Practical Field Ecology: A Project Guide

Description:

Offers a comprehensive, accessible introduction to experimental design, field monitoring skills for plants and animals, data analysis, interpretation and reporting

This user-friendly book presents field monitoring skills for both plants and animals, within the context of a research project. This text provides a single resource to take the reader all the way through from the planning stage, into the field, guiding through sampling, organism identification, computer-based data analysis and interpretation, and finally how to present the results to maximise the impact of the work. Logically structured throughout, and revised extensively in the second edition, the book concentrates on the techniques required to design a field-based ecological survey and shows how to execute an appropriate sampling regime. It evaluates appropriate sampling and analytical methods, identifying potential problems associated with various techniques and how to mitigate these.

The second edition of this popular text has updated reference material and weblinks, increased the number of case studies by 50% to illustrate the use of specific techniques in the field, added over 20% more figures (including 8 colour plates), and made more extensive use of footnotes to provide extra details. Extensions to topics covered in the first edition include additional discussion of: ethical issues; statistical methods (sample size estimation, use of the statistical package R, mixed models); bioindicators, especially for freshwater pollution; seeds, fecundity and population dynamics including static and dynamic life tables; forestry techniques including tree coring and tree mortality calculations; the use of data repositories; writing for a journal and producing poster and oral presentations. In addition, the use of new and emerging technologies has been a particular focus, including mobile apps for environmental monitoring and identification; land cover and GIS; the use of drones including legal frameworks and codes of practice; molecular field techniques including DNA analysis in the field (including eDNA); photo-matching for identifying individuals; camera trapping; modern techniques for detecting and analysing bat echolocation calls; and data storage using the cloud.

Divided into six distinct chapters, Practical Field Ecology, 2nd Edition begins at project inception with a chapter on planning--covering health and safety, along with guidance on how to ensure that the sampling and experimental design is suitable for subsequent statistical analysis. Following a chapter dealing with site characterisation and general aspects of species identification, subsequent chapters describe the techniques used to survey and census particular groups of organisms. The final chapters cover analysing, interpreting and presenting data, and writing up the research.
•Offers a readable and approachable integrated guide devoted to field-based research projects
•Takes students from the planning stage, into the field, and clearly guides them through organism identification in the laboratory and computer-based data analysis, interpretation and data presentation
•Includes a chapter on how to write project reports and present findings in a variety of formats to differing audiences

Aimed at undergraduates taking courses in Ecology, Biology, Geography, and Environmental Science, Practical Field Ecology, 2nd Edition will also benefit postgraduates seeking to support their projects.




Contents: List of Tables xiii List of Figures xv List of Boxes xxi List of Case Studies xxiii List of Plates xxv Preface to the Second Edition xxvii Preface to the First Edition xxix Acknowledgements xxxi About the Companion Website xxxv 1 Preparation 1 Choosing a topic for study 2 Ecological research questions 4 Monitoring individual species and groups of species 4 Monitoring species richness 5 Monitoring population sizes and density 5 Monitoring community structure 6 Monitoring behaviour 6 A note of caution 6 Creating aims, objectives, and hypotheses 9 Reviewing the literature 9 Primary literature 10 Secondary literature 10 Other sources of information 11 Search terms 11 Reading papers 12 Practical considerations 12 Legal aspects 13 Ethical issues 13 Health and safety issues 14 Implementation 16 Equipment and technical support 19 Field/laboratory notebook 19 Pilot studies 21 Time management 22 Statistical considerations in project design 24 Designing and setting up experiments and surveys 26 Choosing sampling methods 26 Types of data 27 Sampling designs 29 Planning statistical analysis 35 Describing data 35 Asking questions about data 36 Predictive analysis 37 Multivariate analysis 38 Examining patterns and structure in communities 39 Summary 39 2 Monitoring Site Characteristics 43 Site selection 43 Site characterisation 44 Habitat mapping 44 Examination of landscape scale 54 Measuring microclimatic variables 55 Monitoring substrates 60 Monitoring water 64 Other physical attributes 67 Measuring biological attributes 70 Identification 76 3 Sampling Plants and Other Static Organisms 85 Sampling for static organisms 88 Seeds, fecundity, and population dynamics 91 Quadrat sampling 92 Density estimation using quadrats 95 Frequency estimation using quadrats 95 Cover estimation using quadrats 96 Biomass estimation within quadrats 97 Quadrat size 99 Nested quadrats 100 Placement of quadrats 101 Quadrat shape 102 Pin-frames 103 Transects 104 Plotless sampling 106 Distribution of static organisms 109 Forestry techniques 110 Tree diameter 110 Tree basal area 113 Height of trees 113 Timber volume 114 Growth 114 Canopy cover 115 Age and mortality 115 4 Sampling Mobile Organisms 119 General issues 120 Distribution of mobile organisms 123 Direct observation 124 Behaviour 124 Indirect methods 130 Capture techniques 130 Marking individuals 133 Radio-Tracking 136 Population dynamics 138 Invertebrates 140 Direct observation 141 Butterfly census method 141 Indirect methods 143 Using insect sounds 143 Capture techniques 144 Killing and preserving invertebrates 145 Marking individuals 145 Capturing aquatic invertebrates 150 Netting 152 Suction sampling 156 Benthic coring 156 Drags, dredges, and grabs 157 Wet extraction 158 Artificial substrate samplers 159 Baited traps and refuges 159 Capturing soil-living invertebrates 161 Sieving 161 Floatation and phase-separation 161 Tullgren funnels and similar methods of dry extraction 162 Chemical extraction 164 Electrical extraction 166 Capturing ground-active invertebrates 167 Pitfall traps 167 Suction samplers 175 Emergence traps 178 Capturing invertebrates from plants 180 Pootering 182 Sweep netting 184 Beating 185 Fogging 185 Capturing airborne invertebrates 187 Sticky traps 190 Using attractants 191 Refuges 194 Flight interception traps 195 Light traps 197 Rotary traps 205 Water (pan) traps 206 Fish 208 Direct observation 210 Indirect methods 211 Capture techniques 211 Nets and traps 212 Collecting fish larvae 215 Electrofishing 215 Marking individuals 215 Amphibians 218 Direct observation 221 Indirect methods 221 Counting egg masses 221 Using environmental DNA (eDNA) 222 Capture techniques 222 Sampling adults in water 223 Sampling adults on land 224 Tadpoles 226 Juveniles/metamorphs 226 Marking individuals 226 Reptiles 228 Direct observation 228 Indirect methods 229 Capture techniques 230 Hand-capture 232 Traps 233 Marking individuals 235 Birds 236 Direct observation 237 Timed species count 239 Common bird census/breeding bird survey 240 Point counts 241 Transect line counts 242 Distance sampling 242 Flush counts 244 Indirect methods 245 Counting nests at a distance 246 Bird song 247 Capture techniques 247 Mist netting 248 Propelled nets 250 Marking individuals 250 Mammals 253 Direct observation 254 Indirect methods 257 Capture techniques 264 Marking individuals 272 5 Analysing and Interpreting Information 275 Keys to tests 278 Exploring and describing data 285 Transforming and screening data 285 Graphical display of data 288 Measures of central tendency and sample variability 290 Spatial and temporal distributions 292 Population estimation techniques: densities and population sizes 292 Richness and diversity 297 Similarity, dissimilarity, and distance coefficients 297 Recording descriptive statistics 300 Testing hypotheses using basic statistical tests and simple general linear models 301 Differences between samples 304 Relationships between variables 307 Associations between frequency distributions 312 More advanced general linear models for predictive analysis 314 Multiple regression 314 Analysis of covariance and multivariate analysis of variance 316 Discriminant function analysis 318 Generalized linear models 319 Extensions of the generalized linear model 323 Extensions of generalized linear models and GAMs into mixed-effects models 324 Statistical methods to examine pattern and structure in communities: classification, indicator species, and ordination 325 Classification 325 Classification techniques when the number of groups is known 326 Significance testing for group membership: analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) 328 Classification techniques when the number of groups is unknown 329 Indicator species analysis 331 Ordination 332 Indirect gradient analysis 333 Comparing ordinations and matrix data 338 Direct gradient analysis 339 6 Presenting Information 343 Written reports 344 Title 345 Abstract 345 Acknowledgements 346 Contents 346 Introduction 347 Methods 347 Results 348 Illustrations (Tables, Figures, Plates, Equations, etc.) 349 Discussion 354 References 354 Citing papers 355 Appendices 358 Archiving data 359 Authors' contributions 359 Writing style 359 Tense 362 Passive tense 362 Numbers 362 Abbreviations 363 Punctuation 364 Choice of font 365 Common mistakes 366 Computer files 368 Specific guidance for writing for a journal 368 Specific guidance for preparing a poster 371 Specific guidance for preparing an oral presentation 37