AIDGAP is an acronym for Aid to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants.
7-696: The AIDGAP series is a set of books published by the Field Studies Council . They are intended to enable students and interested non-specialists to identify groups of taxa in Britain which are not covered by standard field guides . In general, they are less demanding in level than the Synopses of the British Fauna . All AIDGAP guides are initially produced as test versions, which are circulated widely to students, teaching staff and environmental professionals, with
14-447: A wide range of backgrounds. A large number of guides have been published in the last thirty years. A list of the works in the series is as follows (see link below for a list of the guides still in print): Field Studies Council Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK , which offers opportunities for people to learn about and engage with the outdoors. It
21-611: The available literature. However, it became increasingly apparent that a change in approach was needed. Too few guides were available which were usable by those with little previous experience. Many groups of plants and animals appeared to be neglected. The FSC initiated the AIDGAP project in 1976, with input from an advisory panel which included a range of organisations such as the Linnean Society , teachers in secondary education and professional illustrators. The two main objectives adopted by
28-440: The feedback incorporated into the final published versions. In many cases the AIDGAP volume is the only non-technical work covering the group of taxa in question. The Field Studies Council recognised the widespread need for identification guides soon after its inception, and has since established a long tradition of publishing such material. Many of these were written by teaching staff writing their own keys to fill obvious gaps in
35-446: The organisation's centres, and other outreach areas, including London parks. The centres include: The Field Studies Council creates a programme covering a wide variety of outdoor education, including fieldwork opportunities in geography and biology, providing fieldwork opportunities to allow students to investigative practical skills and to be given the chance to evaluate and analyse data they collect themselves, and data already held by
42-480: The panel were first to identify those groups of organisms regarded as 'difficult' due to a lack of a suitable key, and second to investigate ways of alleviating the difficulties of identification for each group. The panel also decided to incorporate a 'testing' stage during which the identification guides could be revised and improved. In practice today, AIDGAP guides are produced as 'test versions', which are then circulated to at least 100 volunteer 'testers', drawn from
49-575: Was established as the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies in 1943 to provide opportunities for school children to study plants and animals in their natural environment. It subsequently became a nationwide provider of outdoor education, and has established a network of field centres providing facilities for people wanting to study natural history, ecology and the environment. Field Studies Council provides outdoor educational residential or day visits from
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