Species Abundance

The method of measuring the abundance of a species depends first of all on whether the organism is mobile(eg fish, insects), or relatively fixed (sessile) (eg anenomes, plants).

The abundance of mobile organisms is usually determined using the "Capture, Mark & Recapture" Method.

The abundance of sessile or relatively sessile organisms is determined by estimating the population in place using a quadrat.

Once the population of each species has been estimated, you can transfer the numbers to a data sheet. An Excel spreadsheet is provided for the recording and manipulation of Rocky Shores data.