Trampling Survey Free Essay Example

When we were carrying out the trampling survey, we realised that good parts of the survey were that it did give us a general ides of what the surface consisted off in that area. It also gave us an idea of weather the surface had anything present on it that should not be & weather this was an indication of erosion. It also gave us an idea of how well the site was managed. Overall this was the correct method to use as it could use figures as oppose to descriptions.

However this surveying method could easily have been made more accurate. The problems with these methods were that it heavily relies on your own observation & mental calculations so even though the quadrat only covered a space of 0.5m2, you could still only do a rough estimate on the relative proportions of surface so that it added up to 100%.

Another problem was that, particularly along the braded path, we had not created a survey point for separate analysis of bare soil & exposed rock.

So when it came to analysing the braded path we had to count the bare soil & the exposed rocks as the same point of analysis. This therefore decreased the accuracy of the results, particularly on sites 3 & 4, as on the final presentation the two could not be distinguished. These problems could have easily been solved by simpler modifications to the equipment & surveying method. The observational percentage problem could be solved by placing divisions of 25 equal squares inside the quadrat.

The observation would be more accurate when estimating percentages & then adding up then smaller squares percentages would yield more precise & accurate results. The problem with differentiating between the bare soil & exposed rocks could simply be solved by making them separate points for analysis. If these modifications were implemented the reliability of the results would be greatly improved. If I had implicated these modifications I would have concluded that the trampling survey method was capable of yielding much more accurate results of eroded ground & we would have been able to make more definitive conclusions from the m ore precise & more efficiently sorted & categorised data.

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