BIOLOGY s373L-w
ECOLOGY FIELD LABORATORY
SYLLABUS
Maymester 2007
Course Unique Number: TBA This is a writing component course!
Dates/Time: Sunday, May 13, 2007 through Friday, June 1, 2007
Place:
Wyer Residential Laboratory, Stengl “Lost Pines” Biological Station (SLP),
Web
addresses: SLP: www.sbs.utexas.edu/philjs/Stengl/
BFL http://www.utexas.edu/research/bfl/
Instructor: Phil Schappert, SLP: 360-4186, Lab (BFL 116): 475-6285, philjs@mail.utexas.edu
Recommended resource book: General Ecology Laboratory Manual, G.W. Cox (provided on loan)
Course Description:
Biology 373L was first offered in fall 2000 and this is the third year that the course has also been offered at the Stengl “Lost Pines” Biological Station (SLP) as a Maymester or “mini-mester” course. Both the long-session course and this “between-semester” version are still evolving through feedback from students. Be aware that this Maymester iteration of the course, while short, is far more intensive than the usual long-session course offered at Brackenridge Field Laboratory (BFL). Be prepared to spend a lot of time in the field (rain or shine) and a lot of your “spare” time writing!
The goal of the course is to provide students with hands-on experience with important sub-disciplines of ecology through group and individual projects and observations conducted on the 85 ha (208 acres) SLP property. Because familiarity with organisms and their habitats is fundamental to making astute observations, asking non-trivial questions and developing ecological hypotheses, we will spend considerable time collecting and identifying common species and making observations of the habits and habitats of the biota. Field problems will acquaint students with approaches to studying distribution and abundance of sedentary and mobile organisms, behavioral ecology, community ecology and diversity, and ecosystem processes. In the early part of the course we will incorporate some of the most basic and useful tools for mapping, measuring and monitoring ecological phenomena and cover basic methods of analysis. Later students will be expected to apply some of these approaches to their independent projects. Data, and the types of data, collected by previous courses (at BFL and at SLP) will be available so that students can continue to add to the baseline knowledge of the field station flora and fauna.
This
course will consist of two weeks in residence at SLP (arrival Sunday, May 13 by
1 pm, weekend break Friday, May 18, 2 pm until Sunday, May 20, 1 pm and ending
Friday, May 25 at 2 pm). Accommodations will be arranged at a pre-course
meeting at BFL 114 (
There
will be a $70 additional course fee to purchase food for the two weeks in
residence. This amounts to $35 per person per week. Any specific dietary needs
or requirements will be assessed at the pre-course meeting. Each student will
also be required to provide signed waivers for the time in residence and for
field trip transportation. Students are expected to provide their own
transportation to SLP, however, we will try to arrange car-pooling at the
pre-course meeting for students without ready access to such transportation.
Post-residence field trips will be in
Typically, mornings will include lectures and discussions (often in the field) of the day’s topic(s). First draft write-ups of assignments and field problems will be due before the next day's class meeting. Missing deadlines will cost 10% of the grade per day. In the case of projects that extend over several days, short progress reports will be submitted daily until data collection is completed. Formats for write-ups will be provided and I ask that students use those as templates to ensure that all required parts of research reports are addressed properly. The types of assignments or responsibilities are as follows:
1. Write-ups of class field problems/experiments
(these accumulate to a “Rapid Ecological Assessment” (REA) report for the
entire SLP property, with eventual contrasts and comparisons to two very
different communities at BFL and CWMA).
2. Independent Project Design,
Implementation and Report write-up and presentation.
3. Individual Quarter Report
write-up. You will be assigned a ¼ hectare plot to describe.
4. Keeping an accurate, complete and
neat field notebook.
5. Return of keys, checked-out
course equipment, memory cards, lab books, field guides etc.
6. Participation in keeping lab building
tidy, food preparation and clean-up, etc.
Evaluation:
There will be no final exam. Rather each student will prepare a PowerPoint presentation based on their independent project to be presented to the class on the last class day. Grades are based on subjective and objective assessments of the instructor. In addition to reading all your work, I will be working with you each day and on field trips. This means that I will be available for consulting in the field as needed to help with independent projects. Your participation and sincere effort (or lack thereof) will be very obvious. The quality of work you hand in will be largely a function of your personal commitment to learning to do field ecology. Re-writes of poorly written assignments based on my critiques are encouraged. Written work is not graded but is commented on, however, at any time I can let you know what final grade I would assign up to that point in the course. Approximately 30% of your grade will be based on performance in organized class field projects and 70% based on your independent work.
An insight gained from the previous classes is that, while everyone was interested and certainly capable of "A" work, the people who earned A's in the final judgment had obviously been spending more hours in the field beyond the required class hours and also some time in the library (in this course, as much resource material as I can assemble will be available to you, however, you might want to plan ahead to spend your weekends in campus libraries) doing background literature searches to improve research write-ups. In other words, they clearly had developed the habit of educating themselves using the course as a stimulus, or resource. In some cases, assessments based on early impressions were overturned as students got higher or lower grades based on performance, not just potential. Most people do not autonomously seek background information to improve and expand their reports. The “A” students tended to go that extra kilometer...
Weather:
We are studying outdoors in a real ecosystem, so the best laid plans for particular field problems can be overturned by the elements. Even if we are forced to switch plans for the day's project, we still will be operating in the weather we find. Note that someone once said that climate is what you expect but weather is what you get. Therefore, be personally prepared for any contingency, including that you bring some rubber boots and a fold-up umbrella or rain poncho. Don't under-estimate how cold (or hot!) you can get working outdoors all day, even in May. Always come prepared for current outdoor conditions. Sun screen, insect repellent (recommended), and suitable field attire for hiking through woods (on and off beaten paths), as well as equipment backpacks, water bottles and snacks will probably also be useful. More information on these needs will be available at the pre-course meeting.
Schedule:
The schedule below is tentative because it depends on weather and organisms. You will know ASAP if there are any changes. Note the dates of the two field trips. You may choose to continue or finish your independent projects at SLP on the weekends, the Memorial Day holiday (May 29) and after the two field trips (see below).
The work of the course necessarily involves projects running in parallel and overlapping to some extent so that we can set things up one day and harvest data another. This gets confusing unless you constantly refer to the schedule below. If I fail to bug you about a deadline, it’s still there (in writing!). Note that after a listing of a day’s activity in the second column, I tell you what you need to prepare for the next day. Once things are rolling you will be collating data, doing statistical analysis and writing a first draft of the most recent project and finishing revisions on a paper from two days before, etc. There is often a third assignment such as a paragraph description of some aspect of your quarter, etc. You WILL be multi-tasking...
Please read the schedule (appended). Assignments due day N are in the right hand column of the day before (day N-1). This is a tentative list. We will modify assignments according to how well the group is progressing and may alter specific projects according to weather and opportunity.
Week 1:
|
Schedule |
Activity |
Assignment (due next day (or as specified) for full credit) |
|
|
1 |
May
13 |
Orientation:
Course description, SLP History; Trails, Trees, Habitats I. (PM) Introduction to digital cameras and GPS. |
Explore the SLP website. Pick up keys and get settled in. Write a plant species description. Read first Chapter of Cox |
|
2 |
May 14 |
Field Tour &
Walking Lecture: Trails, Trees,
Habitats II. Facilities: Tropical Greenhouse. (AM) Quarters assigned. Define corners with
GPS unit. Put out HOBOs. (PM) |
a) Write a 1 page description of SLP's landscape and pose 5 ecological questions based on your first tours of SLP. (begins REA (Ecosystems) report). b) Abstract a past students’ research report. c) Familiarize yourself with student research work completed previously at SLP (and at BFL during long sessions). |
|
3 |
May 15 |
Field
Problems 1/2: Woodland Habitat
(transects)/Tree Population Structure. (point quarter). (run concurrently,
AM) Collect and summarize data (AM/PM). Basic Statistics
and Report Writing (PM) |
Write Intro and Methods Section of Ecosystems (REA) report. Map your quarter on aerial photo/ plans of SLP. |
|
4 |
May 16 |
Field Problems 1/2: (continued). Collect and summarize data (AM). Use GPS/low-tech mapping techniques to map your quarter (e.g. woodland/clearings /drainages/boundaries). Photograph key features. (PM) |
Add Trees results to Ecosystems (REA) report. Add Landscape & Habitats results to Ecosystems (REA) report. File digital images in labeled web folders. |
|
5 |
May 17 |
Field
Problem 3: Invasive Species &
Biological Control Methods: impact of phorid flies on foraging in fire ants.
Collect and summarize data (Guest Researcher, Rob Plowes, AM) Continue Quarter work (PM). Work on developing independent project. |
Phorids & Fire ants report (remember to keep accumulating these methods/ results to your REA report). Familiarize yourself with student research work completed in this course at BFL during long sessions, consider what is possible to do here at SLP during this course. |
|
6 |
May 18 |
Continue Quarter work. Sample, press and identify plant species. List any/all herbaceous species. Document evidence of animal presence/impact. (AM) |
Lists/Results of plants, arthropods and features of your quarter (due May 21). Submit 2 robust ideas for your independent project before you leave for the weekend! |
Week 2:
|
Schedule |
Activity |
Assignment (due next day (or as specified) for full credit) |
|
|
7 |
May
20 |
Field Problem 4: Mark release recapture (MRR) estimate of a mobile population (Part 1, PM). |
FINAL Independent project proposals. |
|
8 |
May 21 |
Continue/finish quarter project. (AM) Field Problem 4: (Part 2, PM). |
Write up quarter project (with graphics): Final report due May 26 before you leave for the weekend). MRR analysis/report. |
|
9 |
May 22 |
Field Problem 5: Invasive Species, Biodiveristy and Primary productivity (AM & PM) |
MRR final report. Diversity/species richness analysis/report |
|
10 |
May 23 |
Independent project Finish primary productivity data collection (?). |
Add Invasive species and MRR results/reports to your Ecosystems (REA) report. Independent project progress report. Complete FINAL Quarter Report |
|
11 |
May 24 |
Independent project Finish primary productivity data collection. |
Independent project progress report. Report on habitat productivity, diversity and effects of invasive species. Add these results to your Ecosystem (REA) report. |
|
12 |
May 25 |
Independent project |
Use weekend to prepare for field trips to BFL and Chaparral (familiarize yourself with vegetation/landscape/ habitats/biota, read literature on mesquite grasslands) Independent project progress report. Final revised proposal. |
Week 3:
|
Schedule |
Activity |
Assignment (due next day (or as specified) for full credit) |
|
|
13 |
May
27 |
Independent project |
|
|
14 |
May 28 |
Independent project |
Independent project progress report, literature references, preliminary data analysis |
|
15 |
May 29 |
Field trip to Brackenridge Field Laboratory for comparative natural history. Meet at BFL 119 at 8 AM. BFL History. Trails, Trees, Habitats (AM) Woodland Habitat/Tree Population Structure (transects/point quarter, PM) |
Read Chaparral handout. Research
maps of |
|
16 |
May 30 |
Field trip to Chaparral Wildlife Mgmt Area (we will leave Monday, late afternoon, and stay overnight at CWMA) We'll return to BFL (or SLP) by early evening. CWMA History. Trails, Trees, Habitats (AM). Habitat Structure (PM) |
Add BFL Trees data to Ecosystems (REA) report. Contrast and compare SLP, BFL vegetation/ landscape with Chaparral habitats and biotas for Final Ecosystems (REA) report (due at final presentation). |
|
17 |
May 31 |
Independent project |
Independent project progress report and final data analysis (email?) |
|
18 |
June 1 |
Powerpoint
Presentations |
Hand in Final Independent Project Report/Files, Field Book & Binder, all remaining class work. |