APES-Comparing Biodiversity: Spiders, Spiders Everywhere!- Field Quadrat Studies Name: __________________________ 1.

First, make a hypothesis about the diversity of spiders in the (Habitats A & B). Without looking at the spider habitat sheet which habitat do you think will be more diverse in terms of spiders? Explain your reasoning. If there are more vegetation in habitat A, then there will be more diversity in habitat A. Next you have to sample the different habitats Find the sheet of paper with the squares cut out of it. The three square holes are the three random quadrat samples you will take in each habitat. * Place each of the quadrat sheets on the habitats and count the number of spiders inside the squares Count and record (below) the number of spiders you find in each square. **Only count spiders that you can see at least FIVE of their legs. Then sample Habitat B with the same quadrats. These are the four species of spiders you may find in your samples: Species A Species B Species C Species D

Table 1: Habitat A Quadrat 1 Quadrat 2 Quadrat 3 Total # of Spiders 7 6 7 Which Species? A,B,C,D B,C,D A, B, C, D How many of each species? A: 1 B:2 C: 2 D: 2 A: 0 B: 1 C: 2 D: 3 A: 1 B: 1 C: 3 D: 2

Total

20

ALL

A: 2 B: 4 C: 7 D: 7

Table 2 Habitat B Quadrat 1 Quadrat 2 Quadrat 3 Total Total # of Spiders 4 1 6 11 Which Species? B, D C C, D B,C, D How many of each species? A: 0 B: 1 C:0 D: 3 A:0 B:0 C: 1 D:0 A: 0 B: 0 C: 4 D:2 A: 0 B: 1 C: 5 D: 5

2. How many species of spiders did you find in Habitat A:4 species Habitat B: 3 species

3. What was the AVERAGE number of spiders you found per quadrat? Habitat A: 6.6 Habitat B: 3.6

4. Twelve quadrats can fit in this area. How many spiders do you estimate are found in the whole area? Habitat A: 26.4 Habitat B: 14.4

5. Look at the bottom sheet of paper with the spiders on it. How many spiders are there in Habitat A: 22 Habitat B: 21

6. Was your estimate close to the actual number of spiders in the area? My estimate was closer to habitat B than habitat A. 7. Why might there be a difference between your sample estimate and the actual number?

There might be a difference because of an error in my count. The spiders could also be traveling to one are more than another, therefore affecting the numbers.

Sometimes we want to compare not only how many different species or total number of spiders there are in an area, but also the relative abundance of the species. For example we might sample two areas and find: Area 1 Species W Species X Species Y Species Z Total 2 90 3 5 100 Area 2 25 25 25 25 100 Area 2 has a more even distribution of species compared to area 1. Both areas have four species and 100 animals total but the distribution of the species is very different

What is the number of each species? What is the PROPORTION of each of spider in your habitats? (see Tables 1&2) species in your habitats?

Table 3 (Number) Species A Species B Species C Species D Total

Habitat A 2 4 7 7 20

Habitat B 0 1 5 5 11

Table 4 (Proportion) Species A

Habitat A 0.7

Habitat B 0

Species B Species C Species D Total

0.2 0.35 0.35 1

0.25 0.71 0.45 1.41

8. Based on the proportions you just calculated (Table 4), do you think the species are evenly distributed within the habitats? Habitat A: No Habitat B: No

9. Is this what you think it would be like in nature? Why? Yes I do think there would not be evenly distributed species in the habitats. This is because some species migrate to their most appealing areas in the habitat and there are also factors like predators that change the distribution.

10. Was your original hypothesis supported by the data you collected today? Why or why not? Yes my original hypothesis was supported. From Table 3, the data shows that there were much more of a diversity in habitat A compared to habitat B. 11. What did you learn about doing a biodiversity quadrat study? I learned that the quadrats provides a more accurate count on the samples in an area.