Back to the full dot-point answer
ScotlandEnvironmental ScienceQuick questions
Area 1: Living Environment
Quick questions on Investigating ecosystems: sampling, abiotic factors and indicator species - SQA Higher Environmental Science
5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are quadrats?Show answer
A quadrat is a square frame of known area placed on the ground. You count the number of a target species inside it, or estimate its percentage cover. Quadrats are placed at random positions (for example using random coordinates) so the sample is unbiased, and the mean count is scaled up to the whole study area.
What are transects?Show answer
A transect is a line laid across the habitat, often where conditions change (such as from the top to the bottom of a rocky shore). Quadrats placed at intervals along it show how the community changes as an abiotic factor changes, revealing zonation and the distribution of species along the gradient.
What is capture-mark-recapture?Show answer
For mobile animals, a first sample is captured, marked harmlessly and released. After they mix back into the population, a second sample is taken. The proportion of marked individuals recaptured is used to estimate the total population:
What is q1?Show answer
Name two abiotic factors and two biotic factors that affect where a plant grows. [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
A student wants to compare plant abundance in a shaded woodland and an open field. State one way to make the comparison fair. [1 mark]
Have a question we have not covered?
This dot-point answer is short enough that we have not extracted many short questions yet. Read the full dot-point answer or ask Mo, our study assistant, in the chat for follow ups.