Using Quadrats - Practical

Question 1

Define habitat and distribution of population

Answer 1

Place where an organism lives e.g. field

• Where an organism is found e.g. part of field

Question 2

What affects where an organism is found ?

Answer 2

environmental factors. An organism might be more common in one area compared to another due to environment factors ( shade )

Question 3

What are the ways to study distribution of an organism

Answer 3

• measure how common an organism is in two sample areas using quadrat and compare them
• study how distribution changes across area - using quadrat along transect = both methods are quantitative data

Question 4

Practical

Answer 4

1) Quadrat is a square frame , divide area into a grid and use a random number generator to pick coordinates, then place a 1m2 quadrat at point of first sample area

2) count all the organisms within quadrat

3) Repeat step 1 and 2 as many times as you can

4) Work out mean number of organisms per quadrat within first sample area

Question 5

Calculation

Answer 5

TOTAL number of organisms / number of quadrat

Question 6

Practical step 4 -5

Answer 6

4) repeat step 1-4 in second sample area
5) compare the two means

Question 7

You can also work out population of organisms

Answer 7

1) mean number of organisms per m2 then multiply mean by total area of habitat