- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Earth Sciences: reading the rocks
- 2 What is ecology?
- Acknowledgements
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Practising science: Reading the rocks and ecology
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Have you ever wondered how scientists analyse the environment? This unit introduces...
Have you ever wondered how scientists analyse the environment? This unit introduces you to the techniques used by science students at residential schools. You will learn how to determine where rocks have come from and how they were made. You will also examine the processes involved in determining the ecology of a particular area.
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
- explain the difference between a mineral and a rock;
- describe the textural differences between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks;
- account for these differences in terms of the processes that produce these rocks;
- classify igneous rocks according to their grain size and mineralogical composition;
- recognise the difference between a body fossil and a trace fossil;
- sketch a rock exposure and identify faults, folds and joints;
- suggest a sequence of geological events that can best explain the features observed in a rock exposure;
- relate processes of the rock cycle to a plate tectonic setting;
- describe the causes of sea-level changes and evidence for these changes;
- understand how to use a hand lens;
- define ecology;
- explain some of the reasons why the study of ecology is important;
- describe some of the ways in which soil pH influences the distribution of organisms;
- describe some of the seaweeds and some animals zonation on rocky shores;
- describe in general terms how transects, quadrats, point quadrants and time counts can be used objectively to collect quantitative data about field sites.
- Duration: 14 hours
- Published on: Tuesday 19th July 2011
- Level: Introductory
- Posted under: Geology
Practising science: reading the rocks and ecology
Introduction
This unit is an adapted extract from the course Practising science (SXR103) [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
This unit introduces you to the types of activities undertaken by students of the earth sciences and ecology. You will learn how data is collected and analysed.
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- Creative-Commons: The Open University is proud to release this free course under a Creative Commons licence. However, any third-party materials featured within it are used with permission and are not ours to give away. These materials are not subject to the Creative Commons licence. See terms and conditions. Full details can be found in the Acknowledgements section.
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