Understand what is meant by the term ecosystem and that they range in size.

Understand what is meant by trophic levels.

Understand the advantages and disadvantages of pyramids of numbers, biomass (dry) and energy as useful representations of ecosystem structure and how biomass and energy are transferred within them.

Know the ecological techniques used to assess abundance and distribution of organisms in a natural habitat, including types of quadrat, transects, ACFOR scales, percentage cover and individual counts.

Be able to select appropriate ecological techniques according to the ecosystem and organisms to be studied.

Be able to use statistical tests to analyse data, including t-test and Spearman rank correlation coefficient.