BIO 320L  ECOLOGY LABORATORY          Fall Semester 2006

 

Laboratory Manual may be downloaded at:

http://facstaff.morehouse.edu/~lblumer/BIO_320L/manual.html

 

Thursday, 1-5pm, Room 311 Hope Hall

 

INSTRUCTOR:  Lawrence Blumer, 302 Hope Hall

e-mail: lblumer@morehouse.edu

telephone:  x2325 or 404 658-1142

Office Hours: MWF 1-2 pm and by appointment

                                   

LABORATORY SCHEDULE

 

Date

Experiment

Activity and Assignments

 

 

 

 

8/24

TH

 

Introduction to course, laboratory notebooks, and evaluation criteria.  Equipment use and safety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start seeds for Causes for Phenotypic Variation study (#2)

 

 

 

 

8/31

TH

#1

Effects of environment on reproductive behavior and reproductive success (design and conduct experiment)

 

 

 

 

9/7

TH

#1

Effects of environment on reproductive behavior and reproductive success (Data analysis and discussion)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Poster due Tuesday, September 12, by e-mail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction to Library Research tools.

 

 

 

Woodruff Library, Electronic Classroom #2, 3:30-5:00 pm

 

 

 

 

9/14

TH

 #2

Causes for Phenotypic Variation

 

 

 

(Collect physical measurements)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion on evaluating posters – Review Research Posters

 

 

 

 

9/21

TH

#3

Population Growth and Competition in Bacteria

 

 

#4

Conduct research on Human Population Growth, specific assignment will be given in class.

Research Poster due Tuesday, September 26, by e-mail

 

 

 

 

9/28

TH

#4

Human Population Growth – Review Research Posters

 

 

#5

Intra-specific Competition among Bean Beetles (discuss experimental design and conduct experiment)

 

 

#1

Collect data on bean beetle emergence (extra credit)

 

 

 

 

 

10/5

TH

#5

Intra-specific Competition among Bean Beetles (count eggs)

Research Poster due Tuesday, October 10 by e-mail

 

 

 

 

10/12

TH

#6

Start Induction of Secondary Chemical Defenses

 

 

 

(discuss experimental design and conduct damage treatments)

 

 

 

 

10/19

TH

#6

Induction of Secondary Chemical Defenses

 

 

 

 

10/26

TH

#6

Induction of Secondary Chemical Defenses (collect results)

 

 

 

Research Poster due Tuesday, October 31 by e-mail

 

 

 

 

11/2

TH

#7

Aquatic Ecology (Field Trip)

 

 

 

Assignments for Final Laboratory Seminar distributed

 

 

 

 

11/9

TH

#8

Forest Diversity (Field Trip)

 

 

 

 

11/16

TH

 

Final Laboratory Seminar

 

 

 

Late arrivals will lose one point for each minute of tardiness.

 

 

 

 

11/23

TH

 

Thanksgiving Holiday – No Classes

 

 

 

Course Grading

 

Laboratory Attendance (12 x 25 points each)

300 points

Four Research Posters (50 points each)

200 points

Final Laboratory Seminar

100 points

Total =

600 points

                                                                                                                                               


Letter grades will be assigned as described below:

 

A 

=

90

to

100%

A-

=

88

to

89%

B+

=

86

to

87%

B

=

80

to

85%

B-

=

78

to

79%

C+

=

76

to

77%

C

=

70

to

75%

C-

=

68

to

69%

D+

=

66

to

67%

D

=

60

to

65%

D-

=

58

to

59%

F

=

57% and less

 

 

Laboratory Manual

 

            The laboratory book for this course, Laboratory Studies in Ecology, is available on-line at http://facstaff.morehouse.edu/~lblumer/BIO_320L/manual.html Download and read the upcoming laboratory protocol before each laboratory meeting.  In addition to the laboratory book, you will need a hardbound composition book, pens, pencils, and USB 32MB (or larger) flash-memory ÒDisk-on-KeyÓ.  You will need only one USB Disk-on-Key for use in both laboratory and lecture.

 

Laboratory Notebook

 

            Your hardbound laboratory notebook is the repository for all your laboratory notes, raw data records, calculations, data analysis results, and preliminary figures and tables.  This notebook must be brought to every laboratory meeting and every field trip.  Many of the experiments we perform required the pooling of data to create a class data set.  Your classmates will be counting on you to keep neat, accurate, and up-to-date data records on each of the studies you perform.

 

Laboratory Attendance

 

            The most important work we will do this semester is the actual design and conduct of ecological experiments.  Therefore, your attendance and participation in our weekly meetings will constitute one-half of your grade in this course.  It is virtually impossible to make-up laboratory exercises.  The first excused absence (for an unscheduled absence with a note from the Academic Dean or Dean of Students) from a laboratory meeting will simply excuse you from the work conducted in that laboratory period.  No make-up will be given.  A second excused absence from a laboratory meeting will result in an Incomplete.  All laboratory work that was excused must be completed in the following semester to remove the grade of Incomplete.  Scheduled absences for such activities as athletic teams, attending an interview, or studying for another course will result in the loss of 25 points for each absence (even with a valid excuse).  Class will begin promptly at 1:00 pm and we will leave for field trips without waiting for late individuals.  All students in this course are expected to be present for the entire scheduled class time.  If you have a scheduling conflict, you will be unable to complete this course.

 

 

Laboratory Safety

 

No food or drink is to be brought into the laboratory under any circumstances.

 

Dress appropriately!  Fancy clothes invariably get stained in a laboratory, and ruined in the field.  Closed toe shoes must be worn at all times.

 

Clean-up spills when they occur.  At the end of the laboratory, clean your area, and put equipment and supplies away as instructed.  Laboratory clean-up is necessary at the end of each class.  Sinks are not to be left containing any waste or glassware.

 

 

Research Posters

 

            A total of four Research Posters will be due the week after you complete specific laboratory studies.  The posters you will prepare are to be organized in much the same manner as a Research Report.  Each poster must have a descriptive title and your name should be given under the title.  There should be an Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Literature Cited. 

Each Research Poster should be organized as follows:

 

a.         Title (give your poster a descriptive title) and include your name after the title line.

b.             Introduction (statement of purpose and introduction to the phenomenon being investigated)

c.              Methods (a concise description of the treatments performed and the manner in which data were collected)

d.         Results  (prose description of data, and in tables or figures) 

e.         Discussion and Conclusions  (specific discussion-interpretation of the observed results)

f.          Literature Cited  (a minimum of five references must be cited)

 

Unlike a Research Report, the text in a poster is best kept to a minimum and may be presented as bulleted phrases.  Use graphs, tables and other illustrations to show your findings and make the poster visually interesting.  A sample poster may be put on display to give you an example to emulate.  The evaluation rubric for the Research Poster is given at the end of this syllabus. 

 

Academic Honesty

 

            Although much of the work we do in this course will require that we pool data and construct a single class data set, each of you is expected to do your own work on all assignments, quizzes, and posters.  You will be expected to make your own figures and tables and write your own prose for these assignments.  Copying or paraphrasing someone elseÕs prose (from a fellow student or a published reference), using someone elseÕs figure or table (even if it is based on the same data as a figure or table you could make) or submitting someone elseÕs work as your own is plagiarism.  Giving a literature citation is not sufficient.  I require that you submit work that you have written yourself in your own words.  Papers with long quotations (even if fully referenced) will not be accepted.  Leaving your work on a laboratory computer hard-drive so other students may freely copy that work is not advised, as it will result in accusations of plagiarism against both you and dishonest students who submit your work as their own.  At a minimum, plagiarism will result in a grade of zero for the assignment in question and a report to the Dean of Students.

 

 

Final Laboratory Seminar

 

            Each of you will prepare and present a brief (10 minutes) review of the purpose, results, and conclusions of one of the studies (or a part of one of the studies) we conducted this semester.  You will be required to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and present your seminar from a computer projector.  An overhead projector will also be available in class so you can illustrate your presentation.  You should be prepared to answer questions about the study you present.  At a minimum, review the questions posed in the laboratory manual on the study you will present.  These seminars are meant to help us review the work we have done this semester and put it all into a larger context.  Think about how different studies are interrelated.

 

            Your seminar will be evaluated for clarity, organization, and accuracy.  This presentation will count for 100 pts.  My final laboratory seminar evaluation form is attached.  I will be happy to discuss the format and content of your seminar during the week prior to your presentation.  Please dress as you normally would for the laboratory.  I will conduct a demonstration of the PowerPoint Presentation program in class.

 

            Individual seminar assignments will be distributed in class on November 2, 2006.  Seminars will be presented in Room 311 Hope Hall at our last scheduled class meeting, Thursday, November 16.  We will begin promptly at the start of the scheduled time and late arrivals will lose one point for each minute of tardiness.

 

 

ECOLOGY LABORATORY, BIOLOGY 320L                Name______________________________

Morehouse College, Spring 2006

 

 

 

Final Laboratory Seminar Evaluation (100 points possible)

 

 

Introduction (20 points)                              _____

 

 

 

 

Results (20 points)                                      _____

 

 

 

 

Discussion and Conclusions (20 points)            _____

 

 

 

 

Format, Audience, Clarity (20 points)      _____

 

 

 

 

 

Quality of Visual Aids  (20 points)                        _____

 

 

 

 

 

Class Participation (1 extra point for each thoughtful question)          ________

 

Tardiness (deduction of one point for each minute late)                     (_______)

 

 ECOLOGY LABORATORY, BIOLOGY 320L               Name______________________________

Morehouse College, Spring 2006

 

Research Poster Evaluation (50 points possible)

 

Poster Title  _________________________________

 

 

Did the information presented in the poster address the questions posed in this study? (20 points)

 

What was missing?

 

 

 

 

 

Was the information presented clearly? (10 points)

 

 

 

Was the text readable and relevant to the subject? (10 points)

 

 

 

Were graphs and tables used appropriately to illustrate the data presented? (10 points)

 

 

 

What could be done to improve this poster?