Head's Newsletter 12 July 2019

BIOLOGY FIELD TRIP

Last week, 63 Y12 students travelled to Orielton Field Centre in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for a field trip, an essential part of A Level Biology practical education.

of time explaining the different types of lichen found at different points of the rock shore, and the distinctions in the environmental factors that affect their competitive abilities. A small investigation was also completed at Sawdern Point, comparing width of limpets and whether they were on ‘seaward’ or ‘landward’ aspects of rocks, the data from which was used when the students returned to their respective classrooms to complete one of the three statistical tests the students were required to be able to do as part of their CPAC training, the ‘T-test’.

The students spent a total of 5 exciting and intense days carrying out investigations in different coastal sites, learning new statistical tests and becoming familiar with the local ecosystems. They were exposed to the geography and biological heritage of the site, as well of the Pembrokeshire area. They then conducted a mini-investigation using data gathering equipment to simulate the nature of the work they were to undertake in the following days. The real work began the 2 nd day. ‘Required Practical 7 - Chromatography’ was completed within the laboratories. The students were taught how to calculate R f values and identify different pigments in seaweed samples. After lunch, on the rocky shore at Sawdern Point, the FSC instructors taught the students how to identify different organisms, using different individual markers and rules. The students slowly took to identifying different organisms including limpets, seaweeds, sponges and crabs. A 1m x 1m quadrat and a cross staff was used in order to investigate how height above sea level leads to differences in the abundance of different organisms, by using the SACFOR scale. The instructors spent a brief period

On Wednesday, the students went to investigate the sand dunes at Broomhill Burrows, after having a classroom lesson based on the evolution of sand dunes and ecological succession thereon. A ‘point frame quadrat’, a measuring tool with a long pin, was used with a 10m x 10m grid at different points in a series of sand dunes, to investigate how the abundance of different species change as a sand dune develops from an ‘embryo dune’ to a ‘fixed or mature dune’. This data was then used in order to create a large bank of data, which was later used to determine diversity using a formula, known as the ‘Simpson’s Diversity Index’. A small investigation into the correlation between