High School Track·Quadrat biodiversity sampling
Quadrat biodiversity sampling
A real field-ecology method, placing a fixed-size frame randomly in an area and counting/identifying species inside it, then using multiple samples to estimate biodiversity across a larger area.
Where to buy & price
Just examples of where to look and roughly what to expect to pay, get everything from wherever works for you, at whatever price you find.
Effectively free, frame built from scrap materials.
Cold storage / timing
None, outdoor field activity.
Reagents & materials required
| Sticks or straws | 4, roughly 30cm each |
| String | enough to tie the 4 sticks into a square frame |
| Notebook and pen | 1 |
Procedure, step by step
- 1
Build a square frame roughly 30cm x 30cm from four sticks or straws, tied or taped together, this is your quadrat.
- 2
Choose a study area to sample, for example a lawn, a garden bed, or a patch of unmown vegetation.
- 3
Toss the quadrat randomly within your study area without looking, or use a pre-planned grid with random coordinates, to pick each sampling spot fairly.
- 4
At each spot where the quadrat lands, count the number of distinct plant or organism species visible inside the frame, and estimate roughly how much of the frame's area each species covers.
- 5
Record your counts on a data sheet, using your phone's camera to help identify anything you're unsure of.
- 6
Repeat the random placement at least 5–8 times within the same study area.
- 7
Repeat the whole process in a second, different area for comparison, for example a mown lawn versus an unmown patch.
- 8
Total and compare the number of unique species and their estimated coverage between your two study areas.
Read more: https://practicalbiology.org/environment/fieldwork-techniques/biodiversity-in-your-backyard
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