Castle Beach Field Investigation

When it comes to field investigations, we are very fortunate to be located in such a fascinating and beautiful part of the country. Last week, our 4th Year biology students had the good fortune of undertaking their practical field investigation at Castle Beach near Falmouth.

The field day is the required practical for the GCSE biology course and the students spent the morning undertaking random sampling of limpets on the upper and lower shore and looking for differences in number, maximum height and maximum width. They also embarked on systematic sampling up the shore looking at the percentage cover of five types of seaweed.

Back in the classroom, the students will be processing their data and drawing conclusions about how abiotic factors affect the distribution of species on the rocky shore.

A few wet feet may have been acquired in the process but during the morning’s activities the students not only learnt about sampling methods but also gained an understanding of how marine life is affected by tidal coverage.