SXR216 Environmental Science in the Field

Residential School Programme

The programme given below is relevant to all three residential school sites. However, there will be variations in the relative timings of activities between each site.

Day 0 - Evening of arrival

• Study of topographic, geological and soil maps for possible clues as to the landforms that might be present and the processes that may have formed the landscape.

Day 1 - Orientation

Morning

• Visit to a viewpoint to identify landforms that form the landscape (e.g. drumlin field, valley shape, floodplain, drainage pattern).
• Identify the processes that may have formed the landscape.
• Draw a field sketch of visible landforms.
• Take meteorological measurements (anemometer and whirling hygrometer) at both high and low altitudes.

Afternoon

• Phase 1 habitat survey: visit a number of habitat types within a defined area and identify them, annotating a base map accordingly.
• Visit a meteorological station and briefly discuss its instrumentation.

Late afternoon

• Review field sketch and maps to determine the age of the landforms identified.
• Complete Phase 1 Maps.

Evening

• Use spreadsheets to calculate evapotranspiration (ET) using meteorological data collected in the field.
• Consider long-term meteorological data sets and their manipulation to calculate ET.
• Practise ET calculations using the spreadsheet package.

Day 2 - Soils

Morning

• Briefing on the soils of the area.
• Demonstration and practise of augering.
• Demonstration, initial description and initial sketch of soil pit.
• Soil pit physical and chemical descriptions. using field guides where necessary: colour, texture, structure, pH.

Afternoon

• Final sketch of soil pit annotated with observations and measurements from morning session.
• Debrief/discussion, including soil classification.
• Note the vegetation growing at the soil pit site (to relate to soil properties).
• Collect samples for laboratory analysis of nutrients, hydraulic properties and loss on ignition (LOI).

Late afternoon

• Briefing on chemical analyses.
• Extraction and filtering for chemical measurements: nitrate, phosphate.

Evening

• Briefing on soil physical analyses.
• Physical measurements: field capacity (on porous plates).
• Samples for field capacity, bulk density, wilting point and LOI weighed and put in drying oven; brief summary.
• Tutorial on the use of statistical tests.

Day 3 - Water

Morning

• Measure flow speed and cross section in a river to estimate discharge.
• Determine hydraulic radius, estimate Manning roughness coefficient.
• Measure river gradient using surveying techniques.
• Measure discharge from a v-notch weir.

Afternoon

• Collect water samples.
• Measure pH and conductivity in the field.
• Determine water infiltration for various types of ground surface.

Late afternoon

• Analyse samples (including ion selective electrodes) Cl-, NO3-.

Evening

• Comparison of measured and calculated flow rates.
• Use of spreadsheets to estimate a soil water balance.

Day 4 - Vegetation

Morning

• Define vegetation stands to classify using NVC methodology.
• Select sample positions and use GPS to map stands.
• Collect botanical data from 2 stands (5 quadrats in each).

Afternoon

• Visit site with contrasting vegetation and collect botanical data (3 quadrats).

Late afternoon

• Construct constancy table for community classification and derive Ellenberg indicator values.
• Classify community and use MATCH and interpret Ellenberg values.
• Summary of days activities.

Early Evening

• Short test of Learning Outcomes.

Days 5 and 6 - Group work

• Use of the techniques learnt during the week to describe and contrast two areas in the vicinity of the field station.
• Working in groups, hypotheses will be formed, data collected (from both field and laboratory), analysed and conclusions drawn.
• Day 6 will end with a brief presentation by your group to the rest of the students.
• Departure for those who wish.

Day 7

• Departure after breakfast