Pre-Field+Study+Learning+Activities

 ﻿ ﻿ Murray River Field Study within Echuca  Pre-Field Study Learning Activities Before embarking on the Murray River Field Study, students are required to:
 * Complete the pre-field study learning activities below;
 * Read over the Field Study Activity; and
 * Prepare a plan for their field study by completing the planning grid below.



Learning Activities:

Biotic and Abiotic Factors
 * Biotic or living factors relate to biological parts of the environment, as opposed to the abiotic (physical) parts.
 * Abiotic factors relate to physical parts of the environment, eg. aspects of soil, water, light, temperature. topography.

Take this quiz to help remind yourself of how to differentiate between what is abiotic and what is biotic: [|Ecology Quiz - Abiotic and Biotic Factors]

Food Webs and Flow of Energy
 * Food chains link together into food webs, giving an ecosystem its stability.
 * An organism that is part of a number of food chains in a food web is less likely to be affected by the loss of one source of food.
 * Each feeding level in a food web is called a trophic level. An organism may function at more than one level in a food web.
 * Chemical energy from organisms at one trophic level passes to organisms at a higher trophic level.

This activity gives students the opportunity to consider a food web and the relationships between organisms within a community. It will assist students to: (Reference: Leslie, R., Gleeson, D., McCooey, J., Martin, M., Kinnear, J. (2006). //Nature of Biology, Book 1, Activity Manual//, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons: Milton, Queensland, Australia.)
 * Treehole Community:**
 * Interpret information presented in a food web.
 * Identify the trophic levels within a food chain or web of the producers, herbivores and carnivores.
 * Consider abundance data and construct an ecological pyramid of numbers.

**Fitting Algae into the Food Web:** This activity is designed assist students to: [|Fitting Algae into the Food Web]
 * Understand food chains and food webs
 * Recognise the importance of and need for primary producers
 * Appreciate the interconnectedness and interdependence of organisms
 * Understand the role of bacteria in the food web
 * Realise the geographic variation in food webs

<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Transects and quatrats
 * One of the best ways to find out the detailed structure of the biological part of an ecosystem - the community - is to focus on a sample area.
 * To assess population sizes, sampling techniques are more common than total censuses.
 * Population sampling can involve the use of quatrats and transects.

This activity is designed to show students how to use quadrats to estimate population density and then use this data to estimate total population of an area. (Reference: Sanders, Y. (2005). //Heinemann, Biology 1, Student Workbook, VCE Units 1&2//. Harcourd Education: Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.)
 * Quadrats Activity: The flatweed census - Population estimation**

This activity details how to estimate a species abundance through the use of line transects. (Reference: Sanders, Y. (2005). //Heinemann, Biology 1, Student Workbook, VCE Units 1&2//. Harcourd Education: Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.)
 * Transects Activity: Plants in their place - using line transects**

<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Planning Grid:

To ensure that all required information and data is collected during the field study, and that the correct equipment is taken, students must read through the Field Study Activity and complete the attached planning grid.