In a big field, my group and I marked out an area (7200 sq centimeters in total), and with a transect (a line through the environment used to help sample)
of 120 centimeters, we marked out the field and plopped a quadrat (or a square used to randomly count organisms) 100 sq centimeters large in random areas along the transect.
We did this about 8 times (a LOT of work!!!)
In the end, we calculated the density(amount species/area) of our organisms (yellow rabbits, bright yellow rabbits, red rabbits, and green rabbits)... we calculated this density by dividing the number of, say, yellow rabbits by the area where we found the yellow rabbits (8 x 100 = 800) (the 100 sq centimeter quadrat times the 8 times we re-placed it). Then, we calculated the percent error (how far off you were) (actual number of organisms minus estimate number of organisms/ actual number of organisms). There also was the variation of life forms, or the different types of organisms. This was calculated by figuring out the species richness/diversity, where you basically count the number of different species (simple). There is another way of finding the species diversity, the shannon-weiner index.
Notes:
Oh, and we did species richness, which is basically the number of species found in a community. :D
All of this would give us data on how many species would be in a certain area...
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