From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: EXERCISES AND IDEAS FOR ACTIVELY INVOLVING UNDERGRADUATES IN ECOLOGY CLASSES EDITORS Jim Ebersole and Mike Farris Department of Biology Department of Biology Colorado College Hamline University Colorado Springs, CO 80903 1536 Hewitt Ave. jebersole@cc.colorado.edu St. Paul, MN 55104-1284 mfarris@hamline.edu WHAT IS IN THIS FILE Suggestion to retain formatting Overview Fair use of this material Feedback request Table of Contents of ideas and exercises--divided into: 1) summary of group discussions at workshop 2) exercises for: a) classroom b) laboratory c) field SUGGESTION TO RETAIN FORMATTING Margins may need to be increased from default values if you look at this file in a word-processing program. For example, in WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, use Text In (ctl-F5) rather than Retrieve, choose the option to convert CR/LF to Hard Return, then set margins to 0.5", 0.5". OVERVIEW This file contains ideas and exercises for actively involving students in undergraduate ecology classes. By active involvement we mean a learning experience that requires students to think originally, to solve problems, to synthesize, to evaluate arguments, or to be creative. This compilation developed from a workshop in Madison, WI in July 1993 that was led by Jim Ebersole and Mike Farris and sponsored by the Ecological Society of America's Education Section. The bulk of this file consists of ideas and exercises contributed by people after the workshop. In addition, a summary of ideas from group discussions at the workshop is included here. We gratefully acknowledge the ideas of all participants of the workshop and especially those who contributed ideas and exercises to this compilation. We see this document as a changing, expanding list of ideas and exercises for achieving the goal of actively involving students in their educations. We invite your feedback on its usefulness and how to improve the effectiveness of this compilation. We also invite you to contribute your own exercises and approaches for actively involving students, as we expect to update this file periodically. Send contributions to Jim Ebersole at the above Internet address. Straight ascii files are preferred over encoded BinHex files. If you must send BinHex files, please encode Mac text files rather than word-processing files. In all contributions use simple paragraph formatting rather than hanging indents, etc., avoid special characters, and use 1" margins. FAIR USE OF THIS MATERIAL Authors have freely contributed this material to improve teaching of ecology. Please acknowledge the author and source if you use or modify this material for any purpose. This material is for free distribution and should not be used in original or modified form for any commercial purpose. SHOULD WE INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF ECOLOGICAL TEACHING MATERIALS AVAILABLE OVER INTERNET ? FEEDBACK REQUESTED. Over the past few months there have been several requests for teaching materials on the listserv run by ESA (Ecolog-l). We would like to determine how much interest there is in making teaching materials available over Internet. Please respond to Jim Ebersole (jebersole@cc.colorado.edu) with your responses to the following questions: 1. Would you contribute material to such a compilation? 2. Would you look at material available over Internet to see if it would be useful to you? 3. What aspects would you like to see covered? Requests on Ecolog-l have been for the following: (please respond yes/no on whether you are interested in having these available) a. syllabi b. supplementary readings c. more on actively involving students d. other--you specify 4. For which courses are you interested? a. basic ecology b. plant ecology c. other--you specify 5. Is the approach of the current compilation useful to you? How could it be improved? E.g. We have a mixture of complete exercises ready to hand to students, exercises with some explanatory material deleted to save space, and brief descriptions of some ideas. Is the mixture OK or should we move toward a particular style of presentation? ***********************TABLE OF CONTENTS*********************** SUMMARY OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS AT THE MADISON WORKSHOP CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES The Value of Discussion Spenser Cortwright, Indiana University Northwest Summer to Winter Differences in Landscapes Sheila Strawn, University of Oklahoma Writing About Environmental Issues from an Ecological Perspective Kelly McConnaughay, Bradley University Writing Research Proposals Colin Nichols-Orians, Williams College LABORATORY ACTIVITIES Simulated Sampling Larry Spencer, Plymouth State College Ecological Sampling Techniques: A Population Board Approach Mary Benninger-Truax and Martin K. Huehner, Hiram College FIELD ACTIVITIES On Being a Field Naturalist: Organismal Microenvironments Bruce W. Grant, Widener University Sampling Lawn Vegetation Ed Cawley, Loras College Ecological Sampling: Some Field Methods for Detecting Pattern in Nature Bruce W. Grant, Widener University Succession: A Seasonal Wildflower Composition Gwen Pearson, University of Texas at the Permian Basin Vegetation Mapping Jim Ebersole, Colorado College Biological Diversity and Experimental Design Gary Wagenbach, Fred Singer, Sylvia Halkin, and Matt Lee, Carlton College Comparative Aquatic Ecosystem Ecology Bruce W. Grant, Widener University Individual Projects Jane Bock, University of Colorado, Boulder Small Group Research Projects Jim Ebersole, Colorado College Ecological Research Study Bruce W. Grant, Widener University *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** SUMMARY OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS AT THE MADISON WORKSHOP The workshop participants were divided into a number of small groups based on the size of the ecology classes that individuals taught. Interestingly, there were relatively few workshop participants involved with larger (>50 student) classes. Each group decided what questions or problems to address. After the discussion period, the participants reassembled and each group presented a summary of their discussion. We have used the notes taken during the group discussions and the summary statements to generate the synopsis below. While the techniques and problems described here probably can be applied to any group of students, participants focused on students majoring in biology or ecology as opposed to non-science majors. What constitutes active learning in ecology classes? The general feeling was that activities that shifted the 'responsibility for learning' away from the instructor and onto the student were active learning. While this may mean more assignments of various types (described below), it also means that instructors must allow students to participate more fully in the classroom decision-making process (what topics are covered, how quickly topics are covered, etc.). A common theme from the discussion groups was that the successful use of active learning techniques may require a number of structural adjustments to the class. First, students must realize from the first day that they will be an active part of the class. Second, students must be prepared for class each day (reading, problems, etc.). Third, the instructor must be prepared to allow an acclimation period for students to adjust to the active techniques. Perhaps the first day of class (usually a lecture) could be devoted to a laboratory or field trip, or to small-group discussions of a general topic. Hand out the syllabus (which should be clear and complete) and let the students read it and ask questions the next meeting. There are a variety of methods available to make a typical lecture class more participatory. A simple way to ease students into a more activist role is to have students spend 5 minutes writing a short essay at the end of each lecture, either about the lecture topic of the day or an associated (applied?) topic. These could be used every period or occasionally, and be graded or ungraded. Another idea is to spend a few minutes at the beginning of each class discussing current events or ecological problems of local concern. In these discussions, it is important to get participation from different students each time. Another technique is to have pairs of students spend 2-3 minutes restating the main points of the lecture to each other. This allows them to identify areas that they don't understand and ask questions. This technique can be used twice each period and serves to break the class period into shorter sections (hopefully improving student attentiveness). A more diffuse technique is asking questions during lecture. These questions can be informational (to check for completion of assignments, for example) or more synthetic (allowing students to integrate materials and come up with conclusions). In any case, the instructor has to allow sufficient time to allow students to formulate a response. Students need to feel free to make a mistake, but at the same time they must show evidence of an honest attempt to answer the question. Extensions of the simple questioning technique include (1) organizing each class meeting around a central question and (2) using small groups to answer questions that are similar to exam questions. Other active learning techniques may require more extensive preparation by students. Debates can be held in several formats (formal vs. informal, whole-class vs. small groups). This can be a good method for presenting conflicting theoretical explanations. Students can also write and orally present position papers on ecological controversies. There are important problems in applied ecology in every part of the country, and students can tie fundamental ecological processes to these problems through such position papers. Learning can be more active if the student feels a personal connection to the subject. Several people suggested that familiarity with local biological communities can provide a starting point for discussions on more abstract ecological topics. With some help from colleagues, even large lectures can be split up for walks around campus to point out examples of ecological processes. Students can also be asked to make simple observations and collect data before discussing a particular theory or process. These do not have to be highly detailed lab exercises, but might start the students thinking. Accessory readings may also help personalize the material. Leapold's 'Sand County Almanac' or Terborgh's 'Where Have All the Birds Gone?' are examples of readings that might be used for occasional small group discussions during the semester. The use of independent projects and student journals seemed to be a major topic in several groups. Projects for individuals or small groups might include the design of an experiment, production of a research proposal, writing a complete scientific paper on the project, or the presentation of data collected by the class. One suggestion was to build a complete paper through a series of labs, allowing students to gain skill in writing different sections of the paper. Class size would have a considerable impact on how projects are conducted. Even in large classes, it is possible to collect group data and have each student write up the results. There was concern about library resources, and the time commitment needed for students to do an adequate job researching the literature. Suggestions included providing a large literature base on reserve in the library, or using the newer on-line or CD-ROM based search engines to speed up the process. Journals can allow students to gain practice in observation. A journal will force a student to slow down long enough to look, think, observe patterns, and pose questions. The journal can be used as the basis for a more concrete project, such as a narrative of a natural area or (when used in conjunction with experiments) a lab report or scientific paper. There was considerable discussion about the mathematics and statistical content of ecology courses. There was no real consensus on these topics. Some participants suggested requiring a statistics course before taking ecology; others felt that treating statistics as a 'black box' and dealing with the biological significance was more important. Other workshops have dealt with biological statistics in more detail (a report by Lou Gross can be obtained through gopher at archives.math.utk.edu port 70, or by FTP to this address; look in the Life Sciences section). A significant amount of time was devoted by participants to difficulties encountered when using active learning techniques. How to allocate class time was a common concern. If we reduce lecture time by 10-50% (or more), how do students get the basic information that they need? One approach is to make students more accountable for their reading assignments so that they cover material on their own. There was no recorded discussion about any textbooks that might lend themselves more readily to active learning approaches. Associated concerns included the potential for instructors to 'dumb things down' and/or to eliminate the discussion of natural history aspects of ecology to accommodate active learning. Nearly every group expressed concern about both students and colleagues resisting active learning techniques. Introductory biology classes were held up as a poor model of active learning, and many students may feel content to sit and be lectured to by professors. A sudden shift to active engagement may result in an initial backlash by students. Similarly, ideological divisions among faculty members can lead to problems for the active learning advocate (especially non-tenured faculty). There was no clear consensus on how to deal with the lack of effort put forth by students in these activities. For shy students, role-playing exercises may help them to participate more. Obviously, graded exercises will result in more student effort. During the acclimation period to these new techniques, perhaps students should be graded on progress, not product. This will help the shy, less vocal students in discussions. Too much grading can put undo pressure on instructors, however. Involving students in the process may help. They can exchange and critique essays before passing them in to the instructor. Grade discussion groups occasionally, at random. Limit the grading of low-level problems (punctuation, sentence structure) on student papers to a few paragraphs. Finally, there were some very general themes that the groups identified as important components of a successful class. First, students need to be aware that they are part of the ecological process, and that their actions have ecological consequences (e.g. global warming). Second, science is uncertain; theories and explanations will change as new data become available. Finally, we need to teach students how to learn and evaluate scientific knowledge so that they can make informed judgments about the information they learn. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: THE VALUE OF DISCUSSION CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Spenser Cortwright Department of Biology 219-980-7760 Indiana University Northwest 3400 Broadway Gary, IN 46408 FOR: any level TIME: one or more class periods There are several learning avenues for developing scientists. Some of the most common are lectures, textbooks. laboratories, and scientific journals. The integration of one or more of these into the discussion format is also very important for development. This is sometimes underappreciated. As each student develops, certain avenues such as lectures, textbooks, and preplanned laboratories diminish in importance. Of ever greater importance is the development of scientific discussion skills. Discussion with fellow scientists, along with journal reading and investigative research, becomes a primary avenue for learning. Students must appreciate the value of developing discussion skills as an essential part of their education. As students develop, they come into more and more contact with scientific information that is far from having a single right or wrong answer. In fact, many problems will have no single answer and may remain contextual for them to have any important relevance while others may have a broader application. Progress in understanding and improving one's ideas about science and research will then come from discussion among colleagues. One goal of this course then is to develop discussion skills. These skills are essential for modern scientists. Primary literature will form the basis for discussion. Students will learn to discuss important topics among themselves with little input from the instructor. Success will be achieved when each student better understands the research, its findings, and its implications, and has done so through discussion with fellow students. This can be a struggle, but it is one that pays off great future dividends. Ways to Run a Profitable Discussion A discussion is not a debate. Debates feature an attempt to persuade an opponent to one's own point of view. The accuracy of one's viewpoint is of little importance. A discussion is not a bull session. Such sessions are mostly for entertainment purposes. A group discussion is more is more exploratory and tentative. Participants are searching for a better understanding, new directions discovered. Productive discussions require a cooperative effort among all participants. This includes both the preparation for and the process of discussion. The following is a guideline for fruitful discussions. I. Preparation Students will prepare a worksheet that helps focus their reading and organize their participation in discussion. This worksheet will be prepared both while reading the assignment and after completion of it. The worksheet should include the following parts. A. Important New Terms and Concepts. Define any you know and note any of which you are unclear. These can be useful starting points for discussion. B. Prepare a Point Outline. This section features key material presented throughout the reading. This should include the importance of the work (i.e. how it fits into the scientific framework of a field), key methods used, major results, and important implications of the work. C. Present a Summary of the Author's Main Point. In just a very few sentences, summarize the author's main point. D. Evaluate the Article. There are several areas that should be evaluated and are featured below. 1. Presentation. Is the article clearly written? Is it internally consistent. 2. Content. Are alternative hypotheses or explanations considered? Are data adequately supportive of the conclusions? Are the data properly analyzed? Is there any bias? 3. Implications. Does the article adequately explore the implications of this work in its appropriate field? Should we be conservative in our acceptance of these results? Should we be a bit liberal in our acceptance of the results because they contain important implications and new directions for research? 4. Applications. What applications are possible for this research? This could focus on either basic or applied matters. 5. Your Position. Summarize your view of the article. What should be done next? Was the article effective? What could be done to improve It? II. Discussion Process Material for discussion can be drawn from the worksheet. It may be best to start with some basics and move on from there. Whatever directions are taken, there are many different roles in discussion. These will be summarized below. A. Initiating. Introduce a topic for discussion. This could be term definition, article summary, data interpretation, offering of alternative explanation or implication, etc. Subject matter will vary with stage of the discussion. B. Asking for or giving information or reactions. C. Restating comments. If a group member offers a comment that may not clear, then members may restate a comment to ensure the comment was clearly stated. D. Comparing ideas. Members should feel free to express and compare ideas even if unsure about them. This also involves good listening skills. This allows for development of one's ideas. E. Synthesizing and summarizing ideas. Upon covering considerable ground, a useful role is to tie together what has been discussed. This may be material for further discussion or it may allow for a useful transition point. F. Gatekeeping. This allows a member to widen participation among all group members by giving less assertive members a chance to contribute. It also allows for a change in discursion topic if the topic at hand is floundering or otherwise unproductive. G. Sponsoring and encouraging. A relaxed atmosphere is essential and this is a good place to ensure its presence. Be supportive of each person's contributions and encourage participation by others. If you disagree with a person's view, do so in a productive manner. Compliment contribution by others. Make eye contact with all group members, not just selected members. It is an incredibly important skill to bring out the best in all people around you. H. Listening. Listen to all ideas presented. Explore them and offer reactions if possible. I. Tension-relieving. A little bit of comedy can help relax the group. There are several dysfunctional roles in group discussion. These are presented below. A. Dominating behavior. Some members may dwell too much on their area of expertise. While it is useful to offer any special knowledge, it is just as useful to remember not to overdo it. domination of the discussion even in the absence of expertise should also be avoided. Use some useful roles instead. B. Uninvolving behavior. Avoid showing signs of uninvolvement because they can dampen the entire discussion. C. Miscellaneous. Avoid all put downs. Avoid excessive joking around. Avoid apologies for one's views or ideas. Summary Group discussion is a valuable tool for development of a scientist. Discussion will occur in hallways, laboratories, nature, national meetings, and more structured settings. Discussion goes a long way toward advancement in science and makes science fun. The goal of discussion is to improve and share one's understanding of a topic through discussion among colleagues. These skills will also be important in other aspects of life. This handout aims to improve each student's abilities as a member of a group discussion. Material for this handout originally comes from William Faucett Hill, 1969 Learning Through Discussion, Sage Publications. Material was modified by Judith Hansen and Craig Nelson of Indiana University, Bloomington. This version is much shortened and modified from the versions of Hansen & Nelsen. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: SUMMER TO WINTER DIFFERENCES IN LANDSCAPES CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Sheila Strawn University of Oklahoma Department of Botany and Microbiology Norman, Oklahoma FOR: most undergraduates TIME: 1 lab period Topics: Periodism in Temperate Climates Seasonal Changes in Grasslands Materials: Slide Projector Projector Screen Aerial photo slides of the mile section which includes the school if it is rural, or if the school is urban, another well-known rural area. Get both summer and winter slides which are available on free loan from the local Soil Conservation Service. Photographic slides taken from the ground of major biological and geological features in the same square mile. Activity: Discuss the differences between the summer and winter aerial photos, switching back and forth between the two. The students should be asking most of the questions and trying to identify features which appear in both and making hypotheses about why some features appear in only one of the aerial photos. Show some of the ground level photos to help them identify some of the more puzzling features. Note the darker soils in the aerial photos and state that sometimes that means the soil is more moist. Ask if they can make any hypotheses about water availability and if that has anything to do with differences in the summer and winter aerial photo slides. If possible, plan a field trip to the areas of greatest interest and compile a list of questions which could be answered on such a trip. ************************************************************************** ************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: WRITING ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FROM AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE CLASSROOM EXERCISES Kelly McConnaughay kdm@bradley.bradley.edu Bradley University 309-677-3018 Peoria, Illinois, 61625. FOR: introductory courses TIME: several class periods including viewing videos Biology 121 is the first course in the Biology core curriculum, a four semester sequence required of all Biology and Environmental Science majors, and is also available to non-majors wishing to fulfill general education requirements in science. The course is a 3 hour a week lecture course, with a separate lab (open to Biology majors only). Class size ranges between 30-40 per section (majors) to about 70-80 per section (non-majors). The course introduces concepts of Evolution and Ecology, and is taught by two instructors. In the Ecology half of the course, I have introduced a few exercises interspersed with a more traditional lecture/discussion format in an effort to increase undergraduate involvement and interest in ecological concepts. In two of the three exercises, I took advantage of students' interest in current environmental issues as a springboard for inquiry into and application of acquired ecological concepts. The material presented here was developed for the smaller majors sections. The CO2 exercise in a modified form was used in the larger non-majors course. Student feedback in both cases was quite positive. Each exercise filled a one hour lecture slot. Questions and concepts that were generated during each exercise were referred to in subsequent classes. In reading through the exercises, it might help to know that I had specific purposes in setting up the mock debates (i.e., here's a glimpse of my hidden agenda). I want the students to appreciate 1) there are no answers in science, only questions (and hopefully, pertinent data). Science is not a body of facts that can be assembled into ready answers, but rather a way of asking questions, etc. For example, many students are really confused that scientists do not know what the effects of increased CO2 will be on plant life. We know how plants use CO2, don't we? 2) there are many ways to interpret a large body of data, and differing conclusions may be equally valid. Scientists do not always agree, and are even known to change their minds in the face of new data. Having to debate either side of a particular issue forces the student to appreciate the validity of each position as supported by real data. Biology 121 Ecology and the Organism Written Assignment II (20 points) The Effects of Increasing CO2 Atmospheres on Plants and Plant Communities Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been steadily increasing from pre-industrial levels of 270 ppm to present day 350 ppm. At present, there is not a clear consensus among scientists concerning the potential effects of increased CO2 on plant life. Some scientists maintain that since CO2 is a basic plant resource, used during photosynthesis, plant life should benefit from increased CO2 atmospheres. Others disagree, arguing that other plant resources will limit plant growth in a CO2-rich world. You, as a member on the President's Environmental Health Council are responsible for making informed, sound environmental policy decisions concerning fossil fuel use and alternative energy research. As a model scientist, you would like to review all the evidence to date on vegetation responses to elevated CO2 atmospheres (roughly 3 decades of research and 2000 published studies). Unfortunately, you have only 10 days to complete your report to the President. Accordingly, you have chosen to examine the two alternative viewpoints: increased CO2 atmospheres will essentially act as free fertilizer and lead to a general greening of the planet, versus a more guarded appraisal of the benefits of CO2-rich atmosphere. Both viewpoints are supported by real data, and both viewpoints have articulate supporters within the scientific community. Write a balanced, concise discussion of the two viewpoints, including at least three points (in paragraph form) in favor of each viewpoint. Your paper should not exceed two pages. You should summarize the salient arguments made by both sets of supporters, but do not simply repeat them. Do not state your conclusions concerning the "right" or "wrong" interpretations of the future of the planet. (If you feel an absolute need to do so, prepare a separate statement, on which you may choose to remain anonymous. No extra credit will be given for this.) If you have any questions concerning this exercise, see me by Friday, Oct. 23. No late assignments will be accepted. Schedule for exercise: -Friday Oct. 16 View tape "The Greening of Planet Earth" (pro CO2 viewpoint). -by Monday Read "Plant life in a CO2-rich world" (con CO2 viewpoint). -Monday Oct. 19 Class debate of opposing views (Last names begin with A-L argue pro, M-Z argue con). I will arbitrate. -Monday Oct. 26 Written assignment due. Readings on reserve in the library: 1. Bazzaz FA, Fajer ED (1992) Plant life in a CO2-rich world. Scientific American 266:68-74. 2. The Greening of Planet Earth, transcript. The Institute for Biospheric Research. CONSERVATION OF ENDANGERED SPECIES AND HABITAT USE The President's Environmental Health Council was impressed by your previous report on the global impact of rising levels of atmospheric CO2. You have now been asked to evaluate the conflicting interests of conservation lobbyists versus other special-interest groups. Recently, there has been a great deal of heated debate concerning the fate of the spotted owl in the Northwestern United States (previous to the spotted owl, similarly heated debates centered around the fate of such unknown and considerably less warm and cuddly creatures as the snail darter, a small, colorless fish that only a grandmother could love). The President's Council has been asked to take a measured stand on this issue. Of course, without your informed evaluation of the costs and benefits of preserving this endangered species, the Council remains undecided. You are not familiar with the spotted owl, but you have at your disposal a great deal of ecological wisdom. You gather your colleagues to discuss the conservation ethic with regard to the spotted owl. You decide on the following course of action: 1. Prepare a preliminary Environmental Impact Statement summarizing the impact of spotted owl extinction on natural and managed environments in the Northwest. (Using the Biology 121 syllabus as a guide, discuss how spotted owl extinction will influence various ecological processes such as energy flow, nutrient cycling, population regulation, and community structure and stability.) 2. Become more informed about the biological and ecological arguments for conservation, and determine which, if any, apply to the case of the spotted owl. 3. Debate the relative costs and benefits of spotted owl conservation. 4. Prepare a final Environmental Impact Statement. This statement will be graded, if you so choose, and will replace the grade for the CO2 statement prepared earlier in the semester. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: WRITING RESEARCH PROPOSALS CLASSROOM EXERCISE Colin Nichols-Orians Colin.M.Nichols-Orians@williams.edu Department of Biology (413) 597-4053 (TEL) Williams College (413) 597-4116 (FAX) Williamstown, MA 01267 FOR: seniors TIME: over one term Last fall I taught a senior seminar course in Conservation Biology. I wanted the students to learn that science is a never-ending process and that to solve problems they needed to learn the tools, intellectual and mechanical, of the field. Therefore, I asked each student to write a grant proposal. The following is an overview of ideas that I published in an ESA Teaching newsletter last fall. Why a grant proposal? First, a thorough literature review will provide a foundation of knowledge while highlighting areas where our knowledge is incomplete. That is, they will realize there is more to know. Second, students will be forced to figure out how to fill in the missing pieces. They will have to develop working hypotheses, familiarize themselves with experimental techniques & design, and make projections as to what they expect to find. Asking students to predict, based on incomplete knowledge, the outcome and the consequences of their proposed research will, I believe, encourage independent thinking. The following were some pieces of information that I handed out to my Conservation Biology class. Because my class was divided into two section each section was then able to rank the proposals of the other section. Proposal Outline section approx. # pp. Summary 1 The Proposal I. Introduction (Rationale) 1-2 II. Background 3-4 III. Experimental System 3-4 IV. Hypotheses (Based on above set up) 1/2 V. Outline of Experimental (Management) Plan 1 VI. Specifics of Experimental (Management) Plan 3-4 VII. Predicted Results 1 VIII. Significance 1/2 IX. Literature Cited As needed NOTE: The summary page at the beginning, any tables and figures you choose to include, and the literature cited section do not count in the total page count. (The total page count cannot exceed 16 pages.) Proposal Review Suggestions to Reviewers (and writers) The following considerations are offered only as a guide. Please make specific comments only if the paper requires further attention with respect to one of the items listed below, or if you think the proposal is particularly strong with respect to one of the items. 1. Is the title appropriate? 2. Does the introduction clearly state the purpose of the work? 3. Does the author convince you of the merit of the system being studied and the questions being addressed. 4. Is the general arrangement of the paper logical? Would you move parts around? 5. Are there particular sections that should be added, deleted or developed further? 6. Are there any glaring omissions, or error of fact? 7. Are tables and figures clear and concise? Can you suggest any improvements? 8. Are the methods described adequately? 9. Are the methods sufficient, that is will they answer the questions proposed? 10. Are you convinced that the author has mastered the material? 11. Does the author make good use of the literature? 12. Did the 1 page summary at the beginning adequately represent the specifics and significance of the proposal? Proposal Ranking Once you have taken notes on the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal, it is time to rank them. There are five categories of rank -excellent, very good, good, fair and poor. Each of you will be ranking the 5 proposals from the other class. Rank each proposal on its own merit. Theoretically all proposals could get the same rank (i.e. very good), but more likely some will be stronger than others. Come prepared to back up the rank you have assigned to each proposal. After you rank them independently, we will get together as a group and come to a consensus on their rank. Since only three out of the five proposals can be funded (my budget is limited), you might have to make some tough choices. Now make a list of the attributes that you thought contributed to good proposals, and for those that did not get funded, make some positive recommendations for improvement. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: SIMULATED SAMPLING LABORATORY EXERCISE Larry Spencer lts@oz.plymouth.edu Natural Science Boyd Hall Plymouth State College Plymouth, NH 03264 FOR: introductory ecology classes TIME: one lab period For the labs I begin with a semi-cook book exercise on sampling of a premade up distribution of letters on an xerox sheet (community represents area 100 m x 75 m). All groups use same sized quadrats, but shape varies from circle to square to rectangle. They take 50 sample each from two made-up communities and determine the presence/absence from each sample and numbers of individuals in each sample. I then have them compare the two communities by means of a t-test for density and a Chi-square for frequency of occurrence. They also compare their results with students using the other quadrat shapes. I also have them compare their estimate for numbers per community with an actual count. I give them minimum information and ask them to think about how they set up their protocol to do the whole exercise. They are only looking at two species in each of the communities (a and b) so problems with organismal identifications are non-existent. Likewise, using pieces of paper as the communities solves a number of logistic problems. Because I know exactly how many organisms are in the community, the goal of comparing their estimates with the real number is easy to do. After we have worked with their results on this exercise, we then begin to do the real thing, sampling in the woods. Because we have done the simulated exercise first, the real thing seems to be a bit easier, although now we do experience problems with limited abilities in plant taxonomy and animal taxonomy. The students have taken both animal and plant biology courses, but they have very limited experience with the real world and can hardly tell a maple from an oak. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: ECOLOGICAL SAMPLING TECHNIQUES: A Population Board Approach LABORATORY EXERCISE Mary Benninger-Truax and Martin K. Huehner Biology Department, Hiram College, Hiram, OH 44234 truaxmc@hirama.hiram.edu 216-527-2141 FOR: Introductory ecology classes and up TIME: 1 lab period Population boards are often used to simulate actual field sampling. Rather than invest in expensive boards, posterboard can be used as the "environment", while assorted beans and pasta, small game pieces, etc., represent the organisms. We use these boards to expose students to sampling techniques and methods of examining various community- and population-level parameters. In this handout we first outline a sample exercise and then suggest a few other exercises for which the boards can be used. I. Example - Species Diversity Exercise A. Preparation 1. Draw a grid on each piece of posterboard you use (the size of your squares will be dependent upon the "organisms" you choose to use). 2. Choose 2 or 3 communities of organisms which differ in the number of species and/or the number of individuals per species. Place each community in a labeled container or baggie. 3. Calculate the actual diversity (richness, evenness, and/or heterogeneity) of each community. For example, we put together three communities of organisms for this exercise. The communities consist of lima beans, sea shells, macaroni, peas, etc. All three communities were comprised of 360 individuals. In Community A, there were 12 species each represented by 30 individuals (Shannon's Diversity, d, = 5.59); community B also had 12 species, but there were 45 individuals in each of six species, 20 individuals in each of three species, and 10 individuals in each of three species (d = 3.38); community C had only six species, with 100 individuals in each of three and 20 individuals in each of the other three (d = 2.24). B. Exercise Procedure - Class Handout Our lab handout includes background information regarding alpha, beta, and gamma diversity and richness, evenness, and heterogeneity indices. Due to space limitations, we only include the procedure here: 1. Begin by placing the "environment" on a flat surface. 2. Carefully dump and spread the "organisms" from one of your communities onto the "environment". Spread the organisms across the board, but do not worry about clumping. 3. Determine the number of sample sizes to take when the sample size is fixed (one square). With the graph paper provided, draw a species-area curve. Remember that the number of species is cumulative. Using a 10% line on your graph, determine the number of units (squares on the "environment") to sample. 4. Gather data. Using the random numbers table, randomly select a quadrat (square on the "environment") to sample. Record the number of individuals of each "species" on a sheet of paper. Repeat this process until you have sampled the number determined in Step 3. 5. Determine the species richness of your community: a) d = S/N, and b) d = S-1/lnN (Margalef's diversity index), where S is the number of species and N is the number of individuals. 6. Determine the heterogeneity of your community using Shannon's index: s d = -[sum] (ni/n)log2(ni/n) i=1 where, s = total number of species collected ni = number of individuals in the ith species and n = total number of individuals collected (log2 = 3.322 log10) 7. Repeat Steps 1-6 for a second "community of organisms". 8. Determine the degree of similarity between the two communities using Sorensen's coefficient of community: CC = 2c/(s1 + s2) where, c = number of species in common to both communities s1 and s2 = number of species in communities 1 and 2. C. Class Discussion Once the students have completed the exercise, there are several topics which can be discussed. Here are a few: 1. What decisions did you have to make while sampling? 2. Did the sampling strategy work? (i.e., are the results a reflection of the true community parameters?) 3. What changes would you make if you were to sample this community again? 4. How do richness and heterogeneity differ? 5. Considering the fact that richness indices and the Coefficient of community do not consider the relative abundances of species, when would they be most useful? II. Ideas for other exercises: A. If the community contains just one or two individuals of one species, students will be able to identify problems associated with locating rare species, particularly when using a random sampling technique. B. The boards can be used to experiment with a variety of sampling strategies. For instance, students may sample along transect lines, or use circular or rectangular quadrats by overlaying them on the board. Comparisons among the defined area methods or between defined area and non-defined area methods can then be made. C. The boards can also be used to examine various population parameters. Using "organisms" of the same species, the students can measure population density or determine patterns of distribution (regular, random, or clumped). If the organisms are different sizes, and assuming that size is related to age, the exercise can be expanded to involve examinations of age distribution and survivorship. III. Sources Greig-Smith, P. 1983. Quantitative plant ecology. 3rd ed. University of California Press, Berkeley. Magurran, A.E. 1988. Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Peet, R.K., 1975. Relative diversity indices. Ecology 56:496- 498. Smith, R.L. 1992. Elements of ecology. 3rd ed. HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: ON BEING A FIELD NATURALIST: ORGANISMAL MICROENVIRONMENTS FIELD EXERCISE Dr. Bruce W. Grant tel: 215-499-4017 Department of Biology fax:215-499-4059 Widener University One University Place Chester, PA 19013-5792 FOR: introductory ecology courses TIME: one field period natural.301 updated 8 September 1993 if you have suggestions or corrections please contact me: ECOLOGY LAB 1 BIO 301 Fall - 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ " Hello, Simichidas! Where are you dragging your feet to at mid-day? Even the lizard is snoozing the noontide away in the dry walls, And the larks are not flitting about in the sunshine. " - Theocritus (ca.) 290-280 B.C. Idyll VII. Synopsis of Today's Lab. Today we will travel to a local park and in a series of quiet solitary periods we will practice the skills of observation, written description, and analysis of NATURE that led to the beginning of all science. The first true scientists were all field naturalists. After several observation periods, we will return to the classroom, several of you will read aloud directly from your field notes, and we will discuss what was seen. Objectives for Today's Lab. At the conclusion of this lab, (1) you will have observed under field conditions the problems faced by organisms very different from yourself and you will have a greater appreciation for some of the life styles of the small and obscure, (2) you will be started on the path of development taken by all naturalists, as well as all scientists for that matter - learning how to observe and interpret nature. Equipment Needed for Fieldwork This Week. - field clothing since you will be sitting in nature for your observation periods. - wristwatch to let you know when to move to a new place. - notebook, paper and pens or pencils for recording your observations and interpretations about what you see (!!!!!!! Write legibly and use correct English !!!!!!!). What You Will Hand In At the End of Class. You should hand in your field notes at the end of this lab so that I may read about what you've seen and examine your writing skills. LAB - ON BEING A FIELD NATURALIST: ORGANISMAL MICROENVIRONMENTS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. The essence of individual ecology is in studying and disentangling the constraints and limitations imposed on an organism from its environment. But, in fact the "environment" of an organism is actually a composite of several different environmental types, each representing a distinct set of problems the organism must "solve" simultaneously in order to survive and reproduce. To illustrate: phylogeny/history biophysical environment genetics (light, temperature \ / humidity, wind, etc.) ORGANISM / . \ predation/parasitism . resource environment environment . social/demographic environment (mating) The organism must find food, water and other resources from its "resource environment," but it only has a limited set of means to find, catch, and eat its food (e. g., its eyes, hands or other appendages, and mouthparts). Additionally, it must digest that food, and not all food is equally digestible. Thus, a particular food item to one critter may be entirely inedible (perhaps even dangerous) to another critter. The organism must also secure mates, and that could mean establishing a territory, engaging in lengthy courtships with potential mates. Its success at these depends on how many and how big are the other mating competitors and mating prospects out there and that's called the "social/demographic environment." The organism must also avoid being eaten and avoid too much of a parasite load. Organisms typically possess elaborate means either to avoid detection, evade capture, or hamper digestion by a predator (e. g., by being toxic). Some organisms can do all of these at once. Note that which tactic to avoid predators/parasites will depend very much on the specific attributes of the predators/parasites out these and that's called the "predator/parasite environment." The next environmental type "phylogeny/history and genetics" isn't really an environment at all, but is meant to represent that an organism has an evolutionary ancestry and genetic background - neither of which can be known by observational means alone. For example, you can never look at any particular trait and state with certainty that it evolved because it conferred greater survival and reproduction. In fact, the trait may make no difference at all. The point is that an organism's genetics and the history of its life up to the present instant greatly determine the range of actions, or phenotypic response, it can take when faced with the next ecological problem (e. g., a predator) or in an evolutionarily novel situation (e. g., global climatic warming, ozone depletion, etc.). Finally, the last environmental type reflects the organism's requirement that it maintain physiological homeostasis in order to perform all of the functions necessary to do everything else. Success at life necessitates that an organism must avoid microclimates that exceed its typically narrow physiological tolerance limits, and instead select appropriate places to live which do not impose physical stress out of the range of those available in its "biophysical environment." This is because biochemical compounds that govern life processes (e. g., metabolism, synthesis, and structure) are all affected by body temperature. Many organisms maintain control over their life processes by regulating their temperature. For mobile animals this may involve selection of favorable microclimates out of the range of those available in their environment. Other mobile animals, such as birds and mammals, are buffered to some extent against environmental variation by generating body heat internally (endotherms) and possessing an insulating layer (feathers, fat and/or fur). But for sessile (immobile) animals and plants, fewer options are available, and microclimate selection must occur during seed dispersal, or by producing enough progeny to insure that at least some reach locations suitable for life. Relative to you, organisms have different sizes, shapes, colors, metabolism, insulation, and abilities to move; thus, they are living in a totally different world than you are. Small flecks of sunlight in a forest from your point of view become huge sunny clearings to mushrooms, understory plants and insects. To the tiniest of cretons, that often number in the millions in a single field, a seemingly monotonous lawn becomes a treacherous matrix of brambles and exhibits huge temperature and moisture gradients from soil level to the tips of grasses only a few centimeters up. These small cretons are also constantly at great peril from the threat of predation from ever-present predators yet not much bigger than a pea. What a life! In this lab, you will try to put yourself in the world of other life forms, observe the problems their environments impose upon their lives, and try to comprehend how they go about solving them. An understanding of organism*microenvironmental interactions is pivotal to understanding environmental sources of selection and how they act to create and maintain the diversity of life forms in our world. Methods for Today's Lab. Today, following a brief discussion about the physical and biological processes that determine the interaction of organisms and their environments, we will GO OUT INTO NATURE and put these new skills to work. We will travel to a local park (Taylor Arboretum), and conduct pairs of timed "focal" observations during 10 mins of QUIET SOLITARY OBSERVATION. First "focal" pair: Habitat Comparison. Find two totally different habitat types and sit in each for a 10 minute focal period. This is actually a fairly diverse park. There is a pond, a meadow, a creek, a wooded slope, forest "edges", and human artifacts to avoid (footpaths, the environmental education center, and driveway). Record what you see, hear, smell, touch, etc., and of any and all life forms encountered. Include descriptions of the plants around you, above and below, and the consequences of ambient or "operative" microclimates to any plant life in your vicinity and to any animals that happen by. If any visitors are small enough, catch one in your sample bag to make further observations. Second "focal" pair: Organism Comparison. Find two different types of organism but that are somewhat similar taxonomically (e.g. two species of understory plants, two species of arthropods, two species of vertebrates). Conduct a 10 minute "focal" on each of them noting their similarities and differences and speculate on how each may be "designed" differently given their divergent lifestyles and tasks you witness them performing. Exactly where are each found? Why might each be where you see them? What are they doing and why? How are characters of each's surface (size, shape, color, type of skin, etc.) relevant to each's physical microclimatic requirements? How are each's characters relevant to foraging, social interactions, or predation environments? Some Extra Comments. While you are writing, clearly indicate what is observation and what is interpretation. The difference between these two processes is fundamental to your development as a scientist. Remember that almost every observation has at least two or three alternate hypotheses to explain it stemming from different requirements according to the different types of environments listed above. See how many "totally different" hypotheses you can formulate to explain the same observation. If hand lenses are available, take one along with you for observing small details of plants and animals. Also, take along a sample jar for detaining small arthropods (release when noted). I will help you to identify organisms you encounter, but don't let not knowing the name of something stop you from describing and attempting to explain what it is doing, or not doing. If thermometers are available, record a few substrate temperatures in the sun and shade, and at and slightly below ground level. Note the HUGE differences in temperature over very small distances. Toward the end of the period, we will return to the lab and compare observations and interpretations of the natural history we collected. You will not need any books. Do not bring portable music players. Also, please do not use any insect repellant, tanning lotion, or smoke because the scents of these products will affect the outcome of your efforts. HAVE FUN!!! some comments to lab instructors: (1) Crank through the five environmental types figure using a real example (e.g. a lizard) lizards regulate TB by finding warm sunny places to sit lizards regulate water by eating wet food and drinking lizards typically eat bugs (but some eat plants) lizards have to be the right temperature in order to digest their food most lizards are both polygynous and polyandrous (multiple matings among numerous individuals of both sexes), but within a breeding season, they're typically just polygynous. Lizards are typically highly territorial, with the larger lizard typically winning a typical social interaction, and that's one way they carve up space. lizards are eaten by other lizards, snakes, birds, and even some large arthropods like centipedes. Occasionally they are even killed by carnivorous plants (but this was only reported for the dumbest extant lizard Anolis). lizards are often heavily parasitized internally by malaria, lung and liver flukes and intestinal parasites. Also, ectoparasites include mosquitos (which also bring them malaria) mites and ticks (and there is some hot new data suggesting that lizards may be carriers of Lyme Disease). lizards have a fairly well-known evolutionary history. One of the striking features is that of local environmental adaptation, especially in the things that many physiologists would prefer to believe do not change (e.g. body temperature, locomotion, and digestive performance). an hypothetical example of an observation with many different hypotheses could be - why did the lizard go over and sit in a place illuminated by sunlight? (2) Stress that they should write complete sentences using GOOD ENGLISH. Upon return to the classroom have each person actually read out loud from their field notes. (3) Think about winter questions - why is the canopy deciduous but the understory green? what do organisms do about freezing? (4) Above all, I really suggest that YOU do the exercises as well along with your students. After you set them up, get out your notebook and write down stuff. This will set a good example and at the same time will give you ideas about what they might be seeing and what they might talk about upon return to the classroom. (5) Tell them to go away from the path, road, etc., and not bother to write down sounds of airplanes, cars or other nonsense. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: SAMPLING LAWN VEGETATION FIELD EXERCISE Ed Cawley, Director dretc@lcac1.loras.edu Envir. Res. Center 319-588-7128 Department of Biology FAX 319-588-7964 Loras College Dubuque,IA 52004 FOR: undergraduates with limited background TIME: two 3-hour labs Keys, illustrations, data forms etc. are available from the author. A common ecological problem is to evaluate the effect of environmental factors on the plant composition of an area. A physiologist might approach the problem by setting up a series of plots and evaluate the differences in growth. This use of a controlled experiment can be an effective approach if we are dealing with one or two well defined variables, but often we may not know exactly which factors are important in a real world location. This is the problem which is commonly faced by a field ecologist. The ecologist will often approach the problem by selecting two or more sites which differ in environmental parameters, he will sample the plant composition and determine if there is a statistical difference between the vegetation on the two sites. He has used what could be considered a natural experiment allowing nature to set the conditions of the sample sites. By repeating this procedure a sufficient number of times, on sites with varying environments, he may be able to deduce the effects of particular factors which vary between the sites. Two common statistical approaches used to differentiate between stands are to calculate diversity indices, such as species richness or evenness, or to compare densities of different species or life forms. In the next two labs we will investigate these two approaches, and then in the third lab we will ask you to use one of the approaches to compare two grassland (lawn) sites. We will seek to compare lawn vegetation in various part of the campus or city to investigate the factors which may affect the species density and composition of the lawns. Some common factors which may be affecting the lawn vegetation include mowing, herbicide use, trampling, shade, fertilization, and seeds used in planting. A. Diversity Indices. One approach to characterize stands, Species Richness, is based on a comparison of the number of species on plants found in the site, the more species the richer the site, a second approach is Evenness, or Species Diversity, are all species present in about the same number or are some species very common and others very rare, if all are present in about the same abundance the evenness is high. Both these approaches require some taxonomic knowledge, you must be able to identify at least the most common species, so in todays lab we will learn to identify some common lawn grasses and weeds. 1. Identification plants in a section of the campus lawns. Each team will select one section of lawn, choose various areas which seem to have different site conditions. Select the most common plants in the site, each student should take one forb and one grass, if possible do not select the same species within the team. Use the key to identify it. You will need to familiarize yourself with basic leaf and stem morphology in order to make this identification. You will find several texts in the lab to help you with some of the terms involved. The key included in the lab manual may not cover all the species you may find. In addition to this key you will find several other picture keys in the lab which may help. There is also a HyperCard stack to lawn plants in the front of the lab that may also be of help, the instructor will demonstrate it operation. It will be in the lab during the week if you wish to examine it outside of class. As you identify the plants place them on the lab tables with their names. Examine both your teams' plants and the plants of the other teams. 2. Diversity indices. Species Richness: Record the number of species which you found in your stand of lawn, include both those you were able to identify and those you were not able to identify. Species diversity & Evenness: We need to obtain a measure of relative abundance to calculate these indices. Using a circular quadrat, estimate the % cover ( area of the quadrat covered by the leaves of a species) of each of the species in ten quadrats. Record this data on the data sheet. Calculate the average cover of each of the species. The simplest index of diversity is Simpson's index, which is the probability of picking two organisms at random that are the same species. This is calculated by: D= 1 / [sum]p^2i where D= Simpson's index pi = Coverage of species i in the community. Often this is converted to the probability of picking two organism that are different species: 1- D which is sometimes called Simpson's index and sometimes called the complement of Simpson's index (Krebs, 1989). A second index which is sometimes used is Evenness. Evenness = D/DMAX where D = Simpson's index DMAX = 1/S S= total # of species Use these equations to calculate these indices for your sample stands. B. Plant Density In today's lab we will use density, or the number of plants per unit area to compare lawn vegetation in various part of the campus. As we observed in last weeks lab several species of lawn plants can be found on the Loras campus, but for simplicity, in this part of the experiment, we may divide the vegetation into two major groups or life forms, grasses (narrow leaves with parallel veins) and forbs (broad leaves with netted veins). Each team will sample two sites on campus, selected either because the team thinks there will be a difference in the environment (for example shaded versus unshaded) between the two sites, or two areas which they feel will be the same, ie. both are in shaded areas. Measure out the two areas with yard sticks and make sure both sites are of equal area. The sites will then be sampled using quadrats, round frames of known area. You will need to decide how large the quadrats are. You must use a quadrat of large enough area to ensure that an accurate count of forbs and grasses is made. You should randomly sample ten quadrats in each area and from this number you will calculate the mean density of grasses and forbes in your two areas. Count the number of each grass and forb in the quadrat and record the number on the data sheet. In counting the grasses count the stems, not the individual leaves. You might have to trace the leaves to the ground to do this. You may approximate unbiased sampling by throwing the quadrat frame over your shoulder. t-Test: In many cases it is important to compare two experimental groups to determine if they are significantly different from each other. For example, you have examined two populations with respect to their vegetation makeup. We can use the t-Test to determine if these 2 populations are significantly different from each other. Most statistical procedures assume that the frequency distribution of the sampling data conforms to a theoretical distribution. We will assume that we are dealing with a normal distribution in which the samples will cluster around the true value with decreasing numbers above and below the actual number. The Mean (X), the arithmetic average of individual samples observed, is a good measure of this central tendency. The accuracy of this estimate depends upon the variability of the samples. This sample variance, which describes the variability within the sample, on the basis of the deviation of individual observations from their sample mean, divided by one less than the total number of observations. Often in ecological investigations we sample population from two areas, with different environmental conditions. We are interested in determining if the two populations are similar, or different. We can test for this by a parametric comparison of sample variances and means (a t test). Comparison of values for two samples involves the formulation of the Null Hypothesis that the difference between the values is no greater than expected for two samples coming from a single population. This hypothesis is then tested, and either accepted, indicating no significant difference between the samples, or rejected, indicating that the samples are significantly different. Normally we would test for homogeneity using an F test but for our purposes we will assume homogeneity and go directly to the t test. In the t test the differences between the means is compared to the standard error of the difference: A t value is then calculated by the formula: ( Graphic of equation) The calculated t value is then compared to a tabled critical value for the desired probability level. The degrees of freedom used to determine the probability level is given as: df = n1 + n2 - 2 A calculated value in excess of the tabled value leads to a rejection of the null hypothesis and a conclusion that the means differ more than expected by chance, and thus represent two different populations. You will use the t test to determine if the populations from the two sites you sampled in this lab are significantly different. Two t tests will be made, one comparing the population with respect to forbs and one with respect to grasses Make sure to record descriptions of your two sites so that you can identify any possible environmental factors which might affect your results. There is a HyperCard stack in the lab which will allow you to simulate quadrat sampling and the calculation if you wish to practice; see your instructor for directions. Studies have shown that grass responds positively to mowing and negatively to shade, while forbs respond negatively to mowing and herbicide use and may respond positively to shade and disturbance. The specific response may depend upon the species of grass or forb, and since all the above factors may be interacting it is difficult to predict what the combined effect might be. As the third part of this lab, however, you will try to set up an experiment in which you would begin to identify some environmental factor which might be affecting species diversity & richness or forb and grass densities. Meet as a team between now and next Thursday, plan and carry out a sampling procedure to test some hypothesis comparing two lawn areas on campus or somewhere else in town, ie. golf course, park lands private lawns. You may check out meters to measure light intensity, instruments to measure soil compaction or height of vegetation. Work up the data and be prepared to present a group oral report to the class. Plan to use 20 minutes in the presentation. You will be evaluated as a group, based upon the hypothesis, sampling procedures and data interpretation. You must cite at least three sources to support your conclusions. The team will also submit a brief joint report, stating your hypothesis, listing the raw data and your calculations and your major conclusions. This report will be due the week following your report. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: ECOLOGICAL SAMPLING: SOME FIELD METHODS FOR DETECTING PATTERN IN NATURE FIELD EXERCISE Dr. Bruce W. Grant tel: 215-499-4017 Department of Biology fax:215-499-4059 Widener University One University Place Chester, PA 19013-5792 sampling.lab updated 16 September 1993 if you have suggestions or corrections please contact me FOR: introductory ecology courses TIME: 2 lab periods ECOLOGY LAB 1 BIO 301 Fall - 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ " To do science is to search for repeated patterns, not simply to accumulate facts..." - Robert H. MacArthur (1972) Synopsis of Today's and Next Week's Lab. Today we will travel to a local park and in groups of 4 we will use some of the simpler methods in ecological sampling to estimate some of the simpler characteristics of naturally occurring populations of plants and animals (such as density, distribution, etc.). This week will involve field data collection and analysis, and at the end of the period we will compare our results among groups. Objectives for Today's Lab. At the conclusion of this lab, (1) you will understand how to use several methods to sample populations of plants and animals including the use of transects, quadrats, and so-called "plotless" techniques. (2) you will learn that one need not measure "everything" to get an estimate of various characters of natural populations. (3) you will have a better understanding of how to devise and implement your own field sampling methods to answer ecological questions about patterns in nature of interest to you. Equipment Needed for Fieldwork This Week. - field clothing. - clipboard, notebook, paper and pencils for recording your data - in addition, you will need the specific equipment on the checklist below in the section on methods. What Your Group Will Hand In At the End of Class. Your group should hand in your data analyses (tables, graphs, etc., detailed below) as well as your original field data. ECOLOGY LAB - ECOLOGICAL SAMPLING: METHODS FOR DETECTING PATTERN IN NATURE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. Nature shows pattern. This includes patterns in the distribution and abundance of plant and animal populations along environmental gradients in space, time, or both, as well as community and ecosystem patterns at higher levels. All of these patterns stem ultimately from the ecological and evolutionary pressures on individuals living a complex world. According to Robert MacArthur, a founder of modern ecology, the aim of ecology is to search for, describe, and explain patterns we see in nature. The first step in this process is to describe pattern. Although this might seem to be the easiest step, one of the most challenging tasks in ecology is to devise descriptive techniques that best do this given the limited time and resources available. Since it is impossible to measure everything, the optimal sampling scheme involves judiciously selecting a few indirect measures that reveal the pattern(s) of interest. This is called "SAMPLING", a procedure by which you collect data on a subset of individuals and estimate the relevant components of natural populations, communities and ecosystems to reveal the pattern of interest to you. For example, suppose you were interested in determining the effects of naturally occurring fires on plant community biodiversity. Suppose your interest in this were because you were a range manager in a prairie ecosystem, and you wanted to know what would happen if you were to implement a management policy to put out all fires. One way to find out would be to choose two areas of identical prairie and allow one to burn naturally, and put out every fire on the other. Eventually (probably in a decade or so) one would simply sample the plant communities on each and look for differences that COULD be due to the difference in fire frequency. (In fact, studies have shown that fire is essential to prairie diversity...) The trick, of course, is to come up with a good way to select which individuals to include in your sample that are "truly representative" of the actual number of various species of plants of each kind without having to count every individual. In order to collect representative samples, one must take data on individuals targeted on a "RANDOM" basis. For an ecologist attempting to measure how many grass species are in a prairie, this means that an individual cannot be sampled just because it is conspicuous and easy-to-find (such as a big weed with a big flower). In fact, the biggest species might be among the rarest. Plants must be sampled randomly otherwise the resulting estimate would be a "biased" one. There are almost as many sampling techniques as there are research questions in ecology. However, all of these techniques can be lumped into two main groups depending on how the sampler encounters the small number of individuals on which to make measurements. These are: (1) PLOT OR QUADRAT BASED METHODS which randomly locate a piece of ground within which individuals are sampled, and (2) PLOTLESS METHODS which lead to random encounters with individuals to be sampled along transects without using a marked off grid. These approaches will be discussed in class, research groups will form, and then YOU WILL BE SENT OUT ON YOUR WAY TO GREATNESS. Methods for Today's Lab. Today, following a brief discussion about sampling, you will form small research groups (of 5 people per group), and we will travel to a local park to conduct today's sampling studies. One research team will establish a fairly large plot, or "quadrat," in a representative area and perform a complete census of the trees in their plot. The remaining two research teams will deploy line transects in similar wooded areas and estimate tree species diversity and relative abundance indirectly using a transect sampling scheme called the "Point Quarter System." Pay close attention to the details below of what data are collected in the field and how it should be analyzed and presented. Steps Once On Site: Methods for the group using the "quadrat" sampling scheme. - Establish a starting corner and the approximate area for your sampling quadrat. Ask me for advice on which habitat type in this park you should select (either the "west" or "south" woods at Taylor arboretum). - Use your measuring tape to find the other three corners of your sample quadrat. I suggest that you measure out 30 meters along a side in one direction and try as best as you can to measure out another 30 meter side at a right angle. Continue this on around until you close your quadrat square. Tie little strips of day-glo flagging to sticks or trees at the corners so you can see them. REMEMBER TO PICK ALL FLAGGING UP WHEN YOU ARE DONE. - Proceed as systematically as you can to record every tree in your quadrat. Identify each tree to species (although if stumped you may use oak species 1, oak species 2, etc.), and measure the circumference of the tree at a height of about 1.5 meters. Ignore vines, young thin trees (circumferences less than 30 cm), and dead trees. - If you finish completely censusing your quadrat in less than 45 mins, then mark off another 30 meter square plot in an adjacent area and repeat the censusing. - DATA ANALYSIS - DENSITY ESTIMATION: To estimate density, simply calculate the total number of individuals for each species and divide this number by the total area of your study quadrat. This will give you the density per square meter for comparison with data from the other groups. - DATA ANALYSIS - DIVERSITY ESTIMATION: To estimate diversity, I want you to use several different methods. One is to simply total the number of different species you encountered. Secondly, I want you to refer to Appendix 1 and calculate several commonly used diversity indices from your data. We will compare diversities among these stats and with the diversities from the other groups. Methods for the groups using the "point-quarter" sampling scheme. - Establish a starting point and a direction for your transect, and place a small flag at this point. Ask me for advice on which habitat type in this park you should select (either the "west" or "south" woods at Taylor arboretum). Note: since the starting point is established subjectively, don't sample anything at it. - Extend your measuring tape from the flag you just placed along the direction of your transect and place another flag exactly at the 10 meter mark. This point represents the "origin point" of the point quarter technique. The "quarter" is represented by the four quarters created by dividing an imaginary circle with the origin point at its center into four equal quarters. To help you see these quarters place a stick perpendicular to the transect line at the origin point (I will demonstrate this in the field). Now you are ready to take your measurements at the origin point. - Choose the tree that is closest to the point in each of the four quarters. Write down three things on your data sheet: (a) the species/type of plant (use the field guide and ask if your are unclear), (b) the circumference of the tree at a height of about 1.5 meters, and (c) the point to plant distance. Ignore vines, thin trees (circumferences less than 30 cm), and dead trees. The following illustration may be helpful. quarter C . quarter D . nearest tree o . . . o nearest tree . . . . . . . . . next origin point ... transect line --------------------------O------------------------------>>> ... . . . . . o nearest tree . . nearest tree o . . . quarter B . quarter A - Move ahead another 10 m approximately in a straight line, and repeat the previous steps at least ten more times. - DATA ANALYSIS - DENSITY ESTIMATION: This is a tricky process, so follow the data analysis worksheet closely. - DATA ANALYSIS - DIVERSITY ESTIMATION: same as for quadrat sampling described on the previous page. Some questions for thought for the comparison of point quarter sampling with transect and quadrat sampling exercise. - How did the results of these two sampling methods compare? - How did the "collecting effort" differ among these two? - Which method would be better for what type(s) of ecological questions? - What might account for any observed differences among habitat types in the data collected among all groups? - What might account for observed variation among sampling stations along the same line transect? IT IS ESSENTIAL TO THE SMOOTH RUNNING OF THIS AND SUBSEQUENT LABS THAT YOU MAKE SURE YOUR EQUIPMENT IS RETURNED, CLEANED, AND NEATLY ORGANIZED SO THAT THINGS ARE USABLE FOR THE NEXT LAB. HAVE FUN!!! Data Sheet for Quadrat Sampling. Names of research team _____________________ Quadrat total area _______________ Species Circumference (cm) Species Circumference (cm) ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Data Analyses for Quadrat Sampling. Names of research team _____________________ Quadrat total area _______________ Species Total Number Density Proportion of All on Your Plot trees/m} Observations, pi -------------------------------------------------------------------- all species DDD> 1.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: List species in descending order of occurrence. The column "Proportion of All Observations, pi" is the fraction of all trees you censused that are of each species. E.g. if you censused 80 trees in total and 10 were holly, then pi= 10/80 = 0.125 for holly. You will need this column for your diversity calculations. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Diversity Estimations (see appendix 1 for calculation steps) Total Number of Species _________________ Shannon Diversity Index, H' __________________, exp(H') __________________ Evenness of Shannon ________________________ Simpson Diversity Index, Hs __________________ Data Sheet for Point-Quarter Sampling Scheme. Names of research team _____________________ Point # Species Circum. Distance Point # Species Circum. Distance (cm) from Point (cm) from Point ------------------------------------ ------------------------------ (1) A (6) A B B C C D D ------------------------------------ ------------------------------ (2) A (7) A B B C C D D ------------------------------------ ------------------------------ (3) A (8) A B B C C D D ------------------------------------ ------------------------------ (4) A (9) A B B C C D D ------------------------------------ ------------------------------ (5) A (10) A B B C C D D ------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Data Analysis for Point-Quarter Sampling Scheme. Names of research team _____________________ Total number of point to tree distance measurements ____________ = N Sum of all point to tree distance measurements ____________ (m) = d D _ Average point to tree distance (d D / N ) ____________ (m) = D _ _ _ Average area occupied by an average tree ( D * D ) ____________ (m) = D} _ Total density of trees in the habitat (1/D}) ______________ trees/m} Now, fill in the table below for each species: Species Total Number Density Proportion of All Among all Points trees/m} Observations, pi -------------------------------------------------------------------- all species DDD> 1.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: The basic idea (as described by Cottam and Curtis, 1956) is to estimate the area occupied by an average tree, expressed as square meters per tree, and noticing that the inverse of this quantity has units of trees per square meter. One finds the average area occupied by trees by assuming that the average point to tree distance is related to the average tree canopy diameter. In fact, the relation is assumed to be the exact square of the average point to tree distance (mean area = D} ). To find the tree density (number of trees per m}) for each species for the point-quaters method, simply multiply the total density of trees that you found among all trees by the pi values for each tree species. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diversity Estimations (please use the worksheet above for quadrat sampling because there's no more room on this page. Appendix 1 - Calculation of Diversity Indices *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: SUCCESSION: CHANGES IN WILDFLOWER COMPOSITION FIELD EXERCISE gwen pearson pearson_g@gusher.pb.utexas.edu dept. of life science university of texas at the permian basin odessa, tx FOR: introductory ecology courses TIME: 1.5 months A full copy of the lab is available from the author. The author notes she had very limited editing facilities in sending this message. in texas, specifically WEST texas, we have to be inventive. a seasonal wildflower succession occurs in the spring and summer, and is used to illustrate the concepts of succession, dominance, diversity, resource partitioning, etc. of course this is not true succession, but it illustrates the concept very well. students record the species composition of 2 separate 2m square blocks on an ungrazed area of prairie. records of insects observed are also kept; an insect succession of sorts accompanies the foliage changes. records of rainfall, max/min temperature, humidity, and various other weather parameters are kept. over the course of a month and a half, a field diary is kept in which all the data is recorded, and any observations, exclamations, etc. then the data is graphed, and dominance/diversity parameters calculated for each week. correlations between weather parameters and species changes are sought. students are asked to hypothesize why some species are or are not dominant, and how they are adapted to reproduce in the specific time period they do. then, (the kicker), students have to propose a test of one of their hypotheses. generally the response has been positive; most students say they had not realized the diversity of plant and animal life in the area. i think because we verge on a desert, most of them assume its all dead out there. of course, the overgrazing is no help either. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: VEGETATION MAPPING FIELD EXERCISE Jim Ebersole jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Department of Biology 719-389-6401 Colorado College FAX 719-389-6940 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 FOR: first-year students to juniors TIME: about 4 hours Goals: To get students to begin to form habits of looking for and seeing patterns in the landscape and to learn how vegetation community types are associated with certain environments. I use 1:8000 black and white aerial photos to map roughly 20 ha in Garden of the Gods (high quality photocopies or blacklines of aerial photos may be adequate). [These photos came from the utility company; photos are also available from USGS in smaller scales and can be enlarged to roughly this scale. Other scales may be appropriate for other vegetation types.] Garden of the Gods is an area in the transition from grasslands to scrub to forest and also includes several substrate types (limestone, sandstone, shales). One aerial photo per two students works well. Groups larger than two tend to allow some students to be passive. I cover the photos with a plastic that can be written on and change the plastic covers each class. Choose a combination of plastic and pen that will not smear if touched but can be erased with a little moisture on a handkerchief. Before students begin to map, I 1) hand out a key to the woody plants and point out the dominant herbs, 2) describe a rapid vegetation sampling technique (making sure they understand why this is appropriate in this situation and not in many others), 3) take them to the top of a hill and make sure they understand how the photo and landscape relate. I give them 3-4 hours to draw outlines around community occurrences, describe each map unit with a vegetation sample (woody plants and dominant herbs only), and describe the environment associated with each community type. I let the students work alone for at least an hour and then try to find each group and see how they are doing. At lunch (part way through the exercise) I look at all the maps, talk about any common problems, and lead a discussion of appropriate level of mapping detail and appropriate level for defining communities. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN FIELD EXERCISE Gary Wagenbach, Fred Singer, Sylvia Halkin, and Matt Lee. Department of Biology Carlton College GWAGENBA@carleton.edu Northfield, MN 507-663-4390 FOR: Introductory courses TIME: one lab period, wait 2 weeks, labs to process invertebrates The project described is started during the first week of an introductory animal biology course at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. The description you see here is a condensed version of that used in the laboratory manual for the course. Activity: An evaluation of diversity of stream dwelling macroinvertebrates. A. OBJECTIVES 1. Become familiar with a diverse group of invertebrates inhabiting a local aquatic environment. 2. Learn to use a dissecting microscope and a taxonomic key to identify organisms. 3. Acquire an understanding of the basic concepts of experimental design. 4. Use these concepts in setting up an experiment in the field. 5. Develop skill in preparing a scientific research report. Note here about wearing old clothes and shoes for wading in a stream. B. MEANING AND MEASUREMENT OF DIVERSITY One page of background narrative is deleted at this point. Habitat management to maximize species diversity requires measurements not only of the number of species present, but also of the relative abundances of different species. In order to express these characteristics, different measures are used. The simplest way to measure diversity is to count the number of different taxonomic groups (species, genera, families, or whatever level one is interested in). This measure is referred to as richness. One problem with just counting the number of groups is that this method treats rare and common groups as equals. Consider the following example of 2 animal communities (associations of organisms living in the same place). Each community has 3 groups of animals and the same total number of animals (150), but the number of individuals in each group varies for the 2 communities. Community 1 Community 2 Group A 148 50 Group B 1 50 Group C 1 50 Community 2 would seem to be more diverse than 1, even though 1 and 2 have equal richness. Therefore, it is useful to consider a second measure of diversity: heterogeneity. We will calculate heterogeneity using Simpson's index, which expresses the probability of picking at random two individuals that are of different groups. Simpson's index has the form s D = 1 - [sum] pi2 i=1 where D = Simpson's index pi = proportion of individuals of group i in the community s = number of groups in the community. The nice feature of Simpson's index is that it gives relatively little weight to rare groups and more weight to more common groups. The index ranges in value from 0 (no heterogeneity) to 1 (maximum heterogeneity). In the examples shown above, Community 1 has a Simpson's index of 0.03, while Community 2 has an index of 0.67 (see the calculations on the following page). Community 1: D = 1 - [(148/150)2 + (1/150)2 + (1/150)2] = 0.03 Community 2: D = 1 - [(50/150)2 + (50/150)2 + (50/150)2] = 0.67 These values bear out our intuitive impression, that Community 2 is more diverse (heterogeneous) than Community 1. Other important considerations in evaluating community composition include which taxonomic groups are present (taxonomic composition), and absolute numbers of individuals. For example, if Community A consists of 3 mice, 3 squirrels, and 150 mosquitoes, and Community B consists of 3 cardinals, 3 robins, and 150 houseflies, communities A and B have equal richness, heterogeneity, and numbers of individuals, but different taxonomic compositions. C. SCIENCE AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Much of the progress made by science has resulted from breakthroughs in experimental design. To design an experiment intelligently, it is necessary to understand a few basic principles. A half page of narrative has been deleted here. D. SPECIFIC PROCEDURES: SETTING SAMPLERS IN SPRING CREEK In this lab exercise you will be studying invertebrate diversity and taxonomic composition in Spring Creek, the major source of the water in Lyman Lakes on campus. Invertebrate diversity in flowing water is not uniform. Factors that may influence invertebrate diversity include availability of food, oxygen, and appropriate substrate, and presence of predators and competitors. You will be comparing invertebrate diversity and taxonomic composition in areas where water is turbulent due to relatively sharp drops in elevation (riffles and at the base of small waterfalls) to diversity and taxonomic composition in areas 5-7 m downstream from these turbulent areas, where the water is calmer. Your findings would be relevant to stream management practices designed to increase overall invertebrate diversity, or to encourage or discourage beneficial or pest species. Specifically, you will address the question of whether the invertebrate communities in Spring Creek in turbulent areas and calm-water areas differ in terms of the following parameters: 1. Richness 2. Heterogeneity 3. Taxonomic composition Your primary tool for investigating this problem is the Hester-Dendy invertebrate sampler, a set of square, masonite panels held together (with spaces between them) by a long bolt. Each sampler is fastened by a string to a brick, which will keep the sampler from being carried away by the current after you place it in the creek. For this experiment, each laboratory section will be divided into 2 teams, and each team will be responsible for placing 10 samplers in the creek. One team will place its samplers in an area of turbulent flow, and the other team will place its samplers 5-7 m downstream. Unless the creek dries up, various forms of invertebrate life will crawl between the panels and set up housekeeping. Two weeks from now, you will collect the samplers, bring them to the lab, and survey the animals that you find on them. Each lab will go to a different portion of the creek; results will be compared both within and between the various lab sections. Before going to the creek, each lab section needs to decide which environmental factors are likely to be relevant to this study, which ones should be measured, and which ones should be controlled for in choosing sampler locations. Bear in mind that you are interested in determining the effect of a single variable (turbulence of water flow) on the richness, heterogeneity, and taxonomic composition of invertebrates. Therefore, it is important to try to keep other environmental variables constant in the 2 sampling locations. What other variables can you think of? Some of these will necessarily be correlated with water turbulence, and thus cannot be matched in the two locations. Once you arrive at your site along the creek, be sure to take careful written notes about all variables that you think could possibly have a bearing on your experiment. Measure and record water flow rates in the two locations. Record all other measurements that the lab agreed to take during the discussion you just had in the laboratory. You will use these notes as you write your report on this lab and attempt to explain the differences you find. Before leaving the site, check with your instructor to be sure that you have recorded all the necessary information. E. SPECIFIC PROCEDURES: IDENTIFYING INVERTEBRATES IN THE LABORATORY A half page of narrative has been deleted here. LABORATORY 3: BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, PART II A. OBJECTIVES (SEE LABORATORY 1) B. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE A narrative on how to process collected invertebrates goes here. C. DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION The combined efforts of the lab sections should yield data about the number of taxonomic groups (richness), Simpson's index (heterogeneity), and taxonomic composition of invertebrate communities in turbulent and calm-water areas. At this point, you should work on rephrasing the objectives of your experiment in the form of a null hypothesis and a number of alternative hypotheses for each of these parameters. Use the data in Table 2 to calculate richness and Simpson's index for each turbulent- and calm-water site, and also for all of the turbulent-water sites combined and for all of the calm-water sites combined. Enter the results of your calculations in the spaces provided at the bottom of Table 2. *** To determine whether taxonomic composition is different in the two locations, you will perform a chi-square test of independence and record your calculations one form shown on page 3-6. What will this statistical test tell you? Chi-Square Test of Independence A narrative on how to make the calculations and an example go here. D. PREPARATION OF THE WRITTEN REPORT Add narrative on how to write a report here. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: COMPARATIVE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY FIELD EXERCISE Dr. Bruce W. Grant tel: 215-499-4017 Department of Biology fax:215-499-4059 Widener University One University Place Chester, PA 19013-5792 FOR: introductory ecology courses TIME: three field periods if you have suggestions or corrections please contact me ecosyst.lab 16 February 1993 NOTE: this lab was modified from the labs on Aquatic Ecosystems and Soil Ecology developed by Dr. Mark Brinson, David Knowles and others at East Carolina University. There are still some bugs in the plankton metabolism part to be worked out, so beware. ECOLOGY LAB BIO 2251 Spring 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depths of his own nature." - Thoreau. 1854. Walden. Synopsis of Today's Lab and the Next Two Labs. This multi-week lab involves field studies comparing ecosystem-level ecology among three local freshwater wetlands: a pond, a flooded forest, and a stream. The field and laboratory methods you will use will be OF YOUR DESIGN. Your instructor will only provide necessary equipment and technical advice. Your objective is to provide the quantitative environmental and ecological bases explaining why these three types of ecosystems differ. Variables of interest include: - physical data such as water temperature, depth, flow velocity, pH, dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration, soil properties of submerged sediments and adjacent uplands, and - biological data such as the biodiversity of aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals, as well as community metabolism of plankton. First Week: The first week will involve a preliminary trip to acquaint you with the field techniques, study species, and study sites (the wetlands in River Park North and a stream in a local park). Then, you will form groups and each will target a specific type of data to collect on which to base comparisons among these aquatic ecosystems. In class, you will establish sampling and analysis protocols. Second Week: During lab in the second week, we will return to the study sites and collect all data using sampling methods of your design. Then, back in the lab on the same day, and if necessary over the next week, you will analyze your data, prepare a brief presentation of your results. Third week: You will present your results to your peers in an in-class research symposium. Objectives for This Three Part Lab. (1) you will understand some of the basic physical and biological differences among freshwater aquatic ecosystems - i. e., ecosystem structure, (2) you will understand how the interaction between life and the non- living affects the dynamics of these ecosystems - i. e., ecosystem function, (3) you will understand some of the ways in which physical and biological differences among these ecosystems create selection pressures affecting the evolution of the organisms found in them, (4) you will understand how these ecosystems might be affected by naturally occurring or human-induced perturbation (e. g., climate change, economic development or pollution). Equipment Needed for Fieldwork This Week and Next Week. - field clothing, notebook, clipboard, paper and pencils, - specific equipment for your group's project. What Your Group Should Hand In. Week 1: Hand in a brief description of your project, the data you will need to collect, your sampling methods, as well as hypotheses about the differences you might expect to find. Week 2: Your group should hand in a 1 paragraph project update. Week 3: Following your group's presentation, hand in an updated description of your project, your methods, your results, and your interpretations. This need not be a "formal" report, but we want to see your data and analyses in a clearly interpretable format (attach a copy of your original field data in an appendix). ECOLOGY LAB - COMPARATIVE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY -------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. Aquatic ecosystems range from hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean (or deep lakes in Yellowstone!), to intertidal marshes, to freshwater swamps, to high altitude lakes in the Andes. These ecosystems cover a tremendous range of physical and chemical conditions, yet the same kinds of organisms are commonly found in all of them - aquatic organisms, in fact. Generally, there are primary producers of two types: phytoplankton (algae) and so-called "higher" plants. Additionally, there is a host of organisms that eat plants, ranging in size from microscopic zooplankton to larger animals such as insects, amphibians, fish and other vertebrates. And of course, there are animals designed to eat these, too. Most of the earth is occupied by aquatic ecosystems. Activities of these organisms, mostly microscopic and in the oceans, exert major control over the composition of the atmosphere. They also play major roles in primary production and respiration and the associated processes of nutrient cycling worldwide. Although the basic structures of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are similar, there are several key ways that aquatic ecosystems differ which stem from the constraints of living in water. For example - - water is a viscous fluid that attenuates light quickly, through which it is costly to locomote, but because of buoyancy, organisms need little investment in structural support, - water has a high heat capacity which buffers environmental variation in temperature and sunlight with changing weather and season, - for organisms living in freshwater (which is our subject today), water will tend to move by osmosis and dilute them, which imposes some very real costs to maintaining proper solute balance, - many important nutrients and gasses are readily dissolved in water which makes them readily accessible to plants and animals with high surface to volume ratios (e.g. phyto- and zooplankton), - compared with air, water has a greatly reduced oxygen holding capacity which makes it difficult for submerged plants and animals to avoid suffocation unless there is considerable water agitation. As a result, life in aquatic ecosystems is unlike anything to which we terrestrial organisms are accustomed. Further, because all of the constraints listed above are highly interactive with each other and with subtle variation in climate, topography, etc., no two aquatic ecosystems are exactly alike. Due to the extreme sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental variation, one often does not have to travel far to see totally different aquatic ecosystems - as we will see in this lab. The ponds, flooded forest swamps, and streams adjacent to the Tar River (in River Park North and Green Springs Park) amply demonstrate the broadly contrasting conditions typical of many aquatic ecosystems. This week and the next we will examine these ecosystems in detail. They cover a broad continuum in physical and chemical conditions and exhibit totally different plant and animal communities. The challenge of this field exercise is to describe and quantify the environmental and ecological conditions of these divergent aquatic environments and infer: - what are the different physical conditions associated with the three ecosystems, i. e., what are the environmental forcing functions on the biotic component of the ecosystem? - how might observed physical and biological differences interact to determine presence or absence of, and dynamics among different aquatic organisms? - how might the physical and biological differences among these ecosystems create different selection pressures affecting the evolution of the individual organisms found in them - i.e. how are individuals adapted to these different environments? - how these ecosystems "respond" to naturally occurring or human-induced perturbation (e. g., development, pollution), i.e. how "stable" are these ecosystems, how "resistant" to change are they, and how rapidly can they "recover" following a perturbation? Some of the measurements you will be making for comparing these ecosystems will require specialized instrumentation while others depend on your keen powers of observation. Since these methods can only work when they are put together, you are highly encouraged to include ample qualitative information during the collection of your quantitative data. Not only will this increase the interpretability of these data, but it will increase your chance of labeling your sample correctly and thereby being able to use it. As a cautionary comment, refrain from concluding that any particular level of dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, etc., is "good" or "bad." This is because goodness or badness of the quality of the environment are highly relative terms. For example, cool water may be "good" for the slow growth rate of largemouth bass, but "bad" for painted turtles that have to warm up to digest their plant food. But to an environmental engineer "good" water quality might be water that requires little treatment (filtering, chlorination, etc.) in order to make it suitable for human consumption or crop use.1 As scientists you should always control your use of anthropocentrisms, and reserve applied ecological terms such as "water quality" for applied reports. Here, we will focus on what affects the survival, reproduction and evolution of aquatic organisms that determine the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - An Historical/Editorial Footnote: Some of the physical and chemical parameters that you will be measuring have direct application to the applied ecological field of "water quality." Historically, this subject was the lightning rod to the field of ecology during the environmental folk-scare of the late the 60's. Dead fish and oil slicks provided much of the stimulus for Earth Day in 1970 and for the subsequent environmental push that led to the Clean Water Act in 1972 (C.I.E.P. 1989. Complete Guide to Environmental Careers). Today, there is a widening range of career opportunities in water quality monitoring and control, in part, because during the previous decades, the environment was always the first corner cut. But more importantly, new technologies in environmental monitoring and cleanup (especially involving biotechnology) are available to deal with trace toxins, so-called non-point source pollution. In short, cleaning up after the 80's may be the career choice of the 90's. Methods for Today's Lab. 1. Locations and General Descriptions of the Three Study Sites. Pond - Any one of the ponds at River Park North will serve the purpose. The pond nearest the north entrance has a dock. Flooded Forest Swamp - Several depressions in the swamp forest contain at least some water at most times of the year. You should acquaint yourself with the field marks of North Carolina's poisonous snakes from the field guide, before sampling in this location. Stream - The Green's Mill Run is typical of a small stream in an urban/suburban community. Despite its proximity to humans, it still retains at least some of the features of an undisturbed lowland costal plain stream. In your notebook, describe what you see, hear, and smell that would distinguish these sites in the mind of the reader. Note the presence of vegetation around the wetland margin. What affect would this vegetation have on the wind? How would you characterize differences in wind and light environments? How would you expect water transparency, color or suspended sediment content to vary after a heavy rainfall? 2. Physical Data 2.1. Water quality, flow velocity and depth (need: meterstick, secchi disk, field notebook). Use the secchi disk to estimate the water depth at which the disk is no longer visible. Imagine your surprise, this depth is important to phytoplankton due to their photosynthesis. How does depth differ among the three sites? Comment on the water transparency, color, suspended sediment, and flow velocity. In the case of the pond, there may be an outlet that will allow the measurement and the calculation of water export. The swamp forest depression doesn't flow most times of the year. However, you should be aware of the kinds of conditions that result in flushing. The river normally has flow, and you may be able to make some rough calculations of the flow rate from the bank of the river. Although they will not be particularly accurate, the measurements and estimates should be sufficient for comparing the three sites. 2.2. Dissolved Oxygen Concentration (need: O2 analyzer). Your job is to characterize the availability of dissolved oxygen within and among these ecosystem types. Devise a sampling scheme to measure O2 in as many different places as you can within each ecosystem - don't just rely on a single measurement. Your instructor will demonstrate the intricacies of the dissolved O2 meter in the field. It's really simple, BUT TAKE CARE NOT TO DROP IT AND DON'T BREAK THE FRAGILE MEMBRANE IN THE PROBE TIP. 2.3. Dissolved Carbon Dioxide Concentration (need: CO2 test kit). Your instructor will demonstrate the use of the dissolved CO2 test kit. It is a basic in-the-field titration test. Your job is to characterize the availability of dissolved oxygen within and among these ecosystem types. Devise a sampling scheme to measure O2 in as many different places as you can within each ecosystem - don't just rely on a single measurement. 2.4. Water pH (need: jars for water samples). At the present time, we will have to return to the lab to measure water pH. The best equipment available to us is not field portable. Your instructor will demonstrate the use of the pH meter upon return to the lab. Questions to ponder - In what way would physical and water chemical characters you estimated be expected to change during a 24-hour period? How would you expect these to differ among the three ecosystems? 2.5. Temperature Data (need: temperature measurement equipment). Your objective is to quantify the range of temperatures available to aquatic and terrestrial organisms in each of the sites. Note that water and soil temperatures at various depths and distances from the shore should be sufficient for this. This week, simply learn how to use the equipment and collect preliminary data. Next week you will collect the "real" data. You have a variety of methods available to you to estimate temperature availability including a thermocouple reader and probe, max/min thermometers, a soil temperature probe, and several other more primitive means. 2.6. Soil Characteristics (need Ponar dredge, hand trowel, soil cores, soil sample cans and sediment sample jars). Soil processes are at the root of individual autecology for most terrestrial organisms. Soil is the interface between the organic world and the inorganic/mineral world below. A striking feature of soil is the presence of discrete layers at various depths below ground level. These layers result from the weathering process DD the accumulation and breakdown of organic matter, and the leaching of mineral matter. Your job is to attempt to characterize the vertical profile of the soils and sediments around the wetland margin. How do the soils and submerged sediments (especially the fraction that is organic) vary among these ecosystem types? Collect bottom sediments from the wetland margin using dip nets and the Ponar dredge. Examine these samples and characterize the substrate (sandy, muddy, organic, etc.). What are the processes that control the grain size of the substrate? Collect litter samples from the terrestrial wetland margin. How has variability in the water level directly affected what you see? Use the soil cores to obtain vertical samples of the soil from submerged and from adjacent "dry" land. How do these cores differ for the same wetland and how do these cores differ among wetlands? Your descriptions of your soil samples should include: - soil color (determine the soil color with the Munsell soil color chart provided), - texture (determine the texture using a texture flow diagram available in class), - identify all organic material that you can, including roots, fungi, and invertebrates (if you find any organisms pass them to the animal sampling group). - use a soil test kits to determine the pH of your soil (follow instructions in the kit). 3. Biological Data 3.1. Plankton Sampling (need: plankton nets, sample bottles, and filtering apparatus with filters, 3 pairs of pair light and dark bottles). Try to collect a representative sample from each of the locations using the plankton nets. The finer the net, the more interesting the critters (and algae) that you will collect. The plankton net concentrates these organisms many-fold. This allows you to see the plankton by taking a subsample with a dropper from the plankton net sample and placing the appropriate number of drops on a slide for observation using dissection and transmission microscopes. Also, filter approximately 200 ml of the water and examine the filters. In the lab you will find reference books that contain drawings and sketches of plankton that you are likely to see. Copepods swim in "jerks" with large sweeps of their large antennae. Cladocerans swim smoothly and much more slowly. Rotifers tend to spin aroundin circles as the name implies. Most of the algae that will be collected represent the very largest, and are not necessarily the ones that will be eaten by the zooplankton. 3.2. Plankton Metabolism (need: plankton from 3.1., and three pairs of pair light and dark bottles). Planktonic primary production and respiration will be measured by observing changes in dissolved oxygen concentration of pond water contained in sample jars. As plankton in the sample jars photosynthesize, oxygen is released to the water in dissolved form. Since plankton are also living, they are respiring and thereby removing oxygen from the water at the same time. However in the dark, photosynthesis cannot occur, yet at least for a while plankton will continue to respire and remove oxygen. Thus, if we were to compare the amounts of dissolved oxygen in a bottle of plankton kept in the light with a bottle of plankton kept in the dark, the O2 differences would tell us exactly how much respiration had occurred without light, and how much photosynthesis had occurred with it. Procedure in the field at each site (see data sheet and other handouts available in lab): - collect a bucket-sized sample of water. - measure the dissolved O2 - fill one clear and 1 opaque bottle with a sample - cap tightly, LABEL CLEARLY, and return to lab - back in lab, the instructor will place them in a temperature- controlled cabinet for 24-hr - after 24 h, open the containers, GENTLY, and re-measure the dissolved O2 concentration. The rate of decline of dissolved O2 in the dark bottle is due to respiration. The net rate of change of dissolved oxygen in the light bottle is net productivity (primary productivity of photosynthesis - cost of respiration). From these two, do you know how to estimate primary productivity? Refer to the data and analysis sheets in Appendix 1 to calculate various energy use parameters for your three aquatic communities. Be sure to include in your discussion factors governing rates, whether the community is at steady state, as well as possible sources of error. Questions to ponder - Do these three communities have the same P/R ratio and what does that tell you about them? How might your results differ if the bottom muds were included in calculating total metabolism per unit area of pond? Ideally the bottles should have been suspended during incubation in the water column from which the samples were taken. Explain how this might yield a better estimate of metabolism considering such factors as temperature and transparency of water to light. 3.3. Benthic Sampling (need: screen, bucket, Ponar dredge, shovel, sample bottles). Collect bottom sediments using dip nets and the Ponar dredge. Examine these samples and characterize the substrate (sandy, muddy, organic, etc.). What are the processes that control the grain size of the substrate? Carefully examine benthic samples for organisms. Collect all that you find. Upon return to the lab, examine these under the dissection microscopes and try to classify these organisms as completely as possible (use the available references). 3.4. Wetland Aquatic and Semi-aquatic Vegetation (need: sample bags, marking pen for labels). Collect small representative samples of emergent aquatic vegetation from the water's edge and on either side. Devise a standardized sampling scheme of your own design to quantify the relative abundance and biodiversity of plants in the water and associated with the wetland margin. Place samples in labelled bags and upon your return to the lab identify as many as you can (either to species or at least assigning a number such as #1, #2, etc, for those you cannot identify). 3.5. Wetland Aquatic and Semi-Aquatic Animals (need: sweep nets, sample bottles and bags, and marking pens). Examine leaves, twigs, and other debris from the habitat and carefully look for animals. Collect all that you find. Use the sweep nets to catch flying animals. Standardize a sampling scheme for sweep nets and for litter/submerged substrate sampling (e.g. 50 sweeps of the net, or 5 mins spent crawling around looking for insects). Upon return to the lab, examine these under the dissection microscopes and try to classify these as completely as possible using the available references, (identify all that you can and assign a number such as #1, #2, etc, for those you cannot identify)). What vertebrates are present in these ecosystems? Look for reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Stop and listen for mating calls (frogs and birds). What species do you see and/or hear? Given that many birds are only seasonal residents, what role do they play in these ecosystems? Based upon your identification of the animal forms present in your samples, and basic aspects of their feeding ecology according to the field guides and other materials available in lab, construct a simple diagram illustrating who eats whom in each ecosystem. Such a diagram is called an ecological food web, and shows the pattern of energy and material flow through an ecosystem. Results Symposium During the Third Week. During the third lab period, your group will present your research results in an in-class symposium. Some Hints on Your Results Presentation During Week Three. - Clearly present the research question motivating your study. - Clearly present the basic sampling methods you used to collect data. - Using one or two tables and graphs, and the appropriate statistical techniques, present your results in as brief and concise a manner as possible. - Briefly describe how these ecosystems differ according to the data you collected. - What factors, if any, seem to be positively or negatively correlated? What might the causes of these correlations be? - Address how these differences might affect the animals and plants that live there. What adaptations would you expect for vertebrates, such as amphibians or fish, living in each of the habitats? Here are some additional questions that you might consider: - Predation by fish often has a profound effect on the abundance of aquatic organisms. What type of effects would you predict? Is it possible that fish had an effect in each of the aquatic environments? - In deep lakes, both phytoplankton and zooplankton are the principal biotic components of the ecosystem. How do the habitats that you are sampling differ from this pattern? - To what extent do you think your measurements were affected by the techniques used to collect them? - What are the extreme conditions of water level, temperature, flow velocity, and dissolved oxygen that you would expect in each ecosystem? Which of the three ecosystems is the most extreme and to which taxa? ECOLOGY LAB - COMPARATIVE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY -------------------------------------------------------------------- Handout On Plankton Metabolism. Data Sheet for light-and-dark bottle method for measuring aquatic metabolism. SITE: Bottle Sample Percent No. mg oxygen/L Saturation ------------------------------------------------------------ Initial ------------------------------------------------------------ 24-h Clear ------------------------------------------------------------ 24-h Dark ------------------------------------------------------------ SITE: Bottle Sample Percent No. mg oxygen/L Saturation ------------------------------------------------------------ Initial ------------------------------------------------------------ 24-h Clear ------------------------------------------------------------ 24-h Dark ------------------------------------------------------------ SITE: Bottle Sample Percent No. mg oxygen/L Saturation ------------------------------------------------------------ Initial ------------------------------------------------------------ 24-h Clear ------------------------------------------------------------ 24-h Dark ------------------------------------------------------------ Calculations of gross and net productivity and respiration rate. To convert your metabolic rates from units of volume, mg O2/(liter*day), to units of water surface area, g O2/(m2*day), use the relation: 1 mg O2/liter is equal to 1 g O2/m2. To calculate the efficiency of net production to solar radiation assume (1) solar radiation input is 3500 kcal/(m2*day), (2) 1 g O2 produced in photosynthesis has a corresponding 1 g of organic matter produced, and (3) 1 g organic matter is equivalent to about 4 kcal energy. Remember the sun shines approximately 0.5 days per day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume rate Area rate SITE: mg O2/(L*d) g O2/(m2*d) Net production = Clear minus initial = Respiration = Initial minus dark = Gross production = Clear minus dark = P/R ratio of the plankton community = Efficiency of net production to solar radiation = -------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume rate Area rate SITE: mg O2/(L*d) g O2/(m2*d) Net production = Clear minus initial = Respiration = Initial minus dark = Gross production = Clear minus dark = P/R ratio of the plankton community = Efficiency of net production to solar radiation = -------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume rate Area rate SITE: mg O2/(L*d) g O2/(m2*d) Net production = Clear minus initial = Respiration = Initial minus dark = Gross production = Clear minus dark = P/R ratio of the plankton community = Efficiency of net production to solar radiation = Solubility of Dissolved Oxygen in Water. When the partial pressure of oxygen in water is the same as the partial pressure in the atmosphere, the water is said to be "saturated", i.e. it is at equilibrium. Below is a table for saturation in fresh water and two nomograms, one for fresh and one for saline water. Learn how to use both to determine saturation at a given temperature (and salinity in saline water). Once you have calculated the concentration of oxygen at saturation, it is a small step to convert the dissolved oxygen concentration from milligrams per liter to percent of saturation. Percent saturation can be more or less than 100%. The extent to which it departs from 100% reveals how far it diverges from equilibrium with the atmosphere. Highly productive aquatic ecosystems are seldom at saturation. In fact, the may exceed 100% during certain times of the day and fall below 100% on the same day. Table. Solubility of oxygen in water at 760 mm atmospheric pressure for fresh and saline waters. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mg O2/L mg O2/L Temp. (xC) Fresh Sea Temp. (xC) Fresh Sea -------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 14.6 11.06 1 14.2 10.78 16 10.0 7.90 2 13.8 10.52 17 9.7 7.76 3 13.5 10.27 18 8.5 7.62 4 13.1 10.03 19 9.4 7.49 5 12.8 9.81 20 9.2 7.37 6 12.5 9.59 21 9.0 7.24 7 12.2 9.38 22 8.8 7.12 8 11.9 9.18 23 8.7 6.99 9 11.6 8.99 24 8.5 6.87 10 11.3 8.81 25 8.4 6.74 11 11.1 8.64 26 8.2 6.63 12 10.8 8.48 27 8.1 6.52 13 10.6 8.32 28 7.9 6.41 14 10.4 8.17 29 7.8 6.30 15 10.2 8.03 30 7.6 6.19 -------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS FIELD EXERCISE Jane Bock BOCK_J@CUBLDR.Colorado.EDU EPO Biology 303-492-7758 University of Colorado FAX 303-492-8699 Boulder, CO 80309-0334 FOR: Introductory ecology classes and up TIME: throughout a course I taught 10 days this summer at Nebraska's Lake Ogallalah. I think the trick with field labs is to take advantage of the local situation, and that often is not very generalizable. We took advantage of the two branches of the Platte and their junction being close by. Also, the peculiar sand soils led to a distinct kind of grassland. This field station had a fine library, so they had a literature search reading assignment that could not use literature more than three years old. From this they were to get inspiration for a field project. They cleared the project with me and then went to the older literature as well. I have never had better projects, e.g. one student took two kinds of aquatic insects (water striders and backswimmers) and subjected them to two kinds of pollution (garbage vs motor oil) and found that their responses were very different, and that the LD50 for one was not applicable to the other. Then by reading about the natural history of the insects and making field observations, he made some interesting conclusions. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: SMALL GROUP RESEARCH PROJECTS FIELD EXERCISE Jim Ebersole jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Department of Biology 719-389-6401 Colorado College FAX 719-389-6940 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 FOR: first year students to juniors TIME: throughout the term Overview Students, in groups of 2 to approximately 7, collect quantitative data to address a field research question. They choose the question, decide on methods (with help from instructor), and do the field work on time outside of regular class time. They present their results in a group-written, scientific paper and orally to the class as at a scientific meeting. The details Prior to students beginning their small group research projects, I use a class project as a model for how they should do their small group research projects. Early in the term the class collects data on a question that I choose and give them the methods for. Questions I have successfully used for the class project are spatial patterning within aspen clones as a function of clone age and seasonal changes in aquatic productivity (light and dark bottle method; students combine their own data with that from several years of classes). During the class project I talk about how the question arose and how I designed the data collection protocol to address the question. I continually make reference to the small group projects they will design themselves, e.g. "You will need to write up a data collection protocol like this." In groups of about four, students write a scientific paper on the class project. To help them do this, I give them a handout on writing a scientific paper and set out several examples of previous, well-done student papers on other topics (this really seems to help them). I critique these papers quite carefully and put them in the classroom so everyone can read my critiques. I tell them it is simply unacceptable to make the same mistakes in their small group papers as were made in the class project papers--this seems to work! For the small group projects themselves, I use some class time to meet with the research groups (about 20 minutes per group). Before they meet with me they are to have tentatively decided on a question and thought about methods (this often includes briefly running ideas by me before the formal meeting.) I help them focus the question (it is important they chose a fairly small-scale, do- able, focused question), sharpen the methods, and get a list of field equipment they need. Two students per group works great; in my experience everyone in a group of two stays mentally engaged. Groups of three also work well, i.e. there are few passive students. While I usually use this small group approach in classes of 14 to 24, I have done it with classes as large as 85 and small groups as large as 7. See "Who Did What" below for keeping students accountable in large groups. Some details: I require a written proposal (1 page: question, methods, how they will interpret various possible results) after the initial meeting with each group and a progress report (1/2 page) fairly early on in the term to motivate them to start early enough. When groups talk to me about the inevitable problems they encounter, I use some of these in class as examples of how research problems are encountered and solved. At the end of the term each group hands in one, group-written scientific paper (refer them again to the class project papers and to the other examples of good papers). The group also presents their project as at a scientific meeting. In addition to giving them a handout on how to do a scientific presentation, I model what I ask them to do by presenting some of my own research in the format I request they use. I encourage them to use AV aids such as slides of study sites and slides/transparencies of their computer- generated graphs and tables. To help keep everyone mentally engaged, I have other students in the class evaluate the presentations of each group and include questions about the projects on the final. Topics: I require that projects involve organisms (rather than just measuring an abiotic factor), be in the field, be quantitative, and be comparaitve (rather than simply descriptive). Some topics that have worked well for small-group projects: Differences in bird density in burned and unburned areas, Mt. Herman, Monument, Colorado Ponderosa pines and fire: a study of rings Revegetation on Queen's Canyon quarry: effect of top soil Aquatic invertebrate populations and water quality in Monument and Fountain Creeks Relative abundance of prickly pear cactus under pinyon pine and one-seed juniper Spatial patterns in the predation of yucca seeds Effects of humidity and temperature on daily activity of harvester ants Changes in growth rates of ponderosa pine with elevation Patterns of deer browsing on mountain mahogany, Air Force Academy Who-Did-What Questionnaires For groups larger than two I have found the complete version of this form helpful in evaluating students and, more importantly, in keeping students accountable and mentally active: Names: 1) 2) ... Please fill in percentage of effort you contributed to each part of the project. Percentages for each task must add to 100%. person 1 2 3 Total choosing and focusing question ___ ___ ___ =100% deciding on methods ___ ___ ___ =100% solving problems encountered in field ___ ___ ___ =100% identifying organisms ___ ___ ___ =100% chemical analysis ___ ___ ___ =100% data analysis ___ ___ ___ =100% graph production ___ ___ ___ =100% other ___ ___ ___ =100% deciding what went into =100% Abstract ___ ___ ___ =100% Intro ___ ___ ___ =100% ... ___ ___ ___ =100% Writing =100% Abstract ___ ___ ___ =100% ... ___ ___ ___ =100% providing ideas for presentation ___ ___ ___ =100% Acknowledgements: Ideas of Dave Milne and KV Ladd from Evergreen State College shaped some of the ideas above. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** From jebersole@cc.colorado.edu Wed Dec 8 00:00:00 EDT 1993 Subject: ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH STUDY FIELD Dr. Bruce W. Grant tel: 215-499-4017 Department of Biology fax:215-499-4059 Widener University One University Place Chester, PA 19013-5792 FOR: introductory ecology classes and higher TIME: throughout a course ecores.lab 21 September 1993 if you have suggestions or corrections please contact me: ECOLOGY LAB BIO 301 Fall -1993 -------------------------------------------------------------------- "And yet relation appears, A small relation expanding like the shade of a cloud on sand, a shape on the side of a hill." - Wallace Stevens Synopsis of Today's Lab and Related Labs for Your Ecological Research Project. In today's lab as well as over the next few weeks, you will put your observational, experimental, statistical, and analytical skills to the test. You will design and carry out your own independent ecological research study and write a multi-authored research poster and paper. Your research study can be on ANY ECOLOGICAL QUESTION that interests you. Your results will be presented in a mini-symposium in class, and you will submit your manuscript for peer review (by your classmates) and possible publication in the Widener University Journal of Undergraduate Ecological Research. Objective for This Multi-Week Lab. At the conclusion of this multi-week lab, you will understand how to "do" ecology. Equipment Needed for Your Ecological Research Study. The equipment you will need will depend entirely on the research question and project you have chosen to persue. You may sign out any research equipment I have in the ecology lab on a day to day basis. If I cannot equip you with the ideal piece of equipment to collect a particularly hard to collect data set for your project, I encourage you to use your imagination and either make the equipment yourself or re-evaluate why you needed to collect such logistically difficult data to begin with. Be creative, yet note that reality is often constraining. What Your Group Should Hand In At the End of Class Today. Before leaving the lab today, you should hand in a one page research proposal which should include: - the names and phone numbers of the people in your group, - the title of your project, - your research question in one sentence, - your hypothesis(es) about the answer(s) to that question, - a brief description of the methods you will use, - list of equipment you will need and where you can get them, - and a time table outlining when your group can get together to conduct your study. Note that you will also need to make at least one copy of the above research proposal to take with you. Do not leave until you have consulted with me and I have approved your project. ECOLOGY LAB - ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH STUDY -------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. This laboratory will call upon all of your skills in ecological research as well as stimulating you to discover and learn many new ones. Your task is to search for and quantify a "pattern" in nature and present a multi-authored research paper describing your methods and results. Examples include patterns in space, time or both (such as where plants are found along some environmental gradient, plant or animal distributions, or perhaps mark recapture studies of population processes). Be creative. Scenario. Here's the basic scenario (we start with today): Today. Project Selection. Form groups of 2-3. Each group shall meet, pick a research topic, and design an experiment or field protocol (which may be purely descriptive) that will allow the group to quantify the "pattern" in nature of interest. Before departing, discuss your project in detail with me, and write up a project proposal described above. Over the Next Weeks. Work collectively as a team on your project, and if you need help GET IT!!! In class, other labs will be preformed. Note the Workshop on the Statistical Analysis of Ecological Data (LAB #7). By this time you will have collected all of your data and created a first draft of your research paper. This lab is intended to be a workshop on statistical analysis and the visual presentation of scientific data. Thursday 11 November. Research symposium. Each student from each group will present a part of their study during an in-class research symposium. You should present your results in the form of a 4*5 foot poster that can be viewed by your classmates and referred to during your presentation. In addition to the poster, you should also submit one manuscript per group, written collectively, with 5 copies (one for me, and four copies for the reviewers). I will randomly assign a copy of your paper for review by another student whose name will not be disclosed to you. Students will have 1 week to review the ms, working individually, using the prescribed format for reviews (attached below), and subsequently write their response. Thursday 18 November. Reviewers turn in their reviews and the copies of the original ms on which comments were written. Next, I will examine the original submission, the reviewers' comments and determine if (1) the paper should be accepted with revisions only in the ms, (2) the paper should be conditionally accepted if the authors would take a small amount of additional necessary data, (3) the paper should be rejected due to serious flaws. Then, the authors must pick a totally new question, design a new study, and repeat the process (avoid this scenario!!!). Next, the reviewers' comments and the my decision are returned to the authors. for ms's that fall into (1), authors must address all important comments and resubmit the revised ms (after which they are done, and will receive much more credit than those that need revision or redesign). for ms's that fall into (2), students must reconvene as a group to collect additional data, and/or perform additional analyses, and lastly work as a group to revise the ms according to the comments received. for ms's that fall into (3), students must reconvene as a group to pick a new question, design a new experiment, and have it approved by me. Then, they have 1 week to collect new data, and class time will be allocated at the beginning of the next available lab for the authors to present the new paper. These students will submit their new ms directly to the editor and will HOPEFULLY be acceptable. Due to the lack of time at the end of the semester, students must be discouraged from thinking of this route as a viable option. Last day of lab. All revised manuscripts are due. Your grade is based upon three things. group part: a. your poster and oral presentation, including your experimental design, diligence, and project originality as well as the quality, clarity, organization and thought put into your actual presentation, b. the first submission of your manuscript, including the same intangibles described above as well as the clarity and efficiency of your prose, c. your performance at incorporating the reviewers' and the instructor's comments in the revision, individual part: d. the quality of the questions you ask during the research symposium, e. the thoroughness and quality of the written review you will turn for the ms you were assigned. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN !!! print on letter head GUIDELINES FOR REVIEWERS DUE THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER !!! Congratulations! You have been selected to review the attached manuscript for possible publication in the Widener University Journal of Undergraduate Ecological Research, Volume 1, Number 2. Your task is to formally review this manuscript using the format below. The authors will then receive your comments but not your name, thus your review will be anonymous. With that in mind, feel free to really tell the authors what you thought of their paper with the goal of HELPING THEM TO IMPROVE IT !!! You must work alone for this part of the lab, and your individual grade will depend upon how thoroughly and constructively you criticized the manuscript you were assigned. After 1 week, turn in two things: (1) the copy of the manuscript you received to review on which you wrote in RED INK any spelling or grammar corrections, and any minor text change suggestions. (2) a 1-2 page typed or word processed review of the ms, which has your name and this course name, followed by the full citation for the ms you received for review. I will block out your name prior to making your review available to the authors. Part (2) of your review should be in 2 parts: a. Compose a brief synopsis of the manuscript (75-100 words) completely lacking in any and all editorializing by you. Your synopsis should start by stating what the main research question was that motivated this study. State IN YOUR WORDS what the authors said they did in their study and what they said their data meant. Use your own writing and DO NOT QUOTE OR PLAGIARIZE PASSAGES FROM THE PAPER. If you must use jargon from the paper, you must define it at first usage. Avoid listing of trivial methodological detail. Summarize their methods as needed. b. Compose a brief editorial (200-300 words) on what you thought of their study. When you refer to specific places in the ms, which you should, cite the exact page and line number pertaining to your comment (e.g. "according to page 2 line 7, the authors asserted that..."). Your review should also address the greater context of this study, i.e. why is this study important and what does it mean? Points you might also mention include (not necessarily in this order): - why is the BIG QUESTION of this study interesting? - what is the significance of the greater context of this study? - how well do you think they designed their study? - how clearly do their data actually support their interpretations? You should cite specific examples from the paper in your editorial and not just assert the data did or did not support their conclusions. - are there are other interpretations the authors did not consider? - are there other data the authors could and should have collected to make their study more convincing to you? print on letter head GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPTS DUE THURSDAY 11 NOVEMBER You have not done science until you have presented your data and interpretations in a way that is usable by your colleagues. There is a big leap between the collection of data and the interpretation of data. This is one of the central themes of this course, and your development as a scientist and/or teacher depends upon you ability to distinguish these fundamentally different processes. Dozens of books have been written on how to write a research paper, how to write a thesis, etc. One of the problems with these books is that they are written by people with lots of writing experience and they make it sound so easy. Although it is true that the style and content of most scientific papers are fairly consistent, it is not true that good scientific writing is dry and dull. Nothing works better at deterring your readers from reading your work than does garbled impenetrable prose. Good writing is catalytic to learning and understanding, and without learning how to write you are lost. No one can actually teach you how to write. You have to do the writing yourself, make mistakes, and do it all over again. What follows is a format for the scientific paper for this course. This handout is organized into five sections. The first section lists general suggestions and outlines the basic format that you should use. I. General Suggestions. 1) Your report should contain 6 sections: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited (if any). Each section serves a specific function detailed below. 2) Type or word-process your report, double space, with at least 1" margins along all edges. 3) Be clear, concise and insightful with your prose. 4) Avoid all anthropomorphisms, awkward phrasings, and grammatical illegalities. Proof-read aloud several times. 5) Never create words (e.g. "obtaination," "mobilate") 6) 1 datum vs. 2 data 7) it's = it is page 2 II. Specific Suggestions for the Abstract (length = 200-250 words). 1) This section contains a short summary of every section in your report. Cover the main points only. 2) In reality, the abstract will be the only part of your paper that will be read by the majority of those who get past the title; therefore, tailor the prose for maximum speed, simplicity and impact. III. Specific Suggestions for the Introduction (length = 1 page). 1) Introduce the general topic of the report. Why is it of interest? 2) State the specific question that is the subject of the report. 3) State an hypothesis that may offer an answer to your question and explain briefly how your hypothesis answers your question. 4) There may be alternate hypotheses that may answer the same question. If so, they should be mentioned and your studies must be designed to distinguish among competing hypotheses. 5) If there are other questions that your report addresses, then repeat steps (2) - (4) for each one. IV. Specific Suggestions for the Materials and Methods (length = 1 page) 1) This section describes the procedure you used to address the question from the Introduction. 2) Include all of the necessary and sufficient detail for the reader to be able to duplicate your studies exactly. Distinguish between essential detail and extraneous detail (e. g., studies were carried out on Earth by Homo sapiens) and omit the latter. 3) Replicate your measurements as many times as possible. 4) For every experimental design there are important implicit assumptions. Be sure to address the critical ones. 5) Comment on the accuracy of your measurement techniques, when relevant. E.g., to how many significant digits did you measure such and such (e.g. q 0.001 gm or q 5 mm)? 6) How confident you are depends on the amount of "experimental error" you have been unable to avoid. There are two sources of error (not including mistakes!). One source is measurement error, which corresponds to the resolution of your equipment (e.g. did you measure distance with a tape measure or with a micrometer). The second source of error is due to "inherent variation" in whatever it is that you are measuring. For example, if you were measuring the diameters of 10 different trees that were all 5 yrs old, you would expect some difference among them. It is always good to design your experiments so that measurement error is much less than the inherent variation in the quantity measured. 7) The best way to estimate "experimental error," due to any sources, is to replicate a given treatment more than twice. If the number of replicates is less than say 8, then error may be estimated by the equation: error = q (Max. - Min. values)/2. If you have more measurements, say "n," of the variable "x," for which the average is "Ave," then estimate the standard deviation using: ( x12 + x22+ ... + xn2 - n * Ave2 ) SD = sqrt ( ---------------------------------- ) ( n - 1 ) 8) There are specific means by which experimental error, statistical confidence, and hypotheses testing are to be worked into the design of your project, depending on your particular question. You must seek the advice of your instructor about the statistical analyses you need prior to collecting any data. page 3 V. Specific Suggestions for the Results (length = 1 page). 1) This section contains all of the results of the experiments and other measurements you made. 2) Any statistical tests are reported in your Results; however, this section contains NO interpretations of your results. 3) Only use the word "significance" when discussing a statistical test. Do not say "our results were significant" in any other context. 4) For every data set there exists an optimum format for presentation. This format may be a combination of tables and figures (e.g. scatterplots, bar graphs, etc.) that are a) well documented and easy to read b) illustrate the data with a minimum of redundancy c) enable the reader to quickly perceive the results 5) Poorly conceived graphs will obscure the data and leave the readers unconvinced of your results. VI. Specific Suggestions for the Discussion (length = 1 page). 1) This section contains your interpretation of your results. Do your data support your hypothesis(es)? How "confident" are you in your statements (see below)? 2) YOU CAN NEVER PROVE AN HYPOTHESIS BY EXPERIMENTS. All you can do is accept or reject hypotheses with a finite, numerical degree of "confidence" (e.g. 95% or 99%). No scientist can ever be 100% sure. 3) Explain to the reader what the graphs and figures say. Avoid recitation of detail previously presented, but cite table and figures by number as evidence of your statements. 4) Never over extend yourself beyond your database. Abstain from speculations that your data do not specifically support. Feel free to suggest new hypotheses for future work, but do not present new data. 5) Be conservative in your assessments, but do not make excuses. II. Specific Suggestions for the Literature Cited. 1) Note that you will only need this section if you cite other previously published material somewhere in your paper, (e.g. if you used previously published methods). 2) Each citation should have: Author(s). Year. Title of paper. Journal. Volume: Pages. If you have any questions please contact the editor, me, immediately (499-4017). print on letter head GUIDELINES FOR POSTERS TO BE PRESENTED IN CLASS THURSDAY 11 NOVEMBER The guidelines for posters are similar as those for your manuscript, except that posters should be designed for brevity of text and clear visual impact. Curiously, there are no decent texts on how to design research posters so you will be very much left to your own creative artistic abilities. What follows is a format for the scientific poster for this course. I. General Suggestions. 1) Your poster should contain 8 panels: TITLE panel (containing your Title, names, date, and your Abstract verbatim from your manuscript), Introduction panel, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions (in list form), Acknowledgements (e.g., project from BIOL 301) and Literature Cited (if any). Each section serves a specific function detailed below. 2) These panels should be organized from upper left to lower right in order of presentation. 3) Type or word-process every word using VERY LARGE BOLD PRINT, double space, with at least 1" margins along all edges of all panels. 4) Use the handout for manuscripts and write your paper first. Then, whittle all of the text down to the barest of short sentences and phrases for each panel of your poster. Remember you will be presenting your research study orally directly from each panel of your poster.