Biology 315: Working Formats

FIELD NOTES AND FIELD WORK FOR ECOLOGY

Field Notebook: The field notebook will be checked at least once during the term. You WILL be allowed to use your field notebook during some tests.

TAKING FIELD NOTES

Prepared by Ouida W. Meier
Institute of Ecology
University of Georgia at Athens

When you go out to do field work (e.g., making observations, or conducting an experiment), your field notes are often the only item you bring back. They constitute the sole permanent and original record of your work or observations. How you take notes in the field, therefore, becomes of critical importance: you and perhaps others will need to have access to the information in them even years hence. It is worth getting in the habit of taking good field notes early in your career.

Choose a field notebook that is comfortable for you. Specially designed field notebooks that are compact and have waterproof pages are available, but some people prefer composition books with larger pages, sometimes quadrille-lined (resembling graph paper), Whatever your choice, it should be a notebook with permanently bound, not detachable pages, and no page should ever be torn out of it. Entries should be made with pencil, since graphite does not run if the book gets damp or wet. The only other acceptable writing medium is permanent ink, such as India ink - appropriate for lab work, but sometimes difficult to use in the field.

At the top of each page should appear you name, the date, and the page number. At the beginning of an entry, record general observations about the weather: e.g., temperature, humidity, cloud cover. ("Very hot and humid, mostly sunny; gray clouds building to the north.") Remember to record the time of day you begin, and continue to make note of the time through the day if you think it might one day be remotely pertinent. For example, it important to note time whenever temperature is recorded, whenever soil, water, or many other samples are taken, and whenever animal behavior or events in plants are observed. All of this information provides a context for the data that is to follow, so that it interpretable. Be sure that what you write is legible and complete - both you and other people years from now need to be able to figure out what was done.

Your entry should continue with your:

1. location - where you are in sufficient detail that the site can be relocated by others (WHERE).Then, as you would with a standard laboratory notebook, write down your:

2. purpose - the information sough or questions(s) being asked (WHY);

3. methods - the specifics of what you actually did (HOW, WHEN, WHERE);

4. tools - any devices used to collect samples or information (subset of HOW); and

5. results or data pertinent to your purpose - record the samples or specimens taken (how many and where), measurements made, species encountered, etc. (WHAT).

As this essential information is being recorded, you should also make note of:

6. incidental observations about the site (plants, animals, events that may have an influence on the overall process you are trying to describe, or are just plain interesting - it may be important to you in the future); include observations regarding your methods (e.g., problems encountered with the procedures) (WHAT ELSE); and finally, but very important,

7. questions and speculations that occur to you. Your opportunity to be in the field allows your brain to collect a lot of contextual information about your major question that you may not have had or been aware of; your brain may present this information to you in distilled form as a question - you should write down questions that occur to you, because they are another form of data (plus, its kind of neat that you thought of the questions at all). Also, just being outside often stimulates good thinking, and you may make some important connections that you will want to give more thought to later (BEYOND WHAT ELSE).

OUTDOOR FIELD TRIPS

Appalachian Spring Field Trip

Appalachian Fall Field Trip

Personal - You should wear tough old clothing that you don't mind getting dirty and wet.

1. Day trips

1.Jeans or other long pants
2. A hat
3. T-Shirt or old longsleeve shirt
4. Sneakers, old running shoes, or boots that can be dried out fairly easily
5. Mosquito repellent
6. Sunscreen
7. Poncho, parka, or umbrella
8. Any personal medications or necessary toiletries

2. Camping

1. Tent

2. Day pack

3. Food

4. Water bottle

5. Sleeping bag

6. Change of WARM clothes

Professional - Things that every biologist should have.

1. Field Notebook
2. Pencils for data entry
3. Plastic bags (provided by instructor)
4. Field Guides (provided by instructor)
5. Compass (provided by instructor)
6. Basic first aid supplies (provided by instructor)

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