Bogs on the Line

Source:

Based on The Moine Mhor National Nature Reserve, local schools pack (SNH)

Time

60 minutes

You will need

• 1.25 metre long garden canes (4 per group)
• insulating tape
• tape measure
• plant labels and permanent marker pen
• tent pegs
• length of string at least 50 metres long
• survey recording sheets & pencils
• plastic bags or sacks to kneel on
• hand lenses or identification books (if possible)

Did you know?

Some bog plants, like sundews and butterworts, are insectivorous and have sticky hairs to trap the insects which they feed on. Look out for these colourful plants when you visit a bog. Moine Mhor and Flanders Moss National Nature Reserves are excellent places to visit to study a bog.  Staff may be available to support your visit and Moine Mhor has an education pack that you may find useful.  See 'Where to go' for more infomation. 

Before the activity

Explain that when scientists investigate a habitat they often use a sampling techniques, using a transect and quadrats. Ask why the scientists have to take a sample rather than look at all the plants in the whole habitat. Explain that a transect is simply a line which goes right through the piece of ground you want to sample, and that a quadrant is simply a square frame which allows you to take equally sized samples.

Divide the class into groups of  2-4. Get each group to make a 1m² quadrat. Lay the canes down into a square, crossing the ends over each other so that the frame encloses one square metre. Use the insulating tape to hold the ends in place.

Show the class some photographs or illustrations of some common bog plants, like bog cotton, sphagnum moss, deer grass, sundews, bog myrtle and the three types of heathers. They will also come across other mosses and lichens. Explain the difference between flowering plants, mosses and lichens.

The activity

Choose an area that shows an interesting change in vegetation, from a woodland edge into the bog, for example, or from the top of a dry slope into a much wetter boggy area. Peg out the transect line using the tent pegs and the string. Each group will work at a fixed interval along the transect. They can take between 1 and 3 samples with their quadrat (depending on your group and the time available). Decide with the group whether you all place your quadrats on the line or at a fixed distance from the line. 

Use the survey sheet (or modify depending on age and ability of your group) to record the plants inside the quadrat. You can describe and record each type of plant, the number of different species and the percentage cover of each type of species or each group of species. The percentage cover is simply the rough area of the square occupied by one type of plant. For example if you think that about half the square has sphagnum moss then the percentage cover of sphagnum is 50%.  

To identify the plants

It is not important for the children to know all the names of the plants they find, although it is important that they work as a team and are consistent between the groups. They could, for example, just call the mosses A, B, C etc and do the same for the lichens and grasses.

Set up a 'Field ID Centre' close to the transect. Place the plant labels beside representative plants (where they are growing). If you know your plants or have reserve staff there to help you, you can use the proper names of the plants, if not, just give the plant a name like 'spiky yellow flower' or 'deer's antlers'. You could take identification keys with you, if working with older children, or could use identification keys back at the classroom and identify your finds from your photos and descriptions. The children can also confer with the other groups along the transect to find out what they are calling the particular plants.

Back in the classroom

Discuss your findings:

• Which plants were the most common at each point, was there a general trend in the most common plants or was it random along the length of the transect?
• Did the diversity of species change along the transect?
• Were some species quite rare, and only found in particular places along the transect, why?
• Draw graphs to show variation along the transects

Suggested Follow up

Repeat the transect and quadrat sampling in the school grounds or in woodland etc. Find out if any of the species are the same when comparing two very different habitats. Go on to list the features that plants need to be adapted to cope with in the various habitats. For example:

• bog species need to be able to grow in wet or waterlogged peat. Peat is generally poor in nutrients and quite acidic.
• woodland species are often adapted to cope with a lot of shade but have the advantage that the ground is quite fertile because the decaying leaves make good compost.
• plants that grow on the school playing fields have to be highly resistant to trampling and cope with being mowed on a regular basis!

Do a similar comparison study of minibeasts - see the activity Minibeast Detectives in the Biodiversity section

Take a closer look at the invertebrates living under and on the surface of a peaty pool - see the activity Aquatic detectives in the Freshwater section and 
the Schools Out Worksheet 'What is hidden below the surface of the peaty pool?' (see downloads)

Downloads

• Bogs on the Line  recording sheet
• SNH Publications: Education and Teachers Resources:
  • Schools Out Peatlands pack - particularly the illustrated sheet 'Peatland plants' and the worksheets  'Peatland plants using a transect' ,  'My favourite Plant' and 'What is hidden below the surface of the peaty pool?'
  • Wild Wet and Wonderful : A teaching pack for peat bog projects
  • All About.... Sphagnum Mos

Additional Information

The Field Studies Council provides many resources for teachers and students including a laminated fold-out key to Moorland Plants

Curriculum Links

 Science 

Age Range

3,4,5