Counting Organisms

• Fieldwork and Counting Organisms:

  • Techniques like quadrats and transects are used to estimate organism numbers in an area
  • Methods involve dividing the field into squares, randomly selecting squares, using quadrats to count organisms, and estimating the total population
• Method

  1. Divide the field into 100 equal 1m x 1m squares.

  2. Use a random number generator to randomly select a single square.

  
  

  3. Take a 1m x 1m quadrat and place it in the selected square.

  
  

  4. Count the number of clover in the square.

  
  

  5. Repeat with a different square 4 times, and average the 5 results.

  
  

  6. Multiply the average by 100 to estimate the number of clover in the field.