A quadrat is a square frame which is used to sample populations of plants or slow-moving animals.

A pooter is a piece of equipment used to suck up and sample small animals.

Mark-release-recapture is a way that is used to estimate the number of individuals in a population.

A pitfall trap is used to sample small ground living animals.

Sampling is a survey of plants and/or animals which provides information about the populations of organisms.

Ecological sampling of living organisms

Science

Pupils will learn about biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, measuring population size, interdependence and competition in ecosystems, how changes in biotic and abiotic factors affect communities, the cycling of carbon and water, and the role of microorganisms in cycling materials through ecosystems.

Pupils learnt about interdependence in ecosystems, covering food webs and food chains along with predator-prey relationships. The effect of the use of pesticides on organisms such as pollinating insects and top predators through bioaccumulation.

Biodiversity

Physical activity and equipment requiring safe use

It is usually easy to count all of the organisms in a population.

Sampling helps scientists in conservation activities.

Sampling is slower than counting all the organisms in the population.

It is not possible to estimate the population size from a sample.

Which of the following is **true** when explaining why scientists sample populations?

What piece of apparatus is used to suck up and sample small animals?

What is the name of this sampling method?

Which **two** of the following organisms might be sampled using this sampling technique?

A quadrat is used to survey which types of organisms?

10 snails were caught and marked in a mark-capture-recapture experiment. Two days later in a second catch 8 snails were caught. 4 of these were marked. What is the population of snails in the habitat?

the range of different species that live in a place

activities that protect biodiversity and the environment

What word means the mass of living material in one or more organisms?

In a food chain there are a number of trophic levels. Which tropic level does a food chain diagram always start with?

Look at the pyramid of biomass. Which organism is a producer?

Pyramids of biomass only show the numbers of organisms present.

A bar higher up the pyramid can be longer than a bar lower down.

Pyramids of biomass are always a pyramid shape.

Which statement about pyramids of biomass is true?

helps a plant get water from deep underground

helps to insulate an organism in a cold environment

helps by preventing sinking into soft ground such as sand

An adaptation is a feature that organisms have to help them live in a particular place. Match each adaptation with how it helps the organism to survive.

Content guidance

Risk assessment required - equipment

Adult supervision required

Starter Quiz