ECOLOGICAL SAMPLING
METHODS
INTRODUCTION
• Ecology is sometimes defined as a measure of
the distribution and abundance of organisms.
• Often it is impractical to examine an entire population
• Instead, we select a sample from our population of interest
and, on the basis of this sample, information about the
entire population will be inferred.
• Organisms sampled may be either mobile or immobile.
QUADRATS
IMMOBILE
ORGANISMS
TRANSECT
S
MOBILE • CAPTURE-MARK-RELEASE-RECAPTURE
ORGANISMS METHOD
QUADRATS
• The quadrat method has been widely used in plant studies. A quadrat is a
four-sided figure which delimits the boundaries of a sample plot. The term
quadrat is used more widely to include circular plots and other shapes.
• Quadrats are square frames of wire usually 0.25 m2. These are placed on
the ground to look at the plants or slow-moving animals within them. When
looking at plants in a quadrat the following sampling can be used:
• Number of an individual species: the total number of individuals of one
species (eg daisies) is recorded.
• Species richness: the number of different plant or animal species is recorded
but not the number of individuals within a species.
• Percentage cover: the percentage of the quadrat area that is covered by one
species (eg grass). This is easier to estimate if a quadrat has wires making
smaller sections. Percentage cover rather than number of individuals is used
when estimating plant frequencies if it is difficult to identify individual
plants, such as grasses or moss.
ADVANTAGES OF QUADRATS
• Quadrats allow researchers to study plant and animal populations spread out over large
areas.
• They are inexpensive, relatively easy to design and adaptable for studying unevenly
distributed populations. Quadrats work well for observing changes to whole populations
over time, including distribution patterns, nesting and overall health.
• Plants, slow-moving animals and faster-moving animals with a small range (like insects) are
ideally suited for quadrat studies. For example, ants move fairly quickly but always
organize around a stationary ant hill. Quadrats are useful for studying both the distribution
of ant hills within a larger area and ant behaviour within the sample area.
• Compared to other sampling methods, quadrats are relatively simple to use. Quadrat plots
are uniform in size and shape and distributed randomly throughout the sample area, which
makes the study design straightforward.
• In general, quadrat sampling is less harmful to most species when compared with other
methods- so long as the study occurs in the field.
DISADVANTAGES OF QUADRATS
• Quadrat sampling is not useful for studying very fast-moving animals who will
not stay within the quadrat boundaries.
• Quadrat sampling can be physically demanding, however, since researchers
usually count the individuals within each plot in the field.
• Despite the relative ease of designing quadrat studies, it is possible to introduce
errors into a project. Quadrats that are too large, too small or spaced
inappropriately often result in errors. For example, larger species require larger
plots. Randomly spaced quadrats that are too small might miss too many
individuals, resulting in under-representative estimates of population size.
Researchers who are inconsistent when counting or omit species that lie only
partially within the boundaries may also introduce errors.
H OW TO SAMPLE
U SING QUA DRATS
LINE TRANSECTS
• A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the
objects of study (e.g. plants).
• A LINE transect A tape or string laid along the ground in a straight line
between two poles as a guide to a sampling method used to measure the
distribution of organisms.
• Sampling is rigorously confined to organisms that are actually touching the
line.
• Sometimes quadrats can be used as well to sample along the line.
HOW TO USE
A LINE
TRANSECT
BELT TRANSECTS
* Belt transects are used in biology to
estimate the distribution of organisms in
relation to a certain area, such as the
seashore or a meadow.
• The belt transect method is similar to
the line transect method but gives
information on abundance as well as
presence, or absence of species.
• The belt transect method is used when
there is a gradual change from one side
of a habitat to another, like the change
in light between the outer edges of a
forest to the centre.
CAPTURE, MARK, RELEASE,
RECAPTURE
• Mark and recapture is a method commonly used in ecology to estimate an animal
population’s size where it is impractical to count every individual.
• A portion of the population is captured, marked, and released.
• Later, another portion will be captured and the number of marked individuals within the
sample is counted.
• Since the number of marked individuals within the second sample should be proportional to
the number of marked individuals in the whole population, an estimate of the total population
size can be obtained by dividing the number of marked individuals by the proportion of
marked individuals in the second sample. T
• he method is most useful when it is not practical to count all the individuals in the population.
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF
THIS METHOD?