A bright, warm September day provided the
perfect conditions for our A Level biology field
trip. Succession is one of the topics covered in
the second year of the course and the sand
dunes at Gava are a perfect example of the
process in action. Students practised skills such
as sampling using quadrats and transects and
measuring abiotic factors such as temperature
and wind speed. Successful demonstration of
these skills and others is essential for achieving
the Practical Endorsement, a module that is
awarded alongside the A Level itself. Students
also studied the established sand dunes to
establish whether there was a correlation
between the height and age of the plants using
statistical analysis.