| I've brought my notes on our Biology Field Trip to Rocky Bay, Colin, |
| so we can work on our report on the research we did together. |
| OK. |
| I've got mine too. Let's look at the aims of the trip first. |
| Right. What did you have? |
| I just put something about getting experience of the different sorts of procedures used on a field trip. |
| But we need something about what causes different organisms to choose particular habitats. |
| I agree. |
| And something about finding out how to protect organisms in danger of dying out? |
| In our aims? |
| But we weren't really looking at that. |
| I suppose not. |
| OK, now there's the list of equipment we all had to bring on the field trip. |
| What did they tell us to bring a ruler for? |
| It was something about measuring the slope of the shore, |
| but of course we didn't need it because we were measuring wind direction, |
| and we'd brought the compass for that... |
| But not the piece of string to hold up in the air! |
| Didn't Mr Blake make a fuss about us leaving that behind. |
| He does go on. |
| Anyway it was easy to get one from another of the students. |
| Now, the next section's the procedure. |
| I sent you the draft of that. |
| Yeah. And.. |
| It was clear, but I don't think we need all these details of what time we left and what time we got back and... |
| how we divided up the different research tasks. |
| OK. I'll look at that again. |
| Then we have to describe our method of investigation in detail. |
| So let's begin with how we measured wave speed. |
| I was surprised how straightforward that was. |
| I'd expected us to have some sort of high-tech device, |
| not just stand there and count the number of waves per minute. |
| Not very precise, but I suppose it was good enough. |
| But the way we measured the amount of salt was interesting. |
| In the water from the rock pools? |
| Yeah. |
| Oh, I wanted to check the chemicals we used in the lab when we analysed those samples - |
| was it potassium chromate and silver nitrate? |
| That's right. |
| OK. |
| And we need the map of the seashore. |
| You just left that to me. |
| And I had to do it while the tide was low, |
| well, that was OK, but the place I started it from was down on the beach, |
| then I realised I should have gone up higher to get better visibility, |
| so I had to start all over again. |
| But at least I'd got the squared paper or I'd have had problems drawing it all to scale. |
| It looks good. |
| We could get a map of the region off the internet and see if we need to make any changes. |
| I had a look but I couldn't find anything. |
| But you took some pictures, didn't you? |
| Yeah. I'll email you them if you want. |
| OK. |
| I'll make my amendments using those, then I can scan it into our report. |
| Great. |
| Now when we get to our findings I thought we could divide them up into the different zones we identified on the shore |
| and the problems organisms face in each zone. |
| So for the highest area... ...the splash zone? |
| Yeah, we found mostly those tiny shellfish that have strong hard shells that act as protection. |
| But not from other organisms that might eat them, predators? |
| No, that's not the main danger for them. |
| But the shells prevent them from drying out |
| because they're in the open air for most of the time. |
| Right. |
| And since they're exposed, they need to be able to find some sort of shelter, or cover themselves up, so they don't get too hot. |
| Then in the middle and lower zones, nearer the sea, |
| we need to discuss the effects of wave action... |
| Yes, and how organisms develop structures to prevent themselves from being swept away, |
| or even destroyed by being smashed against the rocks. |
| I haven't done anything on the geological changes. |
| I don't know what to put for that. |
| No, we weren't concentrating on that. |
| Maybe we need to find some websites. |
| Good idea. |
| I've got the lecture notes from Mr Blake's geology course, |
| but they're too general. |
| But we could ask him which books on our Reading List might be most helpful. |
| Right. |
| OK, now I did a draft of the section of sources of possible error in our research, |
| but I don't know if you agree. |
| For example, the size of the sample, and whether it's big enough to make any general conclusions from. |
| But I thought actually we did have quite a big sample. |
| We did. |
| And our general method of observation seemed quite reliable. |
| But we might not be all that accurate as far as the actual numbers go. |
| Yeah, we might have missed some organisms - |
| if they were hiding under a rock, for example. |
| I wasn't sure about the way we described their habitats. |
| I decided it was probably OK. |
| Yeah, and the descriptions we gave of the smaller organisms, |
| they weren't very detailed, but they were adequate in this context. |
| I'm not sure we identified all the species correctly though. |
| OK, we'd better mention that. |