Small animals Move net rapidly escape through Small through back and Repeat gaps in mesh animals/insects forth Dipping net Use net with Animals from E.g. tadpoles Empty contents into mesh different levels not tray collected Animals fly away Small Brush net close to the Sweep Net animals/insects Repeat Some organisms ground e.g. butterflies remain of ground Identifying Organisms Organisms collected can be identified by comparing to pictures in suitable books however this takes a long time. A much better method is to use a key. A key may be branched or in the form of paired statements. Abiotic Used to How to use Source of Error Minimising Error Technique sample Push the probe into Clean probe probes are not Moisture / Soil Moisture / the soil and take the between reading cleaned between pH pH reading from the readings Repeat meter Hold at the soil surface and point in Hold away from the direction of the shading Light meter Light intensity maximum light Shading the meter intensity, then take Repeat the reading from the meter Factors affecting Distribution Abiotic factors affect the distribution of organisms. Here are some examples: Daisies The more light available, the more daisy plants will be present. This is because daisies need light energy from the sun to make their own food (photosynthesise).
Dipping net Small animals/insects E.g. tadpoles Move net rapidly through back and forth Empty contents into tray Small animals escape through gaps in mesh Animals from different levels not collected Repeat Use net with mesh Sweep Net Small animals/insects e.g. butterflies Brush net close to the ground Animals fly away Some organisms remain of ground Repeat Identifying Organisms Organisms collected can be identified by comparing to pictures in suitable books however this takes a long time. A much better method is to use a key. A key may be branched or in the form of paired statements. Abiotic Technique Used to sample How to use Source of Error Minimising Error Moisture / pH Soil Moisture / pH Push the probe into the soil and take the reading from the meter probes are not cleaned between readings Clean probe between reading Repeat Light meter Light intensity Hold at the soil surface and point in the direction of the maximum light intensity, then take the reading from the meter Shading the meter Hold away from shading Repeat Factors affecting Distribution Abiotic factors affect the distribution of organisms. Here are some examples: Daisies The more light available, the more daisy plants will be present. This is because daisies need light energy from the sun to make their own food (photosynthesise).
National-5-Environmental-Science-Unit-1-Notes.docx