HowBigisMyPopulation?

Goto:http://mathbench.umd.edu/modules/envscience_sampling/page01.htm
Name:GalileaPatricio
1:CountingBigPopulations:Howdoscientistsestimatethesizeofalargepopulation?
Scientistsareabletostatisticallyestimatethesizeofalargepopulationbytakingrandom
samples.

2:Samplingonagrid:Tocountthedandelions,we'llfirstcreateagrid,thenusethe
computer'srandomnumbergeneratortotelluswhichgridsquarestocount.We'lldothis
10times,because,asyou'llsee,thecountsinthedifferentgridsquareswillvaryalot.After
youcount10squares,you'llusetheaveragenumberpersquaretoestimatethepopulation
oftheentirelawn.

Howmanydandelionsarethereonthegrid?_____________
3:ScalingitUp:Whatdoesitmeanthatwescaleditup?
Scalingupisestimatingthesizeofanentireareabymultiplyingthenumberofsample
squarestotheaverageamountofwhatisbeingcountedwithinthesample.

4:KeepingitRandom:Whyisitimportanttorandomlyselectsegmentstocount?
Itisimportanttoselectrandomsegmentsinordertoprevent"experimentersbias"whichis
anexperimenterstendencytoselectasampleareathatismostconvenientforhimorher.

5:WhenSizeMatters:Whatisthesimplestwaytodeterminetheappropriatesample
size?
Thesimplestwaytodeterminetheappropriatesamplesizeistographarunningaverage.

6:BareBonesSampling:Whatisthedifferencebetweenmeasuringabundanceversus
Presence/absence?
Thedifferencebetweenmeasuringabundanceversuspresence/absenceis:abundanceis
theactualamountoftheorganismwhilepresence/absenceisdatacollectionthatcountsan
organismwhetheritisthereornot.

7:CollectingP/AData:CountingMoss..Howdoweestimatesamplesize?
Toestimatethesamplesizeofmoss,thep/acountingmethodisusedandrandom
individualpointsforsampling.

8:ImperviousSurface:Howdoweestimateimpervioussurface?Explain.
Impervioussurfaceisestimatedusingp/asampling.

9:GettingFancy:Whatarethestepsforconductingasimpletransect?
Thestepstoconductsimpletransectare:1.Firstselectarandomsamplingareaofthe
locationtobetested.
2.Chooseadirectiontobetestedrandomlyfromthechosensamplingarea.
3.Useatapemeasuretocreateatransect.
4.Choosewheredatawillbecollectedalongthetransect.
5.Setboundariesonceatransectisdetermined.

10:TryaTransect:
Summary:Explainwhatyoulearnedbydoingthisactivity
ThroughouttheactivityIlearnedtheimportanceofacquiringthecorrectsamplingsize.Ifa
samplesizeIstoolargethantheexperimentispointless.Asmallsamplesizewouldresult
ininaccuratedata.Theactivityalsopresentedthedifferentmethodstocalculatesamples
suchasabundanceandpresence/absencesampling.