C. Philip Wheater - Practical Field Ecology

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Practical Field Ecology: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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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,
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,
will also benefit postgraduates seeking to support their projects.

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4 Chris Bennett (Rothamsted Research) – plants;

5 Dan Blumgart (Rothamsted Research and Lancaster University) – moth traps;

6 David Brown (University of Cardiff) – snakes;

7 Friederike Clever (MMU) – coral reef fish poster;

8 Jordan Cuff (Cardiff University) – DNA metabarcoding;

9 Robin Curtis (University of Exeter) – butterflies;

10 Jenny Jacobs (Rothamsted Research) – bees;

11 Vicky Larcombe (née Oglivy) (Froglife) – tree frogs;

12 Erica McAlister (Natural History Museum, London) – insects;

13 Stuart Marsden (MMU) – parrots;

14 Helen Read (Burnham Beeches) – trees;

15 Jo Setchell (University of Durham) – mandrills;

16 Emma Shaw (MMU) – tarantulas;

17 Roisin Stanbrook (University of Central Florida) – dung beetles;

18 Christopher Todd (University of St Andrews) – barnacles;

19 Gareth Williams (Bangor University) – marine microbes;

20 Ian Winfield (CEH, Lancaster) – fish;

21 Matt Zeale (University of Bristol) – bats.

Thanks to the Ordnance Survey for permission to use the map fragment in Figure 2.1. All images are used with permission and are marked with the appropriate initials (e.g. JRB – James Bell, PAC – Penny Cook, and CPW – Philip Wheater). The Park Grass photograph is courtesy of Rothamsted Research (RRES). In addition to those mentioned above who supplied images as part of their case studies, we thank the following for supplying images:

Sandra Baker (SB); Friederike Clever (FJC); Fraser Combe (FC) Sam Cook (SC); Matthew Dennis (MD); Mike Dobson (MKD); Hannah Dugdale (HD); Mike Edwards (ME); Paul Higginbottom (PH); Jonathan Lageard (JGAL); Mark Langan (AML); Mark Mallott (MM); Sharon Matola (SM); Kelly Reynolds (KR); Miira Riipinen (MR); Rob Robinson (RAR); Emma Shaw (ES); Chris Shortall (CS); Nigel Stork (NES); Rob Strachan (RS).

A huge thanks to all those generations of students and colleagues on many a field course, expedition, or research trip who commented on the early and developing ideas behind this book, discussed the merits of particular techniques, the ways in which to introduce the information to students, and the intelligibility (or otherwise) of the handouts and other teaching materials from which this text derives. JRB would like to thank Ian Denholm for his support and members of PIE for their varied contributions. Finally, thanks to all of those who have supported us and suffered during the writing of this book. CPW and PAC would particularly like to thank Abhishek Kumar, Charlotte, and Henry. JRB is especially grateful to his family and to his friends at Rothamsted for their support.

About the Companion Website

Don't forget to visit the companion website for this book:

www.wiley.com/go/wheater/practicalfieldecology Practical Field Ecology - изображение 2

There you will find valuable material designed to enhance your learning, including:

simple statistics package (FCStats) for use with ecological data

art work for each chapter

weblinks for each chapter

keys to surface active invertebrates

weblinks for each chapter (including many references).

Scan this QR code to visit the companion website.

1 Preparation For many students honing their research skills is an important - фото 3

1 Preparation

For many students, honing their research skills is an important component of their academic development. However, inexperienced researchers can be naïve in their approach, and may even attempt highly complicated studies that have little chance of being completed in the time, and with the resources, available. This chapter describes the thought and preparation needed to plan your project, particularly how to formulate your ideas into something structured and workable before going out into the field. In your research, you will search for explanations or patterns, make comparisons, predictions and generalisations, and formulate theories. Research is not simply an exercise in information gathering. Rather, research is about asking questions that go beyond description and require analysis. Your research will be highly individual, and there are no set outcomes. You will form your own opinion, even if this disagrees with previous work. This is because progress in science results from the continual testing, review, and criticism of other researchers' work. Do not expect your research project to answer all your original questions. It is much more typical to find that research generates more questions than it answers. Research submitted for publication or for examination should show evidence of originality. Even if your research is not wholly original, it can show evidence of original thinking. Although the prospect of carrying out original research may seem rather daunting, providing you do not exactly copy someone else's experimental design, methods, sites, etc., your research is almost certainly going to be original. There are several ways in which work can be original:

Executing an entirely new piece of work (e.g. studying a plant or animal for which there is little or no information currently available).

Adding knowledge in a way that has not been previously done before. Many empirical studies do not develop new topics to study but instead advance their work with the use of original experimental designs, new statistical methods, etc. For example, new insights might be generated from exploring the ecology of an otherwise well‐studied animal at different sites to see whether a behaviour or food preference differs between locations.

By testing somebody else's idea, or by carrying out an established idea in a new area, new experimental subject, etc., or by using existing data to develop new interpretations.

Continuing an existing piece of work that is ongoing at your university or with a partner institution. For example, there are many long‐term experiments that invite students to participate in summer work. These opportunities can be symbiotic and provide both you and the scientist running the project with more data that could elucidate a mechanism or generate new hypotheses.

Originality may only be apparent in the breath of the study. Increasingly popular is ‘cross‐disciplinary’ science where, for example, soil scientists, botanists, and entomologists converge on a subject matter or site and work together to test an over‐arching hypothesis.

All research, whether taking place in the laboratory or field, needs careful planning. It is perhaps self‐evident that such planning should involve the correct use of equipment and choice of appropriate sampling methods and collection sites. In addition, a wide range of associated logistic, legal, and health and safety implications need to be considered. Although many of these issues are equally important in field or laboratory‐based investigations, field research may be more limited by time and other factors (access to sites, time of year, weather conditions) than is laboratory research. Thus, field study may need more careful consideration prior to implementation. Chapter 1 details some of the issues involved in planning and designing fieldwork, and culminates in a checklist that may help to prevent problems once research is implemented. Chapter 2deals with the techniques required for monitoring sampling sites and measuring physical and chemical factors. Chapter 3covers the methods used to sample static or relatively immobile organisms, whilst Chapter 4extends this concept to studying mobile animals. The latter includes a consideration of monitoring behaviour and of dealing with both direct and indirect observations, as well as covering the trapping and marking of individual animals. In Chapter 5we summarise a large number of different approaches suitable for the statistical analysis of ecological data. Finally, in Chapter 6we cover how to present your results and produce appropriate reports, posters, and presentations.

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