Investigating the distribution of one of the world's tiniest trees

This innovative activity uses the context of the distribution of dwarf willow to carry out virtual quadrat and transect sampling techniques.

Initially pupils are asked to discuss the unique characteristics of trees and then debate whether dwarf willow is a tree.

To carry out the field work, pupils can virtually visit mountains in Norway by following this link. The link includes a panorama of the site to be surveyed and buttons which lead to short video clips introducing the environment, the effect of climate change and the importance of monitoring the distribution of key species. 

Pupils are asked to write up the field work they will complete including the research question they will answer, the dependent and independent variables, a risk assessment and a method. Pupils then determine the percentage cover of dwarf willow using quadrats at various points along a virtual transect which can be found on this link. Initially pupils investigate the affect of distance from a snow patch on percentage distribution and pupils are required to plot their results on a graph.

For higher level study pupils are asked to determine whether the correlation between the two variables is significant by calculating the correlation coefficient. A worked example is given in the presentation. The analysis can be repeated by comparing the percentage distribution of dwarf willow based on other abiotic factors which is also found in the quadrat data.