation,
painting and hair clipping.
What must the method of marking and observation minimise?
The method of marking and subsequent
observation must minimise the impact on the study species.
Measuring & Recording Animal
Behaviour
Name some of the measurements used to quantify animal behaviour
Some of the measurements used to quantify animal behaviour are latency, frequency and duration.
Explain latency
Latency is the time between the stimulus
occurring and the response behaviour.
Explain frequency
Frequency is the number of times a
behaviour occurs within the observation
period.
Explain duration
Duration is the length of time each behaviour occurs during the observation period.
What does an ethogram of the behaviours shown by a species in a wild context allow?
An ethogram of the behaviours shown by a
species in a wild context allows the
construction of time budgets.
Describe what an ethogram is
An ethogram lists 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.
Explain the importance of avoiding
anthropomorphism when analysing behaviour
Anthropomorphism can lead to invalid
conclusions.
