Escuela Practica
Dr Bill Loneragan, Department of Botany, The
University of Western Australia
Abstract
Basic training in sampling techniques in botany can be time consuming and
expensive to carry out in the field. Escuela Practica is a simulated piece
of vegetation comprising 2 tree species and 10 understorey species
exhibiting a range of distribution patterns and associations designed to
replace dependence on field work. Information related to soil type and
topography can also be superimposed onto the simulation. Students carry out
a series of exercises designed to illustrate such basic concepts as
species-area relationships using random and systematic sampling designs,
the effect of quadrat size and number on estimates of frequency and
density, comparisons of plot, plotless and transect methods of sampling,
determining intra- and inter-specific relationships and determination of
scale of pattern.
Integrated with the sampling exercises is an introduction to basic
statistical procedures such as distribution testing, t-tests, ANOVA,
regression and correlation.
Bill Loneragan is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Botany, The
University of Western Australia. Main teaching responsibilities are with
first year science and agriculture students in general botany, and third
year students in quantitative ecology and community ecology. Research
interests are biased towards applied ecology and include conservation of
urban remnant vegetation, restoration of mined land, rangeland ecology and
dendrochronology.