Lecture 2 - DA Flashcards
What defines a woodland?
Trees with non-overlapping crowns.
What defines an open forest?
Tall trees giving only a single stem.
Where are forests usually localised? What about woodlands?
Forests are near coastlines.
Woodlands take transition zone between forests and grasslands/shrublands.
How tall are trees in woodlands, generally?
10-30m
What is the canopy and spacing of trees like in woodlands? What about their branching?
Large, open canopy.
Trees are widely spaced, and have more extensive branching.
What 3 factors shaped most woodland communities?
Fire, climate, and human activity.
Which biome is the most endangered and vulnerable in Australia?
Woodlands.
What percentage of Australia is an open forest currently? What was it like in precolonisation times? Where are open forests confined to?
5%, confined to higher rainfall areas near the coast.
Current cover is only 60% of precolonisation times.
What are open forests dominated by?
Eucalypts.
Where are Australian alps found?
Southeast Australia only.
What are 2 ways plants can be sampled? What do they record?
Done by pins, or by eye.
Will record species, density, and cover/abundance.
What are 4 methods of surveying an ecosystem?
Transects
Quadrats
Plotless sampling
Aerial survey
When sampling plants vs animals, what is one advantage of plants?
Plants are static.
What are recordings of plant species during a survey specific to? Is this true of animal species?
Time of the recording, some plants can be seasonal.
Some animals come out at certain times only, such as nocturnal animals.
When is a structural survey done?
When comparing different geographical regions.
What does a structural survey reveal? Is it necessary to identify species?
Shows a mix of trees, shrubs, or ground covers.
No need to identify species.
What can a structural survey allow you to compare?
Allows for site comparison, even if species differ.
What are 2 disadvantages of structural surveys?
Not very informative
No record of the species
What is a presence/absence survey?
A list of species, recording all those found.
Name 5 disadvantages of a presence/absence survey.
- Hard to be thorough
- Time intensive
- Seasonal changes means needing >1 visit
- High cost
- Difficult to have accurate identification
What is a density survey?
Counting the number of individuals per area.
What are 2 problems with a density survey?
Defining an area
Defining an individual - especially plants, such as moss or multistems.
What is a cover/abundance survey?
Estimation of the proportion of area covered by a species.
What is an advantage of a cover/abundance survey? What 2 organisms is it good for?
They are quick.
Good for plants, and colonial animals.