Microenvironment
US Dept. of Defense) used in the GPS system, at
- Includes the physical and chemical properties of the
environment that affect the activity of organisms but
are not consumed or depleted
Light Intensity
- Light meter, directed to the light source
- Lux (SI unit of illuminance and luminous emittance)
Air temperature
- Air thermometer at breast height
- Degree Celsius
Air Humidity
- Sling psychrometer (hygrometer)- consists of 2
thermometers (1- dry, 2- moisten cloth around the end
of the bulb/ wet-bulb thermometer)
- Difference bet. Wet and dry bulb in degree Celsius
Wind speed and direction
- Wind meter (anemometer), wind scale faces you and
air vents at he back of unit are unobstructed
- White ball marker in spine tube
- Miles per seconds, direction of wind
Soil temperature
- Soil thermometer (2-5 mins)
Soil pH
- Black polyethylene/ keep soil in dark condition
- Mix soil with distilled water
- Optimal pH range is between 5.5 and 7.0
Global Positioning System
- Used to find your exact location on the world to help
you navigate
- Complex system developed by the military for their
use
- Used in boats for navigational processes
- Used in airplanes for navigation and it plots a course
for the airplane
- Used for their hikers in the woods to give them their
location
In Ecology
- Record the location of sampling stations
- Used to delimit borders of ecologically sensitive areas
- Used in the study of spatial distribution of organisms
What GPS needs to work
- A receiver
- 3 or 4 satellites “visible” for the GPS receiver to use to
collect data
- Correct time
The GPS receiver:
- determines where you are, as it works with satellites,
provide latitude, longitude and altitude
- receives radio signal from the satellites to help get
this information
The Satellite system/ space vehicles:
- 24 NAVSTAR satellites (launched & maintained by
least 3 spares in case of errors
- Weigh 1-2 tons
- Orbit the Earth 2x a day at an altitude of about 21,000
km
- Orbit in geosynchronous orbits, same position above
the Earth at all times
- Keep time using an atomic clock- amount of time
required for a radio signal to travel from the satellite to
the receiver can be used to measure the distance
between the two
Triangulation: How GPS works?
- Triangulation is the mathematical principle that
explain how GPS works
- 2 types: 2D & 3D
- GPS uses 3D triangulation, has the capability to tell
altitude/ height
- Say you’re 10 miles away from Satellite A. You’re in a
sphere with a radius 10 miles away from Satellite A. If
you’re 15 miles from satellite B, then there is another
sphere drawn. And the same for a third satellite and
its sphere. At the common point of the satellites is
your location.
- There should be a point where all the spheres meet
from triangulation principle
- Using the information from the radio signal and the
triangulation, the receiver can determine your location
on Earth with latitude, longitude and altitude.
When it finds your location,
- The GPS receiver knows it is one on the Earth’s
surface
- The Earth can act as a fourth sphere, and this also
helps find the location on Earth and not in space
- The GPS receiver receives radio signals from 3 or
more satellites
- The signal tells you information from the 3 satellites,
which helps the receiver to find a common point
where the signals meet. This is where the receiver
and you are located.
Deterrents to the Process
- Problems to the radio signal
- SA, selective availability
- Inside buildings
- Problems with the radio signals can be fixed with
DGPS (differential GPS)
Materials:
Garmin GPSmap 76CSx, Garmin GPSmap 78s, mobile
phones
Latitude & Longitude
- Coordinate system by means of which the position of
any place on Earth’s surface can be determined
Latitude – NORTH or SOUTH of the equator, “parallels”,
90 degrees N or S
Longitude – EAST or WEST of prime meridian,
“meridians”, 180 degrees W or E
Winogradsky Column
- Study of microbial activity in the soil, nutrient cycling,
microbial succession and ecology
- Designed by Sergie N. Winogradsky in 1880
- Pioneer in the investigation of microbial autotrophy
and was strong proponent of examining freshly-
isolated organisms
Parts:
- Transparent cylinder
- Filled with marine/ freshwater mud and few substrates
(paper, egg yolk/ shell, chalk, fertilizer, iron nail) which
supports bacterial growth
Observations:
- Gas
- in water column: O2 (oxygenic photsynthesis)
- aerobic zone: CO2 (respiration)
- anaerobic zone: CH4 (methanogenesis)
- tracks in upper layer- made by worms
- small specks swimming – crustaceans (copepods/
cladocerans)
- Anaerobic colors
- red/purple- purple sulfur bacteria
- green – green sulfur bacteria
- black – sulfate reducers
- Aerobic colors
- green – algae/ cyanobacteria
- red/brown – cyanobacteria/ thiobacilli
- red/purple – purple non-sulfur bacteria
- white – sulfur oxidizing bacteria
Interpretation of the Results:
- Over time there is more oxygen at the top of a column
than at the bottom
o Aerobic microbes = at the top
o Anaerobic microbes = further down
- Similarly, microbes that need light to make energy
(via photosynthesis or a similar process) will need
to live where they can get light in the column
- Some green coloring should appear in the
columns receiving light on the illuminated sides.
o Mostly due to cyanobacteria and algae,
which needs light.
- The column in the dark should remain dark
brown.
- Set – ups with egg shells
o Color of areas near the bottom of the set –
up with egg shells = groups of certain
anaerobic bacteria:
▪ Dark green = green sulfur
bacteria
▪ Purple = purple sulfur bacteria
▪ Black = sulfate – reducing
bacteria
o Sulfate-reducing bacteria actually eat sulfur
and make hydrogen sulfide gas, which is
eaten by the green and purple sulfur bacteria
o worms, snails, shrimp or other small
organisms probably not many (if any) seen
because H2S is toxic to most organisms
- Set – up with newspaper
o some areas of brown, orange, red or
purple may be evident near the middle —
could be groups of purple non - sulfur
bacteria, which need a carbon source to
thrive
o worms, snails, shrimp or other small
organisms in the water, but probably not
many (if any) in the bottle with the egg yolk,
because H2 is toxic to most organisms.
Climate Change
Greenhouse effect
- refers to the gases that keep the Earth warm, naturally
occurring but intensified by human activity and emission
- carried out by some trace gases which occur in relatively
small amount: water vapor, CO2 (fossil fuel), CH4 (agriculute
byproduct), nitrogen oxides (car exhausts), ozone, CFCs
(chlorofluorocarbons from aerosol and ref)
Human activity- cause changes tin environment that lead to
global warming
- Average temp climbed up to 1.4 C around the world
since 1880
- International Panel on Climate Control 11 of the past
12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850
- 1998 as warmest year, 2005 as 2nd
Lakes
- Sentinels of climate change
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment- recognize threats
lake ecosystem face
Soil Characterization
- Allow scientist to interpret how ecosystem functions
and make recommendations for soil use that have a
minimal impact on ecosystem
- Can predict likelihood of drought and flood
A. Measuring Horizons
Horizon – layer approximate parallel to the surface of
the soi;
O - decomposing material, high production of leaf
litter
A- Mineral horizon, topsoil, rich in organic matter,
more coarse, zone of loss, lots of grass root,
earthworm
B- Zone of accumulation/ illuviation, clay, soluble
salts and/or ion
C- Parent material, glacial till or lake sediments,
sand
B. Soil Texture
- Sand – largest particle bet. 0.05 for fine to 2.0 mm for
very coarse
- Silt – medium size, between 0.002 and 0.05 mm
- Clay – smallest, less than 0.002 mm
- Texture- refers to the relative abundance by weight of
the size fractions
- Fine texture soils – dominated by clay
- Coarse textured soils – dominated by larger particles
Soil Porosity – amount of pore or open space bet. soil particles
Permeability – degree of connectivity of soil pore space
- If a soil is coarse, water tends to move through it quite
well, may not retain water for plant growth, have
large, well-connected pore spaces, high permeability
 - If clayey, water will move slowly, retain water for plant the probability of detection will fall with perpendicular
growth distance from this line
- used to relate changes in vegetation within it to
changes in the environment
- one- dimensional
- most useful for sampling shrubs stands and woody
understory
- consists of taking observation on a line laid out
randomly over the study area
- 20 m line, calculate relative density (% each species
contributes to the total number of trees)

Point Quarter Method

- useful in sampling communities in which individual

plants are widely spaced or dominant plants are large
shrubs or trees
- relies upon random distribution of the organisms in
the area to be sampled
- from the center, a compass will be used to define the
4 quadrants
- relative density

Point-Quarter Indexes Used:

Simpson index
• Used to measure the species diversity
Sieve openings (in inches): 4, 20, 60 • Simpson’s index
a. ni = number of individuals (per species)
b. Pi: number of individuals
Terrestrial Sampling • Total number of individuals (all
species)
Sampling c. Simpson’s Index (D): Sum of all Pi2 values
• Total diversity
- selection of units from a population of interest in order d. Simpson’s Index of Diversity (d): 1-D
to come up with a generalized inferences regarding • Indicates the dominance of the
the population as a whole species
e. Simpson’s reciprocal index: 1/D
Random sampling
Shannon-Wiener index of diversity
- avoids source of bias • Indicates the diversity of pseudo-species per quadrat
- one where every potential sample plot within the or sample set
study are sample has an exactly equal chance of • Takes into account the number of species present or
being chosen for sampling absent
• Shannon – Weiner index
Quadrat Sampling a. ni = number of individuals (per species)
b. Pi: number of indiviuals
- consist of a square frame, usual size being 1 m2 • Total number of individuals (all
- enable comparable samples to be obtained from species)
areas of consistent size and shape c. Ln(pi)Pi x ln (Pi)
- choice of quadrat size depends to a large extent on d. H (max) = ln (number of species)
the type of survey being conducted Jaccard
- small quadrats are much quicker to survey, but are • known as the similarity coefficient
likely to yield somewhat less reliable data than large
• Indicates the similarity and diversity between two
ones
sample sets or quadrats
- the richer the flora, the larger or numerous the
• Uses the absence and presence of a pseudo-species
quadrats be
- to estimate the population density (# of individuals of • Jaccard index
each species per unit area) of each species in a given a. K1: Sum of all species in Quadrant 1
b. K2: Sum of all species in Quadrant 2
community
c. K12: Sum of the Square of all species in
- small square areas (quadrats) are randomly selected
Quadrat 1
to avoid choosing unrepresentative samples
d. K22: Sum of the Square of all species in
- involves counting all individuals within a known area
Quadrat 2
- appropriate for estimating the abundance of plants
e. K1K2: Combination of all species in Quadrat
and other organisms that are sufficiently sedentary
1 and 2
Transect Line sampling f. Jaccard Index
• K1K2 / K1 + K2 + K1K2
- based on the idea that only animals lying on the
center line of the strip transect along which the
observer moves will be certain to be detected and that