Syllabus | Stengl "Lost Pines" | General Notes | Other Stuff

Field Ecology

Ecologists study the relationships between organisms and their environment. This field course will provide you with an introduction to the essential methods of conducting ecological studies in an interesting and unique central Texas ecosystem, the "Lost Pines" of Bastrop County.

This Maymester version of BIO 373L takes place at the Stengl "Lost Pines" Biological Station near Smithville, TX (see the link at the top or bottom of this page for more info about the station), approx. 1 hour east and south of Austin. You will reside at the station for at least the first two weeks of the course. During the third week we will take two single day field trips and you will have time to complete your independent projects.

Students should already be able to understand the concepts and methods of ecological studies sufficiently to be able to ask and answer relevant questions in basic and applied ecology in order to take this field course. Further, most aspects of modern ecology also involve the use of numbers, therefore, students should be familiar with simple statistical techniques. Some, but not all, of the techniques you need to analyze your data will be introduced to you. This is also a writing components course! Be prepared!

The course has three major assignments:

	Ecosystem Report: Rapid ecological assessment of entire ecosystems through study of a small number of primary indicators of habitat health and function. This "ecosystem" approach will be conducted through group studies and be assessed with a number of written and oral "mini-reports" throughout the course. The methods used to conduct these "mini-studies" will be useful to you in your other two assignments, both indpendent projects:
	Quarter Hectare Report: you will be assigned a specific plot, one quarter hectare in size, to study and must submit a written report of your findings.
	Independent Research Project Report: you will conduct a research project on a topic of your own choice (subject to approval) and will report on your findings through both a written report and a short Powerpoint presentation to the class.

My goal in this course is to provide you with the necessary background and tools to be able to:

	draw your own conclusions about specific questions from available evidence and be able to develop a a research program that could attempt to address a question when evidence is not already available,
	be able to apply basic ecological theory and methods of inquiry to modern ecological problems, and
	be able to effectively communicate your ideas to others regardless of their knowledge of ecological concepts.

Course Instructor

Phil Schappert

Office/Lab: BFL 116b, 475-6285
SLP: 360-4186

Office Hours:

By Appointment.

Stengl "Lost Pines" | Brackenridge Field Lab | UT Biol. Sci. | University of Texas

Contents Copyright © P. Schappert, 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Comments to: philjs@mail.utexas.edu

Last updated: November 20, 2006