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A student estimated the percentage cover of buttercup plants in a field - AQA - GCSE Biology - Question 6 - 2021 - Paper 1
Question 6
A student estimated the percentage cover of buttercup plants in a field. The student used a quadrat. The quadrat was divided into 25 equal squares. Figure 10 sho... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A student estimated the percentage cover of buttercup plants in a field - AQA - GCSE Biology - Question 6 - 2021 - Paper 1
Step 1
Calculate mean value X in Table 1.
Answer
To calculate the mean value (X) of the percentage cover of buttercup plants, we take the total number of squares containing buttercup plants across all quadrats and divide by the total number of squares counted.
For example, if the counts were:
- Quadrant 1: 40
- Quadrant 2: 52
- Quadrant 3: 88
- Quadrant 4: 40
We calculate:
o Total = 40 + 52 + 88 + 40 = 220
Assuming a total of 5 quadrants:
o Mean (X) = ( \frac{220}{5} = 44 % )
Hence, we would fill in Table 1 with the calculated mean percentage cover.
Step 2
How does Figure 11 show this?
Answer
The statement that most accurately reflects the discrepancy in the estimation method is: 'The area of buttercup plants in quadrat 5 is much larger.'
This indicates that the estimation could be skewed if quadrat 5 contains significantly more buttercup plants than the others, leading to an inaccurate overall percentage cover of buttercups.
Step 3
Step 4