1I've brought my notes on our Biology Field Trip to Rocky Bay, Colin,
2so we can work on our report on the research we did together.
3OK.
4I've got mine too. Let's look at the aims of the trip first.
5Right. What did you have?
6I just put something about getting experience of the different sorts of procedures used on a field trip.
7But we need something about what causes different organisms to choose particular habitats.
8I agree.
9And something about finding out how to protect organisms in danger of dying out?
10In our aims?
11But we weren't really looking at that.
12I suppose not.
13OK, now there's the list of equipment we all had to bring on the field trip.
14What did they tell us to bring a ruler for?
15It was something about measuring the slope of the shore,
16but of course we didn't need it because we were measuring wind direction,
17and we'd brought the compass for that...
18But not the piece of string to hold up in the air!
19Didn't Mr Blake make a fuss about us leaving that behind.
20He does go on.
21Anyway it was easy to get one from another of the students.
22Now, the next section's the procedure.
23I sent you the draft of that.
24Yeah. And..
25It was clear, but I don't think we need all these details of what time we left and what time we got back and...
26how we divided up the different research tasks.
27OK. I'll look at that again.
28Then we have to describe our method of investigation in detail.
29So let's begin with how we measured wave speed.
30I was surprised how straightforward that was.
31I'd expected us to have some sort of high-tech device,
32not just stand there and count the number of waves per minute.
33Not very precise, but I suppose it was good enough.
34But the way we measured the amount of salt was interesting.
35In the water from the rock pools?
36Yeah.
37Oh, I wanted to check the chemicals we used in the lab when we analysed those samples -
38was it potassium chromate and silver nitrate?
39That's right.
40OK.
41And we need the map of the seashore.
42You just left that to me.
43And I had to do it while the tide was low,
44well, that was OK, but the place I started it from was down on the beach,
45then I realised I should have gone up higher to get better visibility,
46so I had to start all over again.
47But at least I'd got the squared paper or I'd have had problems drawing it all to scale.
48It looks good.
49We could get a map of the region off the internet and see if we need to make any changes.
50I had a look but I couldn't find anything.
51But you took some pictures, didn't you?
52Yeah. I'll email you them if you want.
53OK.
54I'll make my amendments using those, then I can scan it into our report.
55Great.
56Now when we get to our findings I thought we could divide them up into the different zones we identified on the shore
57and the problems organisms face in each zone.
58So for the highest area... ...the splash zone?
59Yeah, we found mostly those tiny shellfish that have strong hard shells that act as protection.
60But not from other organisms that might eat them, predators?
61No, that's not the main danger for them.
62But the shells prevent them from drying out
63because they're in the open air for most of the time.
64Right.
65And since they're exposed, they need to be able to find some sort of shelter, or cover themselves up, so they don't get too hot.
66Then in the middle and lower zones, nearer the sea,
67we need to discuss the effects of wave action...
68Yes, and how organisms develop structures to prevent themselves from being swept away,
69or even destroyed by being smashed against the rocks.
70I haven't done anything on the geological changes.
71I don't know what to put for that.
72No, we weren't concentrating on that.
73Maybe we need to find some websites.
74Good idea.
75I've got the lecture notes from Mr Blake's geology course,
76but they're too general.
77But we could ask him which books on our Reading List might be most helpful.
78Right.
79OK, now I did a draft of the section of sources of possible error in our research,
80but I don't know if you agree.
81For example, the size of the sample, and whether it's big enough to make any general conclusions from.
82But I thought actually we did have quite a big sample.
83We did.
84And our general method of observation seemed quite reliable.
85But we might not be all that accurate as far as the actual numbers go.
86Yeah, we might have missed some organisms -
87if they were hiding under a rock, for example.
88I wasn't sure about the way we described their habitats.
89I decided it was probably OK.
90Yeah, and the descriptions we gave of the smaller organisms,
91they weren't very detailed, but they were adequate in this context.
92I'm not sure we identified all the species correctly though.
93OK, we'd better mention that.