Exercise 2: Transect and quadrat sampling

Department of Biology, De La Salle University

Introduction

Plots are typically used to quantify the abundances and cover of many sessile (attached) or slow-
moving organisms. Plots are typically rectangular or square but can be of any shape. Cores, for
one, can be considered circular plots. Quadrats are square plots. Line-intercept transects are long,
one-dimensional plots. The main idea behind the use of plots is to demarcate a study area or region
and provide a guide for estimating cover, i.e., if about half of the quadrat or transect is over coral,
then the coral cover is about 50%. Or if, for example, there is an average of 15 snails in ten 0.25m2
plots, then snail density is approximately 60 individuals per m2. Cover is typically used to describe
modular organisms (i.e., those that are colonial or made of repeating units), while density (numbers
per unit area) is used to describe organisms with individuals of more or less the same size.

Plots differ significantly in size, depending on the size of the organisms being studied. For
example, 0.5 x 0.5 m (i.e., 0.25 m2) quadrats are typically used for seagrasses and seaweeds, 1 x 1
m quadrats are typically used for corals, and 10 x 10 m plots are used for mangroves. The diversity
levels, logistic constraints, and (most importantly) the research objectives are also considered
when deciding on plot size. Plot size, sampling design, and level of replication (i.e., the number of
plots deployed) must always be adjusted to suit each study's requirements.

Objectives
Experimental Objectives:
• To compare the accuracy and precision of coral cover estimates from four different
benthic survey methods involving quadrats or transects
• Identify means to improve the accuracy and precision of these same methods

Materials
1. Short bond paper or A4 paper
2. One-Peso coin
3. Masking tape and marker
4. Ruler (clear if possible)
5. Transparency film, plastic cover, or any type of clear plastic.

Procedure

1. Draw 38, non-overlapping circles randomly across the short bond paper (21.59 cm x
27.94 mm) using a one-Peso coin (22 mm diameter for the one with the central bank logo
on one side, 23 mm diameter for the one with the waling-waling flower design). For
groups assigned to work with 10 peso coins (27 mm diameter), draw 33 circles.
Suggestion: consider using a graphing paper to aid in randomizing.
2. Randomly label 28 circles as Coral sp. A, 6 circles as Coral sp. B, and 4 circles as Coral
sp. C. For those working with 10-peso coins, assign 25 circles to species A, 5 circles to
species B, and 3 circles to species C. These circles will represent corals, and the letter
their species, and the paper represents the reef.

NOTE: Please take a photo or scan of the bond paper and include it in your group
presentation and written report.

3. Prepare a 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm quadrat (the “small” quadrat) and a 5.0 cm x 5.0 cm quadrat
(the “small” quadrat) by drawing the image below on a transparent plastic sheet.

Ensure that the distance between the grid lines is 0.5 cm for the small quadrat and 1.0 cm
apart for the large quadrat.

4. Estimate the coral cover (the amount of space covered by the circle corals on your reef -
the bond paper) using the following techniques:
a. Random small quadrat: Use the 2.5x2.5 cm quadrat deployed randomly to sample
the reef
b. Transect-quadrat: Use the 2.5x2.5 cm quadrat deployed at regular intervals (e.g.,
every two cm) along a randomly positioned straight transect line using the ruler.
c. Random large quadrat: Use the 5x5 cm quadrat deployed randomly to sample the
reef
d. line-intercept transect (LIT): Use the LIT with the ruler (metric units).
NOTE: Aim to have as many replicates as possible but not less than 30. Ideally, all four
methods are applied on identical reefs (i.e., the arrangement of the coral species and their
individual colonies are the same)

5. You are supposed to randomly sample the reef (the bond paper) to compare the estimates
of the cover of coral (the circles) using each method for the same reef. Randomization
may be achieved in various ways (be creative!)
NOTE: There is random sampling (using a random number table or generator such as the
“=rand()” or “randbetween(1,x)” functions of MS Excel) and haphazard sampling (often
biased by convenience). Strata may be defined depending on the results of a
reconnaissance survey and a preliminary sampling, which should ALWAYS precede
your study.
 6. When using the quadrats, estimate cover (per species) within each quadrat by counting
the number of grid squares over the coral. Ignore grid squares with less than 50% cover.
Also, count the number of individuals per species. Hence, if three of the nine grid squares
fall on a coral, the cover is 3/9 or 33%. For those assigned to use quadrats, aim for
enough quadrats to cover 180 cm2 (i.e., ~20 times with the 9 cm2 quadrats or ~9 times
with the 20.25 cm2 quadrats).

7. For transects, measure the intercept length (i.e., the length of the line lying over the
corals) of each coral colony as well as the length of the transect line over the reef. For
example, if you deployed a 30-cm transect, and 5-cm are over corals, then the coral cover
is 16.7%.

8. Get the dimensions of the paper you used (for short bond: 21.59x27.94 cm, for A4: 29.7 x
42 cm) and that of all the corals per species. Compute the actual cover of corals in the
reef.

9. Organize your raw data and do all your computations in MS Excel and submit this
file along with your presentation file with your section, group number and group
leader’s last name, and first name as filenames (e.g., N01_Group2_LicuananAl.xlsx
and N01_Group2_LicuananAl.pptx). Submit the raw data (both in MS Excel) and
Powerpoint presentation on the same day as your presentation but before the laboratory
class ends. Feedback from the presentation should be used to improve the written report.
The latter is due one week after the presentation.

Method Actual cover

10. Be sure to compute the average and standard error of percent cover per method. Graph
your results as column charts with error bars.
Guide Questions
Prepare a 15-minute (maximum) scientific presentation. The presentation should have an
introduction, a detailed and illustrated listing of the methodology followed, graphical
representations of the results, and the associated standard errors that make the relevant results and
conclusions obvious. Most of the slides should be devoted to the results and discussion of the
implications of the findings. Avoid text-heavy slides. Diagrams and graphs are preferred.

This presentation should be developed with answers to the earlier and following guide questions
in mind:

1. Discuss how the different sampling methods differ in terms of the information you
will get and in terms of efficiency. What are the advantages and disadvantages of
each method in terms of its accuracy and its precision? What are the advantages
and disadvantages of each method in terms of the information you will gather from
the use of each of the transect methods?
2. Compare the results you got for each of the techniques. What is the most precise
method? Why? Based on your experience, what limits the precision of the
techniques?
3. What is the most accurate technique? What about this method allows for more
accurate measurements?
4. Under what situations is each method useful? Is there a single “best” method?
5. How can you further improve the method to be even more accurate?
6. Which among the species you encountered would you consider rare as suggested by
the sampling methods used? Based on how the reef was designed, is it really a
"rare" species?
7. What are the possible reasons for a species to become rare? How can the spatial
dispersion of the corals affect the data yielded by each of the four methods? Will
these effects differ from method to method?
8. Using this exercise as the basis, describe the distinction between crude density (or
cover) from ecological density (or cover).
Food for thought (Practical Analysis):
Manila just read about ocean acidification, and she is worried about the state of the coral
community near their town. She wants to check if ocean acidification will affect the dominant
species found in their area. She is familiar with the presence of a volcanic vent that releases
CO2 in a different area of their reef. Help Manila design a sampling procedure given the map
below: