The Open Door Web Site : IB Biology : ICT in Biology : Collecting Abiotic Data at a Sampling Site

In ecology it is important to collect information on the various abiotic factors that will influence the living organisms being studied.

First you must decide on which factors are the most significant. There is no point in measuring everything. You may also be limited by the instruments at your disposal.

Sometimes there is no direct numerical link between two sampling sites (e.g. North facing and South facing sides of a hill).

Several measurements must be taken from the same site and a mean should be calculated from them.

Once again you must decide on which factors are the most significant and select from the instruments at your disposal.

Tape measure or string marked in metres

TI Graphing Calculator with DataMate program installed
CBL2 interface

Any of the following probes:

Temperature probe
Light probe
Humidity probe
Conductivity probe
Flow rate probe

Use the following steps to start the DataMate program on your calculator: Press , then press the calculator key for the number that precedes DATAMATE. Press . (For T1 73, 82 and 83 press ). An introductory screen will appear, followed by the main screen. Plug one of the probes into channel CH 1 on the CBL2 interface. Start the DataMate program. Press to reset the program. DataMate will detect the probe and display the current sensor reading.
Press : SETUP and using the cursor buttons, or (be patient it’s a bit sluggish!) Select MODE press (scroll up to get to the last item on the menu).
In the SELECT MODE menu press : SINGLE POINT. Press : OK to return to the main screen.
Collecting data
Set the probe in position for measurement, take care that you are not influencing the measurement. Select : START to begin data collection. Single point collects data for 10s at one measurement per second. It then displays the mean value.