What it shows
Even one square metre of garden or wasteland holds dozens of kinds of living things: grasses, weeds, ants, beetles, spiders, snails, birds that visit. Watching the same patch daily and recording every species shows how rich ordinary ground is and how it changes with the weather.
The science
Biodiversity is the variety of living things in a place. A patch of soil supports plants, which feed insects, which feed spiders and birds, in a small food web. Species appear and disappear with rain, sun and the season, so counting over a month gives a truer picture than one visit. Recording is the basis of all ecology: a species seen is a species counted, and a list from one square can be compared with another square in a different place.
Materials
Cost: free. Many items come from home or from waste; spare parts such as LEDs, motors and wire are in the store.
- Four sticks and string to mark a 1 metre square
- A notebook with a page per day
- A hand lens
- Pencils and colours
- A field guide or a free plant and insect identification app
Safety
For this project: Look, do not touch; some caterpillars and plants cause itching. Wash hands after each visit.
Never use mains electricity: power models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Sharp and hot tools, flames and lab chemicals need an adult or your teacher beside you. Keep magnets, button cells and small parts away from young children, and wash your hands after making.
All the safety rulesStep by step
8 steps. Do them in order, and test each part before you go on to the next. Write what you notice in a notebook as you go.
Choose a patch with some plants and mark a 1 metre square with the sticks and string.
On day one, sit beside it for 15 minutes and list every plant, insect and other creature you see.
Draw or photograph anything you cannot name and look it up later.
Visit at the same time each day and add new species to a running list, ticking those seen again.
Note the weather each day and whether the soil is wet or dry.
Once a week, gently lift a leaf or stone, count what is under it and put it back.
At the end of the month count the total species and draw a graph of new species found per week.
Draw a food web for your square with arrows from plants to the creatures that eat them.
What you should see
A diary listing typically 20 to 40 species, a graph that rises fast in week one and flattens, and a food web of at least ten links.
Viva questions
A teacher or a judge will ask how it works. Try to answer each question before you open it, then compare.
1What is biodiversity?
The variety of living things in a place.
2Why count for a month rather than a day?
Many species appear only after rain or at certain times.
3Which creatures appeared after rain?
Usually snails, earthworms and more insects.
4Why is a weed useful?
It feeds insects and holds the soil; it is only a weed because of where it grows.
Take it further
Compare your square with a square on bare, swept ground and count the difference.
Change one thing, measure what happens, and add a table or chart of your readings: that is what turns a model into your own investigation.
Free ebooks for this project
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