Investigate the effect of caffeine on the heart rate of Daphnia

Dependent variable

Heart rate

Independent variable

Concentration of caffeine solution

Control variable

Temperature, species/age/sex/size of Daphnia, oxygen supply, pH, Volume of solution, time

Safety

If a stroboscope is used and you suffer from photosensitive epilepsy take appropriate precaution.

Ethical

Stress, pain, death, has right to live

Procedure

(1) Place a few strands of cotton wool on a cavity slide

(2) With a pipette transfer one large Dapphnia to the cavity slide and add one or two drops of
distilled water
(3) View the Daphnia under a microscope and focus on it’s heart
(4) Use a stopwatch to record the number of heart beats per minute by working in pairs (one
counting, one stopping). Do a blind study to avoid bias. Record the heart rate at intervals of 2
mins over a 10 mins period.
(5) Repeat 1-4 with other water fleas and fresh cavity slides but instead of using water use a 0.5
% caffeine solution. Repeat with 1%, 1.5% and 2% caffeine solution

Limitations

Hard to control environmental factors, hard to count heartbeat, genetic variety

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 1

Investigate the Vitamin C content of fruit juice

Dependent variable

Vitamin C content

Independent variable

% vitamin C solution, different fruit juices

Control variable

DCPIP concentration, DCPIP volume, concentration of vitamin C solution, use fresh juices, dilute Vit.C
solution of DCPIP decolourises too fast. Temperature, pH

Safety

DCPIP stains clothes so don’t spill it

Procedure

(1) With a pipette add 1 cm^3 of 1 % DCPIP solution into a test tube
(2) With a burette add 1 % Vitamin C solution drop by drop to the DCPIP shaking the tube gently
until the DCPIP decolourises. Record the volume of Vit.C solution that was added
(3) Repeat 1-2 3times and calculate a mean
(4) The 1 % Vit.C solution contains 10 mg of Vit.C in 1 cm^3. Calculate the mass of Vit.C required
to decolourise DCPI
(5) Repeat 1-3 using fruit juice you are testing for.
(6) Use the Value calculated in (4) to work out how much Vit.C the fruit juice contains in
mg/cm^3
(7) 0.6 cm^3 of 1% Vitamin C decolourises 1 cm^3 of 1% DCPIP. 1 cm^3 of 1 % Vitamin C
solution contains 10 mg of Vitamin C  6 mg of Vitamin C needed to decolourise 1 cm^3 of
DCPIP
6 mg / cm^3 juice required = content

Limitations

Pre-handling (storage), fruit juice is coloured so it’s hard to tell when it exactly decolourised, may
need less than a drop to decolourise

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 2

Effect of temperature on beetroot membrane

Dependent variable

Colour leaking out (% absorbance)

Independent variable

Temperature

Control variable

Size of cork borer, lengths of slices, lengths of time left in water bath, volume of water in boiling
tube, species/age of beetroot, part of beetroot

Safety

Take care using a cork borer and knife and water bath at high temperature

Procedure

(1) Cut 8 1cm slices from a single beetroot using a size 4 cork borer
(2) Place the slices in a beaker of distilled water. Leave overnight to wash away excess dye.
(3) Place 8 labelled boiling tube each containing 5 cm^3 distilled water into water bath at 0, 10,
20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 °C. Leave for 5 mins until water reaches required temperature.
(4) Place one of the sections into a of the boiling tubes and leave for 30 mins in water bath
(5) Remove beetroot by spearing with a pointed seeker to not squeeze it. Shake the solution to
disperse the dye.
(6) Switch on the colorimeter and set it to read 0% absorbance
(7) Set the filter dial to the blue/green filter
(8) With a pipette measure 2 cm^3 of distilled water into the cuvette without touching the
clouded side. Place the cuvette into colorimeter
(9) Adjust the colorimeter to read 0 absorbance for clear water
(10)Place 2 cm^3 of dye solution into a colorimeter cuvette and take reading for absorbency.
(11)Repeat 4-10 with the other temperatures

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 3

Effect of alcohol on beetroot membrane

Dependent variable

Colour leaking out (% absorbance)

Independent variable

Alcohol concentration

Control variable

Size of cork borer, lengths of slices, lengths of time left in water bath, volume of water in boiling
tube, species/age of beetroot, part of beetroot

Safety

Take care using a cork borer and knife and water bath at high temperature

Can stain clothes and skin

Procedure

(1) Cut 8 1cm slices from a single beetroot using a size 4 cork borer
(2) Place the slices in a beaker of distilled water. Leave overnight to wash away excess dye.
(3) Place one of the beetroot sections into a boiling tube containing 5 cm^3 distilled water.
(4) Leave for 30 mins
(5) Remove beetroot by spearing with a pointed seeker to not squeeze it. Shake the solution to
disperse the dye.
(6) Switch on the colorimeter and set it to read 0% absorbance
(7) Set the filter dial to the blue/green filter
(8) With a pipette measure 2 cm^3 of distilled water into the cuvette without touching the
clouded side. Place the cuvette into colorimeter
(9) Adjust the colorimeter to read 0 absorbance for clear water
(10) Place 2 cm^3 of dye solution into a colorimeter cuvette and take reading for absorbency.
(11) Repeat 3-10 with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 % alcohol solution instead of water

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 4

How protease concentration affects initial rate of casein breakdown

Dependent variable

Initial rate of reaction (absorbance/min)

Independent variable

Enzyme concentration

Control variable

Temperature, pH, substrate concentration, substrate volume, volume of protein solution

Procedure

(1) With a pipette add 2 cm^3 milk powder and 2 cm^3 of 0.5 % protease solution into a
cuvette. Mix and put it into a colorimeter and start stop watch.
(2) Measure absorbance at 1 min intervals for 5 mins
(3) Discard the content of the cuvette and rinse with distilled water
(4) Plot a graph of absorbance against time and determine initial rate
(5) Repeat 1-4 with 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 % enzyme concentration

Safety

All enzymes are potential allergens  no skin contact

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 5

How catalase concentration affects initial rate of hydrogen peroxide breakdown

Dependent variable

Initial rate of oxygen volume produced per time

Independent variable

Catalase concentration

Control variable

Length/thickness of potato disc, species/age of potato, pH 7, temperature of water bath,

volume/concentration of hydrogen peroxide

Safety

Hydrogen peroxide is corrosive so wear goggles and gloves

Control

0% catalase (no discs)

Procedure

1. Set up apparatus to collect oxygen over water with the collecting tube filled with water and
the screw clip closed
2. Cut 10 discs of potatoes each 0.2 mm thick. Place them in a boiling tube with 5 cm^3 of pH7
buffer solution
3. Add 5 cm^3 of 1 % hydrogen peroxide solution and immediately place bung and delivery
tube firmly into boiling tube. Place the other end of the delivery tube under the collecting
tube.
4. Start stop watch as soon as the first oxygen bubble enter the collecting tube. Collect any gas
produced in a 3 mins period
5. Wash boiling tube and repeat 1-4 with 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 potato discs.

Limitations

Some O2 might be stuck in test tube, different parts of potato have different catalase concentration,
not same width of discs

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 6

Observing mitosis using toluidine blue stain and garlic root tips

Control variable

Species/age of garlic roots, 1M HCl concentration

Safety

1M HCl is an irritant so wear goggles and gloves, toluidine blue is harmful if ingested and will stain
clothes

Procedure

1. Cut 1 cm from several root tips of garlic roots

2. Put root tips into small sample tube with 2 cm^3 1M HCl for 5 mins
3. Put root tips in a watch glass with 5 cm^3 cold water, leave 4-5 mins and let it dry on filter
paper
4. Transfer one of the tips to a clean microscope slide. Cut 2-3mm from rounded growing tips.
5. Gently break up the root tip with a mounted needle. Add 1 small drop of toluidine blue and
leave to stain for 2 mins
6. Cover with a cover slip and blot firmly with filter paper. Press gently to spread the root tip
7. View under microscope (*400 magnification) and observe

Limitations

Cells may be overlapping so hard to see, cells may be damaged

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 7

Demonstrating totipotency of plant cells

Independent variable

Seedlings removed parts

Dependent variable

Number of leaves/stem length

Control variables

Temp, time left, V of agar

Extracts: same size, age, species, pH, light intensity,

Safety

Careful when using knife, use aseptic techniques when preparing apparatus. When sugar/nutrients
added to agar pathogenic bacteria may grow don’t open test tube, autoclave

Procedure

1. Sprinkle 50 seeds of white mustard onto a damp sponge placed in a plastic tray, cover w/
transparent cling film and place into propagator to germinate. When seedlings start
unfolding cotyledons (seed leaves) – ready to culture
2. Add 2.5 g of agar powder to 250 cm^3 distilled water. Heat and stir until agar dissolves
3. Pour 2 cm depth into 30 short-necked test tubes and allow to cool and solidify
4. With scissors cut explants
5. Carefully push the cut end of the explants into the agar (one explant into each test tube)
6. Cover tubes with cling film and put into propagator
7. Observe daily, measure stem length before and after experiment, count numbers of leaves

Limitations

Diff to cut explants at same position,

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 8

Investigating plant mineral deficiency

Independent variable

Lacks of mineral ions

Dependent variable

Nr and colour of leaves, root length, stem length, mass

Control variable

Age, size, species, set up control w/ all minerals present

Procedure

1. Fill a tube w/ ‘all nutrient’ solution using a measuring cylinder

2. Ccover top of tubes in foil ynd push down on covering so that there is a ‘well’ in the centre
3. Make a small hole in the foil
4. Measure the length of the roots
5. Gently push plantlet roots through hole so it touches solution below
6. Repeat 1-5 using other solutions (measuring cylinder rinsed out between solutions)
7. Wrap tubes in aluminium foil and place them in holder
8. Place into propagator
9. Observe

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 9

Extracting fibres from plants

Independent variable

Type of fibre

Dependent variable

Tensile strength

Control variables

Length of fibre, diameter of fibre, age/species of plant, part you take fibres from, how long since
extraction, how weight is attached

Safety

Careful using scalpel, wash hands after handling soaked fibres

Procedure

1. Extract fibres from plants soaked in distilled water over night using scalpel  put them into
water until experiment or extract fresh fibres before each repeat
2. Place two clamp stand on table w/ 30 cm between each. Clamp one end of fibre on each
stand by wrapping them around one. Put hook into the middle of the fibre and add 10 g of
weight every 10 sec until fibre breaks. Record weight needed to break fibre.
3. Repeat 5 times for each type

Limitations

Hard to control diameter of fibres, tensile strength may be between 10 g

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 10

Antibacterial properties of plants

Independent variable

Type of plant

Dependent variable

Zone of inhibition

Control variable

Only soaked in ethanol

Safety

Methylated spirit toxic/highly flammable so not used when naked flames are in use, use aseptic
techniques (don’t open Petri dish w/ growing microorganism, only bin used Petri dishes after they
have been autoclaved)

Procedure

1. Put 15 cm^3 sterile nutrient agar into a test tube

2. Place tube into water bath at 97 °C so agar melts.
3. Remove tube using a cloth and allow agar to cool to 50°C
4. w/ pipette pour 1 cm^3 of bacterial broth into a sterile Petri dish using aseptic techniques
5. pour 15 cm^3 of molten agar into dish and replace the lid. Gently push plate back and forth
to mix
6. leave for an hour
7. obtain a plant extract by crushing 3g of plant material w/ 10 cm^3 of industrial Methylated
spirit and shake for 10 minutes (Methylated spirit kills any bacteria that might contaminate
the extract)
8. w/ pipette put 0.1 cm^3 of extract into 13mm Whatman antibiotic assay paper disc
9. let discs dry for 10 mins on open sterile Petri dish
10. repeat 1-9 using other plants
11. use sterile forceps to place test discs into bacterial plate together with suitable control per
plate
12. close Petri dish and tape around but not all around (could lead to growth of anaerobic
bacteria
13. incubate plates for 24 h at 25 °C
14. observe w/out opening plates (bacterial growth looks cloudy)
15. measure 3 diameters of inhibition (clear) zone and calculate a mean
16. don’t throw plates in bin(first autoclaved before thrown in dust bin)
17. wash hands thoroughly w/ soap and water

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 11

Study on ecology of a habitat

Procedure

1. plan how reliable/valid data will be collected to test hypothesis. Make following decisions:
 most appropriate sampling method used
 position/length of transect used
 size/nr/position of quadrats used
 species of plants/animals
 method used to measure abundance
 abiotic factor to record – which ones and what method used to measure them
 how data will be analysed
 how to avoid/minimise risks when completing fieldwork
2. collect data
3. present in appropriate way – for transect (line along which systematic records can be made)
data  kite diagram
4. analyse data to reveal patterns and relationships, significant differences, correlation
coefficients,
5. interpret results using biological principles and concepts, discuss limitations and
modifications

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 12

Effect of temperature on hatching success of brine shrimps

Independent variable

Temperature

Dependent variable

Nr of hatched eggs

Control variable

Age, species

Brine shrimps

Easy to obtain, simple nervous system, produce many eggs

Ethical issues

Shrimps may die after hatching, stress

Procedure

1. decide on range of temp.from 5 to 35 °C to be tested

2. place 2 g of sea salt into a 100 cm^3 beaker
3. add 100 cm^3 de-chlorinated water and stir until salt dissolves
4. label beaker w/ temp.at which it will be incubated
5. place tiny pinch of egg cysts onto large sheet of white paper
6. pour few drops of salt water on graph paper and dap paper onto white sheet to pick up
around 40 eggs using a magnifying glass to count them. Cut paper so exactly 40
7. put paper into beaker. After 3 mins use pair of forceps to gently remove paper, making sure
all egg cysts have washed off into water
8. repeat 2-7 for other temps
9. repeat 2-8 several times
10. incubate beaker at all temp
11. next day count nr of hatched larvae placing a bright light next to beaker (any larvae will swim
towards light). Using fine glass pipette catch brine shrimp and place into small beaker of salt
water
12. repeat 11 daily for several days
13. release young shrimps into salt water aquarium
14. record results

Limitations

Some may not swim towards light, some eggs not visible, hard to control environmental conditions,
hard to control genetic diversity

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 13

How PCR amplifies DNA

Procedure

1. DNA primers (short sequence of polynucleotides which are complementary to unknown DNA strand.
Required for polymerase to bind and catalyse) are marked w/ fluorescent tags and the sample is
placed in a reaction tube containing DNA polymerase, primers and nucleotides. Tube
undergoes a cycle of temperatures

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 14

Gel electrophoresis

Procedure

1. double stranded DNA is cut into fragments by restriction endonucleases

2. DNA fragments pipette into well of an agaros gel in a tank
3. Gel is submerged in a buffer solution and connected to electrodes producing a potential
difference across the gel  neg charged DNA fragments move to pos electrode relative to
their size (fragment lengths measure in base pairs, smaller travel further). Fragments
separate into visible bands
4. Gel is fragile
 Southern blotting: DNA is transferred onti a nylon membrane by placing it directly onto
gel and a wad of dry absorbent paper on top drawing up buffer solution carrying DNA
fragments up onto membrane – separate into single strannds
5. Incubate membrane w/ excess of labelled DNA probe (complementary to target DNA) – any
unbound probes are then washed away (radioactive, fluorescent)
6. Compare bands to other DNA profile on X-ray/under UV-loght

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 15

Effect of different antibiotics on bacteria

Independent variable

Type of antibiotic

Dependent variable

Diameter of inhibition zone

Control variable

Temperature, time incubated, concentration of antibiotic used, nutrients in agar

Safety

Eye protection, use aseptic techniques when transferring bacteria to Petri dish, clean bench w/
antibacterial disinfectant, don’t open Petri dish when incubated, wash hands after handling
equipment w/ bacterial soap

Procedure

1. wash hands w/ bactericidal soap. Spray working area w/ disinfectant spray and wipe w/
paper towel after waiting for disinfectant to act
2. prepare agar plate seeded w/ bacteria
3. Sterilise forceps by flaming them and allow to cool. Pick up disc and soak into antibiotic for 2
minutes. Dry (ethanol before and control)  use forceps to put discs onto agar plates  only
lift lid so far to put in the disc. Place firmly onto agar and evenly spaced between discs (3
types and control)
Suitable control would be paper disc soaked in water
4. Tape dish w/ two pieces of adhesive tape and incubate upside down for 48 h at 30 °C
5. Wash hand w/ bactericidal soap and clean bench again
6. After incubation measure 3 diameters of inhibition zone and calculate mean (bacterial
growth is opaque, if antibiotic had effect  inhibition zone is clear
7. Measure diameter of inhibition zone in mm

Limitations

Bacteria may not be evenly spread on agar, some antibiotics smaller molecule so diffuse faster and
further.

Control variable

Size of disc, use control disc, temperature, humidity, use same concentration of antibiotic

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 16

Rate of uptake of oxygen in respiration and rate of respiration

Dependent variable

O2 volume

Control variable

Age, mass, length, sex, species of maggots

V of coloured liquids, temperature

Safety

Eye protection and use spatula when handling soda lime (corrosive)

Procedure

1. Assemble apparatus – use manometer (Druckemessgerät) and syringe draw small volume of
paraffin (cloured liquid) so that’s free from bubbles (should come half way up each side)

2. Place 5 g of maggots into wire basket and insert into boiling tube + replace bung. Place 5 g of
dead organism into other wire basket and insert into tube B
3. Mark starting position of fluid on manometer w/ pen
4. Immerse boiling tubes into water bath and leave for 10 mins
5. Set syringe at 0.5 cm^3 mark
6. Close connection to syringe and atmosphere and immediately start stop watch. Mark
position of fluid on manometer at 1 min intervals for 5 mins
7. Then push syringe plunger so that coloured fluid moves back to starting point. Record
volume on syringe minus star 0.5 cm^3 mark and calculate V of oxygen used
8. Open connection to air
9. Measure distance travelled by liquid during each minute
10. Calculate mean rate of oxygen uptake during 5 mins
11. Repeat 10 times
12. Volume used = distance moved * r^2 * pi

Limitations

Air pressure may move liquid  set up control and substract movement of liquid

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 17

Lung volumes and rate of breathing

Using spirometer

Independent variable

Exercise, no exercise

Dependent variable

Breaths/min

Procedure

1. Put on noseclip, wait 10 min (acclimatisation)

2. Water tank w7 soda lime lid and fixed V of O2. Lid moves up  breath in, lid moves down 
breathed out. Pen record changes in V as lid moved up and down

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 18

Habituation of snails to a stimulus

Independent variable

Time/repeats of stimulus, nr of stimulations

Dependent variable

Time of habituation/eye-stalk re-emerged

Control variable

Temp, light intensity, o2 availability, size, age, variety

Safety

Wash hand after touching snail, take care stimulus doesn’t harm snail

Procedure

1. Collect one giant African land snail and place on a clean, firm surface. Wait few mins until
snail immerged from its shell
2. Dampen a cotton wool bud w/ water
3. Firmly touch snail w/ bud between eye stalks w/ cotton wool bud and immediately star stop
watch. Measure length of time between touch and snail being full emerged from its shell w/
eye stalks fully extended
4. Repeat 3 for 10 touches, timing how long snail re-emerge each time
5. Record results
6. Write null hypothesis
7. Complete a Spearman’s rank correlation test to determine significant correlation
8. Use table of critical value to accept/reject null hypothesis. If calculated value < critical value
 null hypothesis accepted
9. Write statistical conclusion

Limitations

Hard to tell when full re-emerged, hard to tell how much pressure to put on and controlling it

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 19

Effect of temperature on seed germination

Independent variable

Range of diff temp

Dependent variable

Nr of germinating seeds

Control variable

Time left, pH, Co2 level, water, age, size, variety

Procedure

1. Collect seeds from same parent, plant

2. Put 10 seeds on cotton wool dampened w/ a fixed volume of water and buffer solution
3. Distribute seeds evenly and put into a propagator at 10 °C. Leave for two weeks and water
again carefully
4. Count number of successfully germinated seeds (cotyledons unfolded)
5. Repeat using temps: 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 °C

Limitations

When re-watering it might change temp, hard to control all env. Factors, previous plant treatment
not controlled

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 20

Presenting Data – Graphs

Pie charts

 Used to display data that are proportions or %

 Need a title and a key

Bar charts

 Used when independent variable is non-numerical or discontinuous

 E.g diff stages of mitosis
 Bars shouldn’t touch

Histogram

 Used when independent variable is numerical and data are continuous but classified into
groups
 E.g nr of leaves of diff lengths

Line graphs

 Used to show relationships in data which are not immediately obvious from tables

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 21

SI Units

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 22

 STATISTICS

Descriptive statistics

 Mean or median
 Tell sth about set of data

Hypothesis testing statistics

 E.g t-test or chi-squared test

 Compare sets of data

Null hypothesis

 Statement that sais there is no significant difference between two sets of data

1. Find calculated value (number calculated from data using diff tests)
2. Obtain a table of critical values. Extract the critical value that applies to your
combination of circumstances. The smaller the % significance level you pick, the
more certain you will be that you are correct in rejecting null hypothesis. Generally
5% significance level fine
3. Compare calculated and critical value and reject/ accept null hypothesis

Data

Interval data

 You have two sets of data and can say by how much bigger/smaller one is
 E.g length

Ordinal data

 The numerical value gives relative position in a series but does not tell you about the size of
interval between measurements
 E.g you can say X is shorter than Y but not by how much
 Devise a scale
e.g 1=very small, 2=small, 3= medium etc..

Categorical data

 Comprise counts of things in categories

 E.g some animals have X and other Y – now you can count frequency of occurrence in each
type ( frequency of X=20 of Y= 21

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 23

The Tests

T-test

 Tells you if means of two sets of normally distributes (=symmetrical about mean), unmatched
(not associated), continuous data w/ interval level measurements are significantly different
to one another
 Null hypothesis – no significant differences between means of the two sets of data
 E.g comparing mean masses of plants frown w/ and w/out fertilisers

Spearman’s rank correlation test

 Whether two variables are correlated

 Use on interval or ordinal data, data in matched pairs (X associated w/ Y)
 Null hypothesis – no correlation between two variables
 E.g is there a correlation between temp and height of mountain

X^2 (Chi-squared test)

 Shows if observed set of data (categorical) differs significantly from what we might expect,
given our null hypothesis
 Null hypothesis – no significant diff between observed and expected frequencies
 E.g are fruit flies in lab heterozygous?, do snails actively select specific microhabitats?

Mann-Whitney U test

 Test for differences between population medians

 Used in interval or ordinal level data that are unmatched
 Null hypothesis – no significant diff between medians of 2 populations
 E.g median body masses of X and Y

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 24

Satistics overview

Differences (two sites, populations, treatment)

 Plot data as histogram

 Plot median/mean as bar chart
 Null hypothesis:
a. Mann – Whitney U test (sample size – 6-15, comparison of median)
If smallest U calculated </= to U critical  H0 rejected at 5 % significance level
b. T-test (sample size > 15 and normally distributed, comparison of mean)
If t calc > that t crit  H0 rejected at 5%
Correlation (pos + neg, relationships)
 Plot scatter graph – line of best fit
a. Spearman’s rank correlation test
The closer r is to +1 and -1 the stonger correlation
Perfect pos - +1
Perfect neg - -1
Null hypothesis: if Rs calc > than Rs crit  H0 rejected at 5%significance level ( =95%
confidence level)
Association (significant diff between observed and expected value)
a. Chi-squared test
Degrees of freedom = nr of phenotypes (samples) -1
Null hypothesis: if x^2 calc > than x^2 crit  H0 rejected at 5 %

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 25

Ecological sampling

Random sampling
 measure % cover and frequency
 allows unbiased sample to be taken
 pull the numbers from hat or generate by calculator
 random numbers used as coordinates
 Using a grid:
1. Tape measures put on ground at right angle of each other
2. Use pair of numbers as coordinates to locate sampling positions – 1st random nr gives
position on first tape, 2nd on 2nd tape
3. Fixed objects measured e.g nr of trees  random nr to select which trees sampled
Systematic sampling
 Measure effect of a factor on distribution of organism
 If cond change across habitat transect line is used
 Tape measure laid across habitat along which samples are taken
 Sample points at regular intervals
 Or sample points positioned in relation to some morphological feature

Quadrats

 Used for sampling plant communities, slow moving or stationary animals

 To find out optimum nr of quadrats required, record nr of species in each quadrat and plot
cumulative results against nr of quadrats until sampling until sampling additional quadrats
doesn’t substantially increase the nr of species recorded
 Frame quadrat
 Square (usually 0.25m^2 / 50cm*50cm) subdivided into 25 squares (10cm*10cm)
 Abundance w/in quadrat estimated (random or systematic sampling)


 Point quadrat frame
 Enables pins to be lowered onto ground
 Each species touched is recorded as a hit
 % cover = (hits*100) / (hits+misses)

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 26

Methods of measuring abundance

 Density
Counts number of individuals in several quadrats and takes mean to give nr/unit area(e.g
m^2). Only if individuals can be distinguished
 Frequency
Number or % of sampling units in which a particular species occurs
e.g X recorded in 10 out of 25 squares  percentage frequency = 40%
 Percentage cover
% of ground covered by species w/in quadrats
Count nr of squares w/in quadrat that plant completely covers
Count those that are only partly covered
Estimate total nr of full squares that would be completely covered
 Pitfall trap
Animals that occur on soil surface

 Pooter
Animals in vegetation, sampled directly or indirectly after being knocked from the vegetation
onto white sheet)

 Tullgren funnel
Insects found in leaf litter

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 27

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 28
 Measuring abiotic factors when sampling the environment
 Angle of slope – using clinometer
 Aspect – use compass
 Temp – use thermometer / temp probe
 Light – use light meter
 O2 concentration – oxygen probes in aquatic systems
 Humidity – use whirling hygrometer. Needs to be spun for 60 sec above vegetation just
before readings taken from wet and dry thermometer and used to determine humidity from
calibration scale

 Conductivity – ability of water sample to carry an electric current gives a measure of

dissolved mineral salts. Pure water—0 conductivity, as ion increase conductivity increases
 Soil water – sample of soil is dried at 110 °C until no further loss in mass
% soil moisture = ((mass of fresh soil – mass of dry soil)*100) / mass of fresh soil
 Soil organic matter – dry soil sample of known mass is heated in a crucible for 15 mins to
burn off all organic matter. Mass is re-measured after soil sample has cooled
% organic matter = ((mass of dry soil – mass of burnt soil)*100) / mass of dry soil
 pH  universal indicator/pH meter used after mixing a soil sample w/ water

Biology Unit 6 Summary Seite 29