A student investigates how plant species change from the edge of the sea to further inland on a sand dune.
Why should the student use a transect rather than placing quadrats at random?
A transect means that no abiotic factors need to be measured along the sand dune.
Random quadrats would sample too many plants, so the counting would take too long.
A transect samples every plant in the area, so the results are completely accurate.
Random quadrats might miss some zones, so changes along the gradient could be missed.
109 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Biology 6.1 Monitoring and maintaining the environment, covering 6.1.1 Field investigation of distribution and abundance, 6.1.2 Human interactions and biodiversity, 6.1.3 Maintaining biodiversity, and 6.1.4 Environmental change and distribution of organisms. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.