Unit D – Living Systems Chapter 1 The biosphere of Life Section 1.4 Conducting a field study

Summary of Terms

Field Study

Purpose of a Field Study to examine abiotic and biotic factors to collect qualitative and quantitative data qualitative data types of organisms descriptions of habitat weather observations (sunny or cloudy, quantitative data weather measurements (temperature, humidity) water conditions (temperature, pH) population density

Part A: Preparing the site A field study requires a careful examination of an aquatic or terrestrial ecosystem An ecosystem can be a big undefined area, so setting limits and dividing it up makes studying the ecosystem possible Dividing up the ecosystem in a systematic way yields more accurate results than data obtained from random sampling

Part A: Preparing the site The first step of a field study is preparing the site first a base line is established parallel to a boundary like the shore of a pond shorter lines called transects run perpendicular to the base line these two sets of lines create sections each group will be responsible for one section

Part A: Preparing the Site

Part B: Collecting Data example data collected from terrestrial environment types of animals density of forest weather (cloud cover, wind speed, etc.) example data collected from aquatic environment water quality (pH, temperature) aquatic animals, plants

Part C: Analysis & Evaluation analysis of abiotic and biotic factors analysis of trophic levels generation of energy pyramid creation of a food web comparison of data obtained in each transect