Biology 334

ECOLOGY

Fall 2005

SYLLABUS

Purpose This course provides:

- an introduction to current ecological understanding

- an introduction to experimental and analytical approaches used by ecologists

- opportunities to refine your analytical ability

- opportunities to refine your writing skills

Instructor Peter Schulze, Moody Science 320, Ext. 2284, Box 61588,

pschulze@austincollege.edu

Office Hours: M 2:30-4:00, Tu 8:30-10:00 and by appointment

NOTE: I do not check my e-mail every day. If you wish to reach me rapidly, please call my office phone, x2284.

TA Megan McRee

Schedule Class meetings: 11:00-12:20 MF

We may also meet some Wednesdays at 11:00.

Labs: 1:30-4:30 W

Labs may occasionally run late.

Readings

At the bookstore

Molles, M. C. Jr. 2005. Ecology: Concepts and Applications. 3^nd Ed.

Lab Manual (available during the second week of class)

On reserve

Elser, J. et al. 1996. Organism size, life history, and N:P stoichiometry.

BioScience, 46:674-684.

Exams There will be two mid-terms and a final. Together the exams will count for 52 percent of your grade. Exams will cover all material discussed in class prior to the day of the exam. In other words, they will be comprehensive. They will, however, emphasize material that was presented since any previous exams.

Lab reports Labs are a major component of this course. Each lab report will count for 12 percent of your grade. The format of your lab reports should follow the guidelines in the lab manual. Note that your methods sections need only report any variation from the procedure described in the lab manual. Lab reports are limited to 4 pages of text (double-spaced, 12 point font), plus any figures and tables.

Students will work in pairs to prepare lab reports, but no student may work with the same partner twice.

Grades First exam 15 percent

Second exam 15 percent

Final exam 22 percent

4 laboratory reports 12 percent each

I will give quizzes at the beginning of lab if I do not feel that the class has adequately prepared before each laboratory session. Any quizzes will be worth 5 points each.

Letter grades will be assigned on the basis of numerical grades. Letter grades are defined in the Austin College bulletin as:

A Unusual and superior achievement

B Intelligent, articulate achievement, above-average in fulfilling course requirements

C Passing work, representing graduation average

S Satisfactory achievement (work must be above C- level)

D Passing work below the standard required for graduation

F Failure without privilege of re-examination

U Unsatisfactory work

Late policy

Work submitted late will be reduced 2/3 of a letter grade for each day. In other words, a report submitted one day late that would have received an A will receive a B+. A paper submitted 3 days late that would have received an A will receive a C. Weekend days count.

Academic integrity policy

No student may unfairly advance his or her academic performance or impede the performance of other students. Any activity that unfairly gives an advantage to a student or group of students is a violation of academic ethics and will be handled according to College policy.

Examples of violations include: using unauthorized notes on an exam; failure to give credit to someone who assisted with a report; failure to give credit to an author whose work is cited; fabrication of data; removing items from the library in violation of library policy (e.g. removing journal issues from the library); and removing old tests from a bulletin board thereby preventing other students from reviewing those materials. This list is not exhaustive.

Each item you submit for a grade in this course must include the following statement along with your signature.

This work was prepared in accordance with the Austin College academic integrity policy. ____Signature______.

Labs and field trips

You must prepare for labs by studying the lab procedure carefully ahead of time. As noted above, I will give quizzes at the beginning of lab if I do not feel that the class has adequately prepared for a laboratory session. In other words, if a student cannot answer a question about the day's objective, hypothesis, or procedure at the beginning of a lab, the whole class will enjoy the opportunity to show what they know about the procedure by completing an on-the-spot quiz. Any quizzes will be worth 5 points each.

Most labs will be held at field sites. You should wear comfortable clothes that you would not mind getting dirty. I recommend boots, long pants (do not wear shorts), a long sleeve shirt, a hat, sunglasses, and a bottle of water. If the weather is cool or cold, dress in layers and dress more warmly than you think will be necessary. Standing around collecting data in the field may feel much colder than you expect. Please bring plenty of layers of clothes for field trips late in the semester. You will need a small notebook, a pencil (ink runs when wet), and a watch. Depending upon the weather, you may also want to bring rain gear or an umbrella. We will not go out in lightning, but will go if it is just raining lightly. Because we have only 3 hr for field trips, we will not wait for latecomers.

Attendance If other planned activities will require you to miss a lab session or an exam please let me know ahead of time. In general, the only excused absences will be for important (in my opinion) events whose timing is beyond your control. I reserve the option to drop you from the course if I notice that you miss class regularly (often enough for me to notice a pattern).

If you miss a lab session you will be required to write a five page review of the original scientific literature on the same topic that was addressed during the lab. These reviews will be worth 5 points each but they will only affect your course grade if they reduce your average percentage score. If you miss a lab you will still be required to write the associated lab report but you will be handicapped by not having participated in the data collection phase.

APPROXIMATE LECTURE SCHEDULE

We may not stay precisely on schedule, but I will not change the exam dates.

Introduction
Date	Lecture topic	Readings
We 31 Aug	The ecological basis of environmental problems: TX water supplies & human carrying capacity Syllabus review	p. 8 – 25 of automatic download at http://www.ncseonline. org/conference/jared_ diamond_report.pdf
Fr 2 Sep	Biomes, climates, and soils	Molles ch. 1-3
Effects of Abiotic Conditions on Individuals
Mo 5 Sep	Temperature & water	Molles ch. 4 & 5
Fr 9 Sep	Energy & nutrients	Molles ch. 6
Population Characteristics & Processes
Mo 12 Sep	Distribution & abundance	Molles ch. 9
Fr 16 Sep	Population dynamics	Molles ch. 10
Mo 19 Sep	Population growth	Molles ch. 11
Fr 23 Sep	Population growth
Mo 26 Sep	Exam #1
Species Interactions
Fr 30 Sep	Competition	Molles ch. 13*
Mo 3 Oct	Competition
Fr 7 Oct	Fall Break
Mo 10 Oct	Predation	Molles ch. 14
Fr 14 Oct	Predation
Mo 17 Oct	Predation
Fr 21 Oct	Mutualism	Molles ch. 15

* typo p. 332 of 3^rd ed. Molles, column 2, line 5. “K₁/a₂₁ > K₂” should read “K₁/a₁₂ > K₂”

(continued on following page)

Communities & Ecosystems
Mo 24 Oct	Species abundance & diversity	Molles ch. 16
Th 27 Oct	Bill McKibben, 11:00	Wynne Chapel or Hoxie-Thompson
Fr 28 Oct	Community structure	Molles ch. 17
Mo 31 Oct	Exam #2
Fr 4 Nov	Primary production & energy flow	Molles ch. 18
Mo 7 Nov	Nutrient cycles	Molles ch. 19
Fr 11 Nov	Life Histories	Molles ch. 12
Mo 14 Nov	Succession & stability	Molles ch. 20
Fr 18 Nov	Succession & stability
Mo 21 Nov	Ecosystem regulation & ecological stoichiometry	Elser, et al. 1996, BioScience, 46:674-684
Inter-Ecosystem Ecology
Fr 25 Nov	Thanksgiving Break
Mo 28 Nov	Landscape ecology	Molles ch. 21
Fr 2 Dec	Geographic & global ecology	Molles ch. 22, 23
Mo 5 Dec	Review session
Fr 9 Dec	Final exam 12:00-2:00

Tentative Lab Schedule

Inclement weather may necessitate changes.

Due dates for lab reports will be changed if lab dates change as a result of inclement weather.

Read the corresponding section(s) of the lab manual before each lab.

Be sure you know what we will study and how we will study it before arriving for lab.

Aug 31	Ecological Tour - Barry Buckner Biological Preserve and Research Area
Sep 7	Lab Introduction – room 318 • How do we know what we know? • How science works • Components of an experiment • Hypotheses, assumptions, predictions, and conclusions • Lab report format • EcoBeaker introduction • Introduction to Sneed Prairie Restoration project
Sep 14	Sneed Prairie Restoration monitoring – learn transect procedure & collect woody vegetation data
Sep 21	Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis - MS 318 1:30-2:30 then Abell computer lab
Sep 28	Sneed Prairie Restoration monitoring – ground cover
Oct 5	Sneed Prairie Restoration monitoring – woody veg & ground cover wrap up & data analysis Woody vegetation report due Friday of this week
Oct 12	Sneed Prairie Restoration Monitoring – morphotype species richness
Oct 19	Sneed Prairie Restoration Monitoring – morphotype species richness (continued) Ground cover report due Friday of this week
Oct 26	Sneed Prairie Restoration Monitoring - grass abundance
Nov 2	Twenty Questions
Nov 9	Garnett Prairie data collection
Nov 16	Garnett Prairie data collection Grass abundance report due Friday of this week
Nov 23	Thanksgiving
Nov 30	Sneed Prairie Restoration - restoration work Twenty questions report due Friday of this week

Austin College Department of Biology

Field Biology Safety Contract

Field excursions entail certain potentially hazardous activities. The purpose of this document is to inform participants in field trips of potential risks, and of procedures to minimize these risks. Please read this document carefully and sign below.

Potential hazards associated with field work include:

• Abrasions

• Allergy attacks

• Broken bones

• Cuts from barbed wire fences

• Dehydration

• Drowning

• Electric shock from electric fences

• Exposure to hazardous animals, plants, microbes, or viruses.

• Falls

• Fire

• Lightning

• Motion sickness

• Sprains

• Sunburn

In order to minimize exposure to potential hazards, the Department has established the following procedures for fieldwork. Adherence to these procedures will make our field trips reasonably safe and positive learning experiences.

Always wear appropriate attire:

• Sturdy shoes or boots

• Long pants rather than shorts

• Long sleeve shirt

• Hat with a brim

Do not horse around during field trips

Drink plenty of water

Use sunscreen

Wear life preservers anytime you are in a boat

Always shower after a field trip and check yourself for ticks

• if you find a tick that is imbedded into your skin, grasp it gently with your fingers (never forceps or tweezers) and twist until the tick's head is dislodged

Do not reach under objects with your hands. For example, roll a log or move it with a hoe or other implement before picking it up.

Always look carefully before you grasp an object in the field.

Lift carefully when carrying heavy or awkward objects

Do you have any special medical needs?_______ If so, please explain: _______________

_______________________________________________________________________

I have read and understand the above precautions and procedures. I agree to follow the safety procedures, and to behave in a safe and cautious manner while in the field.

__________________________________________ ___________________

Student's signature Date