Field Techniques: Exam 1 (Survey/Monitoring and Sampling + Sampling Methods: Transects & Q, Exams of Survey Sampling Techniques

Download Field Techniques: Exam 1 (Survey/Monitoring and Sampling + Sampling Methods: Transects & Q and more Exams Survey Sampling Techniques in PDF only on Docsity! Field Techniques: Exam 1 (Survey/Monitoring and Sampling + Sampling Methods: Transects & Quadrats) 1. What are the 4 primary methods to understand natural phenomena? 1. Observational studies 2. Manipulative Experiments (lab or field) 3. Natural Experiments (natural trajectory or snapshot) 4. Mathematical Models 2. What are the pros of observational studies? 1. Allows us to make logical connections based on correlations 2. Can gather data on things that might be too difficult to manipulate 3. Can be done over large spatial and temporal scales 4. May be better when studying certain animals (ethical reasons and large home range sizes) 3. What are the cons of observational studies? 1. Do not determine whether variables are causally linked 2. Correlations 4. What are some pros of manipulative experiments? - Establishes cause and effect = can give explanations to natural events - Useful to test mechanisms - Can be replicated easily - Control variables 5. What are cons of manipulative experiments? - May not be applicable to the natural world - Subjected to human error 6. What are pros of natural experiments? - Closer to real world application - Realistic observations of nature can be made 7. What are cons of natural experiments? - Difficult to control variables - Difficult to replicate 8. What is the goal of surveying? - To investigate and document patterns in nature (replicate in space/time) - Used to answer ecological question 9. What is the goal of monitoring? What is this used for? Field Techniques: Exam 1 (Survey/Monitoring and Sampling + Sampling Methods: Transects & Quadrats) - To have a repeated series of survey over time. - Used for restoration/conservation/management of ecological resources 10.Monitoring program requires _______ objective(s). 1 or more 11.For conservation, monitoring could have multiple objective such as: 1. Documenting and understanding changes in the abundance and distribution of species and what is correlated with these changes 2. Providing early warming of new threats 3. Evaluating whether the management is effective 12.What term is used to describe a method in which a new site is created in compensation for a site that has been destroyed elsewhere for development? Compensatory mitigation 13.Describe adaptive management: Management that allows us to monitor resources to make sure an objective can be achieved (improving resource management by learning from previous management outcomes) 14.Why should we sample? - It is impractical to examine the entire population (extremely unlikely to have the time and resources to measure an entire population) - Instead, we draw a subset and draw conclusions about that population 15.What is the assumption that results from sampling? How can we support this assumption? - The sample is representative of the whole population (provides an accurate picture of the population) - To support this, we must take enough samples to gave an accurate representation and avoid sampling bias (must be random) 16.What are some design decision questions to think about when surveying/monitoring? - What is our question (and why/rationale)? - What data do we need to answer it? - How can we collect the data? - Which collection methods and why? - Duration and frequency (how long & often)? - How to control/minimize error?