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LAB: Sampling the Diversity of Life

By: Jamie Kim

Partners: Tracy Savery

Tamara Mostarac

Hyunji Shin

PURPOSE:

To collect and identify living organisms using appropriate sampling techniques and equipment using a study site in a natural area and one impacted by humans.

MATERIALS:

-6 Jars (no lids)

-1 Net

-4 Stakes (4 pencils)

-1 Meter stick

-1 Camera

-4 Pairs of Gloves

PROCEDURE:

1. In a natural region, decide on a suitable sampling location to conduct your study. Your study site should be at least 4m x 4m.

2. Perform your field work using the techniques your group decided on prior to the lab.

3. Record the time and location of the specimens you collect, noting any unusual circumstances.When possible, consider photographing or sketching the specimens and releasing them unharmed.

4. Use the field guides and/or dichotomous keys to identify your specimens to the lowest taxa you can.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the study site that has been impacted by humans.

OBSERVATIONS:

*refer to document file called, "Biodiversity Final Project".

ANALYSIS

QUESTION 1:

The differences between the study sites were that a greater variety and number of organisms was found in the natural study site, in comparison to the site that has been affected by humans, meaning that the natural study site had the higher level of biodiversity. In the natural study site, 14 different types of organisms were found, but in the football field, only 10 were found. Some potential causes of why the human-affected site might have an insignificant level of biodiversity are the following.

1. HABITAT DESTRUCTION: Habitat destruction is a major cause of the loss of biodiversity in the human-affected site. The grass of football fields are frequently mowed to ensure that turf grass is at proper height for individuals to play sports on, and football fields usually take up more than 100 yards of natural land. In the process of creating one, single football field, more than 100 yards of Canada’s precious land and organisms are being destroyed and decimated. As natural grassland is converted to urban areas and other human usages such as football fields, habitat is lost for forest organisms. Organisms are exposed to more danger than they were before, as they no longer have shelter for basic life functions such as, reproduction and survival. For instance, if the long grass was a location for miniscule organisms to hide from predators, and the long grass was cut short, the predators would have a great advantage and will easily be able to hunt and eat the small organisms.

Not only is there a loss of native habitat due to the creating of football fields, humans use pesticides and herbicides to eliminate unwanted pests and weeds.

2. USE OF HARMFUL CHEMICALS: When applied to grass or plants, pesticides and herbicides do not stay in one place. Their particles fly through the air when they are smeared, eventually sinking into the soil. The chemicals can then be carried away with runoff water, often into rivers and oceans, where they can kill several aquatic plants and animals. Another disadvantage the use of pesticides and herbicides has on biodiversity can be seen in the natural food chain. Foods can be directly contaminated through application or can transmit the pesticide and its residues through the food chain. For instance, when pesticides and herbicides are sprayed on pests or weeds, certain organisms will consume them for a daily source of energy, and then the predators of these organisms will eat them. It gradually travels up and is accumulated along the food chain, as clueless predators continue to eat their pesticide-affected prey.

QUESTION 2

All organisms have different physical characteristics such as size, colour, mobility, and habitats, therefore, it is necessary to use a wide variety of sampling techniques. This is because by having different types of sampling techniques allows for us to use appropriate methods to capture certain types of organisms. For instance, a net allows us to catch organisms that have wings to fly, effortlessly. And jars allow us to keep and capture certain animals from escaping.

Materials Used:

-jars (without lids)

-a camera to take photographs of organisms

-a meter stick to measure 4m by 4m quadrat

-scooper that allowed us to dig further into the soil and find more organisms (for example, many more bugs and insects can be found living in the soil)

-four pencils to use as stakes, which allowed us to see the boundaries of the 4m by 4m quadrat

-gloves to keep clean, sanitary hands

-nets to catch flying organisms

-a cellphone to record observations (description and number count of organisms)

Although, there were many benefits to using the materials listed above, some materials we used did not benefit from the use of certain equipment such as the net and magnifying glass. For instance, the holes in the net were too big to capture little flying insects and were too short to reach birds found high up in the air. We found the magnifying glass inefficient, as it can only be used to focus on one small area. It was impossible to inspect the entire site with it.

A beneficial sampling technique my group and I used was a qualitative data collection technique. We constructed a 4m x 4m quadrat using pencils as stakes to create boundaries and restrictions. And in order to count the number of organisms for organisms that were found consistently throughout the 4m by 4m quadrat, my group and I counted the number of the certain organism in a 10cm by 10 cm quadrat, and multiplied that amount by 16, as sixteen 10 cm by 10 cm squares make up for one 4m by 4m square. This allowed us to have a general idea of how many organisms were in the 4m by 4m quadrat overall.

This process allows us to make possible analytic generalizations of the number count of certain organisms, as it is extremely time-consuming to count certain organisms, such as grass. By using this method of finding the total number of species for each organism, my group members and I were able to move on and find more organisms in a given period of time. The only problem with this type of sampling technique is that we are not taking into account how spread out and distributed the organisms are; it is not accurate, as we do not know how spread out the type of organisms are usually are. One ineffective sampling technique that we used when doing this lab was that we used a random 4m by 4m location to collect and identify living organisms. Using a small, 4m by 4m restricted area limited the amount of organisms we could find, causing us to make rash accusations, such as assuming that there is barely any organisms, almost no organisms that could be found in the football field.

QUESTION 3

All types of organisms are highly unlikely to be fairly represented in field collections, as it really depends on the area of the study site that is being studied and how it has been affected by its environment and the elements. Not all organisms live in the same area and some do not even live close to each other. The weather and temperature of the days an individual conducts his or her research on will also affect the outcome of the types of organisms found because various organisms prefer and seek different environments. It also depends on where and how much/deep you dig to discover different organisms. Overall, I do not think a fair representation would be made due to multiple factors that need to be taken into consideration when choosing a study site to conduct accurate research in. Only a small portion of the entire football field area was represented...a small portion cannot possibly represent the level of biodiversity in one football field. The sampling technique we used: collecting and identifying living organisms found in one 4m by 4m quadrat excludes those species that are specific to micro habitats or that have larger habitat requirements such as birds, bats, and flying insects. Also, it was a single visit census and therefore, the estimation of density may be reasonably reliable. More data are necessary to generate representable data.

QUESTION 4

A type of organism that was challenging to determine and identify were plants. There are two different types of plants, angiosperms and gymnosperms. Angiosperms are vascular plants typically known to bud flowers. It was hard to determine whether a certain plant was an angiosperm or a gymnosperm because the lab was conducted during a season, where not all plant species have started to bud and grow flowers. The only method an individual could find out exactly whether the plant is an angiosperm is by examining the plant under a microscope, as one can determine that only angiosperms have zygotes that develop into an embryo contained in a seed. One can identify if the plant is an angiosperm, if they have found a parental casing around the seed.

QUESTION 5

For the location of the study sites, my group and I chose one human impacted area and one natural region. For the natural study site, we chose to inspect a region close to a pond where humans barely set foot. The plants and animals are left alone to grow in the wild. For one impacted by humans, we chose to inspect the region next to the man-made racetrack where a sewer-drainage system was stationed. By doing so, we were able to see the differences between the two, and come up with ideas as to why these differences occurred. This allowed us to see how much life is actually involved and present in a natural site as opposed to a human impacted site. Improvements that can be made to the design can be to increase the surface area of the two study sites, allowing individuals to make accurate conclusions on the level of diversity of a certain area. Another improvement that can be made is to collect and identify living organisms using a study site for over an extended period of time, as it would be easier to identify some organisms such as plants. For instance, individuals are unable to determine and identify some plants as angiosperms; flowering plants, since plants have a specific time of year or season, where their flowers begin to bud and grow. Also, the weather can be a significant factor affecting the number of organisms that can be found in one day. For instance, many organisms are not out on a cold, rainy day, as supposed to the number of organisms out a hot, humid day. The temperature at which two sites were inspected varied for the natural site was studied on a warmer day, making the lab design bias. To improve this, we could have conducted the inspection of the sites within the same day to ensure similar weather during the observations, allowing less changes and differences in the sites. We could have also made sure that our sites had exactly the same area, by using actual units of measurements, not by estimating four meters by four meters.

CONCLUSION:

The purpose of this lab was to observe and determine the classification of organisms found in two different 4m by 4m sampling locations. Overall, fourteen different organisms were collected and identified in the natural region site, and ten were found in the human impacted quadrat; there was a higher level of diversity apparent in the natural region. The organisms were collected and indentified by using a variety of materials and a sampling technique called qualitative data collection. The results of this lab was not an accurate representation of the level of biodiversity of both sampling sites, due to many factors such as, weather and location. One improvement that can be made to the design of this lab, in order to prevent any type of bias, is to conduct the inspection of the sites within the same day to ensure similar weather, while making observations, allowing less changes and differences in the sites.

Our small, yet thriving ecosystems near Iroquois Ridge are easily affected by many careless actions. Whether it be from incautious use of pesticides, or habitat destruction solely for the purpose of human entertainment, we must be more aware of their costly repercussions. It is not only a matter of environment, it is also others such as economics and society.

Biodiversity is important in developing out community and allows us many opportunities such as, discovering new adaptive approaches to issues like climate change, the pleasure of a cleaner atmosphere, medical advances, and the quiet casual stroll into a different, beautiful environment.

A simple action can be a catalyst to undesirable consequences, so let us be more careful and appreciate our natural ecosystems in Oakville.

Pond

Iroquois Ridge

Football Field

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