Square (ecology)
A square usually consists of a metal or plastic frame and is used in ecological field research for the defined collection of samples. It is usually about a square meter or a quarter square. It can be used to collect plants or slow moving insects. It is also suitable for some tasks in underwater research.
use
If you want to know how many organisms are in a particular habitat, you have to count them all (in principle). However, this is sometimes not possible, which is why samples of a defined size are counted. For this purpose, one delimits a certain area and counts all organisms in this area. The size of the square used for this and its subdivisions depend on the size of the organisms to be collected.
It is important that the collection method is random in order to avoid selection errors. To get a random selection, you can position the quilts in a counted grid. In long-term studies, it can be important to find exactly the areas counted after months or years. The methods used are very different. Reference points can be established or positions can be marked with the aid of a GPS device.
Individual evidence
- ↑ M. Dodd: Where are my squares? Positional accuracy in fieldwork . In: Methods in Ecology and Evolution . 2011. doi : 10.1111 / j.2041-210X.2011.00118.x .