This site lists my favourite ecology practical resources, bringing together resources from other sites.

It's still a work in progress, and some practicals (at the bottom of the page) are just an idea without resources.

🔬 Lab practical

🏞 Outdoor practical

1️⃣ Hours required (if can be done in a single session)

🗓 Takes place over more than one session

🌦 Weather- or season- dependent

Ideas with resources

Acid rain - lab 🔬 🗓

Make up a 0.005M solution of sulphuric acid ("acid rain") and have students expose a range of objects to it to observe the effects of acid rain.

Student task sheet

Based on this RSC resource.

Formation of acid rain can be done with a quick demo.

Air pollution - Lichen 🏞 1️⃣

Lichen are very pollution-sensitive. The 'crusty' forms are the only ones that can grow in high levels of air pollution (such as sulphur oxides). The 'bushy' ones are only found in areas of low pollution.

Lots more great resources on the British Lichen Society website.

AIR pollution - sulphur dioxide 🔬🗓

A simple investigation of the effect of sulphur dioxide on germination.

Student sheet

Further details

Biodiversity - freshwater tanks 🔬 🗓

Collect a handful of aquatic plants from a local freshwater source. Place in a clear container of chlorine-free water on a windowsill and wait for the life to emerge - expect Daphnia, shrimps, springtails etc.

A simple dissecting microscope can help.
The iNaturalist app is a good way to identify species

Biodiversity - soils 🔬🏞 1️⃣

Put soil in a Tullgren funnel and put a hot light source above and a conical flask below. Insects move down and get trapped in the flask.

BIOMASS & Energy - duckweed & mealworms🔬1️⃣

Find the dry mass of a sample of duckweed then use it to estimate the mass of a larger population.

Use a standard calorimetry technique to find the energy content of a mealworm.

Student task sheet

Carbon Cycle - Trees 🏞 1️⃣

Calculate the carbon content of a tree.

"There are four steps to calculating the carbon content of a tree

Calculate the volume of the tree trunk
Calculate the biomass of the tree trunk
Estimate the biomass of the canopy and the root ball
Calculate carbon content based on the biomass of the whole tree"
Teacher guide

Ecosystems - Ecocolumns 🔬 🗓

An EcoColumn is designed to model an ecosystem on a small scale, with separate layers within a plastic bottle.

SAPS have an ecocolumn which uses carnivorous plants.

Habitats - Choice chambers 🔬 🗓 1️⃣

Give invertebrates (e.g. maggots) a choice of different conditions and see which they prefer.

Teacher and student notes

This is a required practical for AQA A Level Biology, so there are a huge number of other resources available.

Habitats - Earthworms 🏞 1️⃣

Analysing soil properties and then digging a soil pit to identifying the earthworm species present.

Teacher and student resources

HEAVY MEtals - virtual transect🔬🗓

Infiltration 🏞 1️⃣

How to measure infiltration of water into soil.

Natural Selection - Pigeons 🏞 1️⃣

Record the number of pigeons of each pattern type and compare this to previous studies, drawing tentative conclusions about possible selective advantage.

Slides
Worksheet (do first two pages, then get data, then do the rest)
Pigeon tally chart (video pigeons and then pause video to count)
Imperfect graphs (add data and improve graphs)

Nitrogen cycle - fishtanks / ecospheres 🔬 🗓

Establish a fish tank or ecosphere and monitor metrics of biodiversity and nitrogen-compound concentration.

Student sheet

Ocean Acidification 🔬1️⃣

Ocean acidification in a cup

OZONE 🔬1️⃣

Rubber band demonstration

Phytoremediation 🔬 🗓

Brown mustard plants are grown in dilute copper sulphate, reducing the copper content of the solution.

Teacher and student notes at SAPS

Population sizes - pitfall traps 🏞 🗓

Dig pitfall traps and trap invertebrates. Mark and recapture to estimate population sizes.

INdicator species - pond dipping 🏞 1️⃣

Use a pond dipping technique to identify species present and thereby determine water quality. There are loads of resources available for this, and I have found it hard to narrow it down. My favourites are probably:

Soil Erosion 🔬 1️⃣

Instruction sheet

Succession - manipulation 🏞 🗓

Establish a 2m² grid on the school grounds. Divide it into four 1m² squares. Clear all vegetation down to soil. Leave one square a year and then re-clear - leave the others undisturbed. Clear the second square in year two. Repeat clockwise over the years so you end up with four squares where there is always one that has been undisturbed for four years, one left for three, one for two and one for one year.

Particulates 🏞 🗓

Add vaseline to cards and hang up. Look for particulates under a microscope and compare levels in different areas.

Video

productivity - Elodea 🔬 🗓

Compare oxygen production of Elodea sp in light and dark, then use to calculate R, GPP and NPP.

Student sheet

IDEAS WITHOUT RESOURCES

Acid rain: Grow soil fungi on agar of different pH levels.
Biodiversity: kick sampling in rivers
Population sizes - moth traps (Trap moths overnight using a moth trap, then mark and recapture to estimate population size.)
Population sizes - snails (Mark-release-recapture snails)
Compeition in plants (Grow radishes or other fast-growing species at a variety of densities and observe effects on growth.)
Succession (observation)
Productivity - stick insects
Measure growth, faecal loss, and food eaten of stick insects and use this to calculate GPP, NPP and R.
Zonation/transects - light intensity (In the spring, before deciduous trees have their leaves, herbaceous plants grow in the dappled shade beneath trees. In bright sunlight, they are outcompeted by grasses. A transect line or stratified random sampling can reveal this. )

Acid rain - fungal growth 🔬 🗓

Grow soil fungi on agar of different pH levels.

Biodiversity - Kick Sampling in Rivers 🏞 1️⃣

Population sizes - moth traps 🏞 🗓

Trap moths overnight using a moth trap, then mark and recapture to estimate population size.

Competition - Yeast 🔬1️⃣

In a smaller container, yeast will compete more for oxygen and decolourise methylene blue less quickly.

Trying to remember where I've seen this. Something like the ISA that was about temperature.

Competition - plants 🔬 🗓

Grow radishes or other fast-growing species at a variety of densities and observe effects on growth.

Soil Compaction 🏞 1️⃣

Use knitting needs to measure soil compaction.

See 'measuring soil hardness' for instructions

Succession - observation 🏞 1️⃣

Many

Productivity - Stick INsects 🔬 🗓

Measure growth, faecal loss, and food eaten of stick insects and use this to calculate GPP, NPP and R.

Zonation / transects - light intensity 🏞 1️⃣ 🌦

In the spring, before deciduous trees have their leaves, herbaceous plants grow in the dappled shade beneath trees. In bright sunlight, they are outcompeted by grasses. A transect line or stratified random sampling can reveal this.

Want to come up with ideas of your own? Try the random generator!

Ecology Practical Random Generator

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse

School Ecology Practicals