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Virtual lab

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F2F lab

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Why not try the updated version of this resource, which looks at the difference between two differently managed grasslands at the Waun Las National Nature Reserve?
This online ecology practical exercise uses random sampling to measure the abundance of various different species on an area of grassland.

The resources are intended to help students develop skills and plant identification techniques before going out into the field, rather than to replace fieldwork.
Objectives
To give students practice at:

using random sampling to measure the abundance of various different species on an area of grassland.

To give an opportunity to explore two different measures of abundance:

density: the number of individual plants per quadrat or per unit area

frequency: the proportion of quadrats each species occurs in

The site chosen
The grassland contains a small number of easily identifiable species. The sampling area is relatively small, making it possible to take a reasonable sample using 25cm x 25 cm quadrats (i.e. at sampling at least 2% of the total area). The small quadrat enables us to provide a close up image of the whole quadrat allowing identification of individual species.
Resources
1. 'Lawn survey - area being sampled'- an aerial view of the piece of grassland being sampled in this exercise. This is 5 m x 5 m. Tapes have been laid along two edges divided into 0.25 m intervals which are the length of one side of the quadrat being used. Follow the link to view this.

10 pairs of random intervals are placed alongside this.

2. 'Lawn quadrats' - 10 quadrats each supplied as a separate image. Each is hot linked to one of the pairs of coordinates given above.

3. 'ID and recording tables' - Tables supplied for recording results (either as density, or as frequency) together with images and names of each of the species likely to be seen. No attempt has been made to separate the grass species but Perennial rye-grass Lolium perenne is the most common species. Download these from the links on the right.
Suggestions for carrying out the exercise Introduction
Explore the students' ideas about how they would go about measuring the abundance of different species in an area of grassland.

What they would measure
How they would sample

Explain the principle of random sampling and how it is done in practice. Relate this to how it is going to be done in this exercise. Explain how the sampling interval is related to the quadrat size.
Practical
1. Allocate each pair or small group of students a pair of random intervals and ask them to find their quadrat. Give them a species identification (density) results table.

Ask them to try and measure density i.e. the number of plants of one or two species e.g. the number of clover plants, the number of daisy plants, in their quadrat. (You may want to put in a bit of time to practise identification).

2. They will soon see that this is difficult. In addition you can show them how many leaves like white clover, are linked by horizontal creeping stems. It is difficult to define what an individual plant is and this measure, density, gives you no indication of the size of the plants.

A better measure is frequency (the number of quadrats which each species occurs in.) This is related both to the number of plants and their size and therefore is ecologically more meaningful.

3. To measure frequency, ask them to record the presence or absence of each species in their quadrat. Using a species identification (frequency) results table. Collate results for the 10 quadrats (using a simple spreadsheet) and calculate the percentage frequency for each species - the number of times present out of 10 x 100.

4. You may wish to discuss the measurement of cover (the area of ground covered by each species). This can be measured using point quadrats or is often estimated visually. Measuring frequency usually gives a more reliable result than visual estimation of cover.
Footnote
Random sampling is a way of eliminating personal choice in the selection of a sample. Every part of your sample area should have an equal chance of being sampled every time you go to take a sample. For this reason the sampling interval should be the same size as the quadrat. For example in this exercise the quadrat is 25 cm x 25 cm and the tapes along the two sides of the plot are therefore divided into 25 cm intervals.

The co-ordinates of pairs of randomly selected intervals determine the quadrat positions.

To create random intervals the simplest way is to write the 0.25 intervals from 0-10 on pieces of paper and draw them out of a hat. Note replace each piece of paper before drawing out the next.

In practice particularly when working under difficult conditions (torrential rain!!) or with younger students one concentrates on eliminating personal choice. In this case the surveyors find their co-ordinates by walking along the tapes the number of paces indicated by the random numbers rather than measuring intervals along the tape.

Note throwing quadrats is not random sampling and at best eliminates a certain amount of personal choice!

For more information about quadrats and sampling see 'Questions about quadrats' OSMOSIS 25 Spring 2004

For practical fieldwork ideas and information look at the Online Resources on the Field Studies Council website - http://www.field-studies-council.org/resources/

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Ecology Practical 1 - Measuring abundance and random sampling

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A simple onine ecology practical exercise, giving students an opportunity to practice random sampling to measure the abundance of various different species on an area of grassland, before they carry out practical fieldwork. Students will look at images of quadrats, identify the plants and measure the abundance.

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Student project

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Group activity good for F2F instruction. Teacher prep required to cut cards.

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Virtual lab

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Island Biogeography - Virtual Biology Lab

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Use Models 2 and 3 to measure stream and plant diversity respectively

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A Reflection of Health

The concept of "biological diversity" is multifaceted and complex. It includes the concept of species diversity, or the total of all species in a given area or habitat, but can also refer to genetic diversity within a species. Biodiversity can even refer to the diversity of habitats in a given region. Biodiversity is important as it reflects the environmental health of a species, region, or habitat. On a global scale, biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate, largely due to habitat destruction. In this section there are models that explore biodiversity equilibrium, and provide data for various estimates of biodiversity.

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Biodiversity Ecology - Virtual Biology Lab

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The concept of "biological diversity" is multifaceted and complex. It includes the concept of species diversity, or the total of all species in a given area or habitat, but can also refer to genetic diversity within a species. Biodiversity can even refer to the diversity of habitats in a given region.

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Virtual lab

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Natural Selection in Mussels - Jon Darkow

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Teach system dynamics of biology and ecology phenomena.

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How Organisms Respond to Changes in Abiotic Factors

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How Organisms Respond to Changes in Abiotic Factors

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Requires flash. Virtual lab

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Game about primary and secondary succession

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Succession Interactive!

Topics Covered: Ecological succession, Primary succession, Secondary succession, abiotic and biotic factors, pioneer species, critical thinking, graph analysis, NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards), pheonomena. For NGSS, see LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience specifically.

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Video computer games, virtual labs and activities for learning and reviewing biology content. Great for students and teachers.

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Dunes 101: Environment and Ecology | Indiana Dunes Country

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Use Models 3 and 4

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An Economic Approach

This practical application of ecology is what the general public tends to think of when they hear the word "ecology." This is an incomplete definition, but is understandable given that conservation ecology includes such critical issues as endangered species protection, habitat destruction, and climate change. Right now humans are one of the most successful species ever on the planet, with the population growing exponentially, and ranging across most of the globe. Along with our success, however, we are changing the environment quickly and drastically. As a result, the extinction rate of other species may be at an all-time high. In this section, models explore some of the ecological and economic principles that affect how we approach conservation.

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This practical application of ecology is what the general public tends to think of when they hear the word "ecology." This is an incomplete definition, but is understandable given that conservation ecology includes such critical issues as endangered species protection, habitat destruction, and climate change.

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Virtual lab

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Evolution of Populations: Genetic Drift, Natural Selection, and Mutations - Jon Darkow

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Teach system dynamics of biology and ecology phenomena.

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Worksheet that students can submit thru the HUB

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Data Nugget case study on mutualism breakdown

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The activities are as follows:

When two species do better when they cooperate than they would on their own, the relationship is called a mutualism. One example of a mutualism is the relationship between a type of bacteria, rhizobia, and legume plants. Legumes include plants like peas, beans, soybeans, and clover. Rhizobia live in bumps on the legume roots, where they trade their nitrogen for sugar from the plants. Rhizobia fix nitrogen from the air into a form that plants can use. This means that legumes that have rhizobia living in their roots can get more nitrogen than those that don't.

Under some conditions, this mutualism can break down. For example, if one of the traded resources is very abundant in the environment. When the plant doesn't need the nitrogen traded by rhizobia, it doesn't trade as many sugars to the rhizobia. This could cause the rhizobia to evolve to be less cooperative as well. Less-cooperative rhizobia may be found where the soil already has lots of nitrogen. These less-cooperative bacteria are freeloaders: they fix less nitrogen, but still get sugars from the plant and other benefits of living in nodules on their roots.

One very important legume crop species is the soybean. Soybeans are used to produce vegetable oil, tofu, soymilk, and many other food products. Soybeans trade with rhizobia for nitrogen, but often farmers add more nitrogen into the field as fertilizer. Since farms use a lot of nitrogen fertilizer, researchers at KBS were interested in how different types of farming affected the plant-rhizobia mutualism.

They grew soybean plants in a greenhouse and added rhizobia from three different farms: a high N farm, low N farm, and organic farm that used no N fertilizer. After four weeks, the researchers measured chlorophyll content of the soybean plants. Healthy plants that have lots of nitrogen will have high chlorophyll content, and plants with not enough nitrogen will have low chlorophyll content. Because high nitrogen could lead to the evolution of less-cooperative rhizobia, they expected that rhizobia from organic plots would be most cooperative. They predicted rhizobia from high N plots would be the least cooperative, and rhizobia from low N plots would fall somewhere in the middle. More-cooperative rhizobia provide more nitrogen, so the researchers expected plants grown with cooperative rhizobia to have higher chlorophyll content than plants receiving less-cooperative rhizobia.
Featured scientist: REU Jennifer Schmidt from the Kellogg Biological Station Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 10.1 For more information on the evolution of cheating rhizobia, check out these popular science articles: If you are interested in performing your own classroom experiment using the plant-rhizobium mutualism, check out this paper published in the American Biology Teacher describing methods and a proposed experimental design: Suwa and Williamson 2014

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Fair traders or freeloaders? | Data Nuggets

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The activities are as follows: When two species do better when they cooperate than they would on their own, the relationship is called a mutualism. One example of a mutualism is the relationship between a type of bacteria, rhizobia, and legume plants. Legumes include plants like peas, beans, soybeans, and clover.

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Data Nugget case study on biogeo

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The activities are as follows:

For most of our existence, humans have lived in rural, natural places. However, more and more people continue to move into cities and urban areas. The year 2008 marked the first time ever in human history that the majority of people on the planet lived in cities. The movement of humans from rural areas to cities has two important effects. First, the demand that people place on the environment is becoming very intense in certain spots. Second, for many people, the city is becoming the main place where they experience nature and interact with wildlife on a regular basis.

Remington and Grant are city-dwellers and have been their entire lives. Remington grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Grant is from Cleveland, Ohio. In Tulsa, Remington fell in love with nature while running on the trails of city parks during cross country and track practices. Grant developed a love for nature while fishing and hiking in the Cleveland Metroparks in Ohio. These experiences led them to study wildlife found in urban environments because they believe that cities can be places where both humans and wildlife thrive. However, to make this belief a reality, scientists must understand how wildlife are using habitats within a city. This knowledge will provide land managers the information they need to create park systems that support all types of species. However, almost all research done on wildlife takes place in natural areas, like national parks, so there is currently very little known about wildlife habits in urban areas. To address this gap in knowledge, Remington, Grant, and their colleagues conduct ecological research on the urban wildlife populations in the Cleveland Metroparks.

The Cleveland Metroparks are a collection of wooded areas that range in size, usage, and maintenance. Some are highly used small parks with mowed grass, while others are large, rural parks with thousands of acres of forest and miles of winding trails. As they began studying the Metroparks, they noticed the parks were like little "islands" of wildlife habitat within a large "sea" of buildings, pavement, houses and people. This reminded Remington and Grant of a fundamental theory in ecology: the theory of island biogeography. This theory has two components: size and isolation of islands. The first predicts that larger islands will have higher biodiversity because there are more resources and space to support more wildlife than smaller areas. The second is that islands farther away from the mainland will have lower biodiversity because more isolated islands are harder for wildlife to reach. Remington and Grant wondered if they could address this first component in the wide variety of areas that are part of the Cleveland Metroparks. If the theory holds for the Metroparks, it could help them to figure out where most species live in the park system and help managers better maximize biodiversity. It would also provide an important link between ecological research conducted in natural areas and urban ecology.

To evaluate whether the theory of island biogeography holds true in urban areas, Remington and Grant set up 104 wildlife cameras throughout the parks. These cameras photograph animals when triggered by motion. They used these photographs to identify the locations of wildlife in the parks and to get a count of how many individuals there are, known as their abundance. With these data, they tested whether the size of the park would influence biodiversity as predicted by the theory of island biogeography.

One challenge with measuring "biodiversity" is that it means different things to different people. Remington and Grant looked at two common measurements of biodiversity. First, species richness, which is the number of different species observed in each park. Second, they calculated the Shannon Wiener Index of biodiversity for each park. This index incorporates both species richness and species evenness. Species evenness tells us whether the abundances of each species are similar, or if one type is most common and the others are rare. Evenness is important because it tells you whether a park has lots of animals from many different species or if most animals are from a single species. If a park has greater evenness of species, the Shannon-Wiener index will be higher.
Featured scientists: Remington Moll and Grant Woodard from Michigan State University Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 11.4 Additional teacher resource related to this Data Nugget:
About Remington: Remington is a Ph.D. student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at Michigan State University in Dr. Bob Montgomery's lab. Prior to Michigan State, Remington received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Missouri, where he worked with Dr. Josh Millspaugh. Following his M.S., he spent time in Amman, Jordan doing work with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and spent three years teaching high school biology, chemistry, and theology at the Beirut Baptist School in Lebanon.

He uses cutting-edge technologies such as GPS collars and camera-traps to study predator-prey interactions between large carnivores and their prey. He is particularly excited about evaluating how ecological theory developed in "natural" areas like national parks applies to urban contexts. Remington grew up in the city and fell in love with nature and ecology in city parks. Although it carries substantial challenges, Remington believes that humans and large predators can peaceably coexist, even in and around cities. It is his goal to use the lessons learned in his research to help make that belief a reality.

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City parks: wildlife islands in a sea of cement | Data Nuggets

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The activities are as follows: For most of our existence, humans have lived in rural, natural places. However, more and more people continue to move into cities and urban areas. The year 2008 marked the first time ever in human history that the majority of people on the planet lived in cities.

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Gives the class a chance to go outside!

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Pillbug can be substituted with other organism of choice.