Laboratory
Manual may be downloaded at:
www.morehouse.edu/facstaff/lblumer/BIO320L/manual
Thursday, 1-5pm, Room 311 Hope Hall
INSTRUCTORS:
Lawrence
Blumer, 302 Hope Hall, lblumer@morehouse.edu
telephone: (404) 653-7873
Office
Hours: MWF 1-2 pm and by appointment
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20-Jan |
TH |
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#1 |
Host-Shift Adaptation (design and start experiment) |
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#1 |
Host-Shift Adaptation (measure founders) |
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3-Feb |
TH |
#2 |
Competition in Bean Beetles I (measure emerging
adults) |
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#3 |
Competition in Bean Beetles II (start experiment) |
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Discussion on evaluating posters – Review
Research Posters |
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10-Feb |
TH |
#2 |
Competition in Bean Beetles I (measure emerging
adults) |
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#3 |
Competition in Bean Beetles II (collect results and
discuss) |
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Introduction
to Library Research tools. |
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Woodruff
Library, Main Level, Room 215, 3:30-5:00 pm |
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Research
Poster due noon Wednesday, 16-Feb by e-mail |
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(PowerPoint template will be distributed via e-mail) |
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Mid-Semester
Seminar Papers Assigned |
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17-Feb |
TH |
#1 |
Host-Shift Adaptation (collect data and discuss) |
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#1 |
Host-Shift Adaptation (collect data and discuss) |
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Mid-Semester
Seminar Presentations |
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Secondary Chemical Defenses
(bioassay undamaged plants) |
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Collect
results of bioassay |
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10-Mar |
TH |
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Spring Break – No Classes |
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17-Mar |
TH |
#5 |
Induction of Secondary Chemical
Defenses |
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(design experiment and conduct
damage treatments) |
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#6-7 |
Forest ecology and diversity (design
study) |
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24-Mar |
TH |
#5 |
Induction of Secondary
Chemical Defenses (start bioassays) |
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25-Mar |
F |
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Induction of Secondary Chemical Defenses (collect results) |
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Research Poster due noon Wednesday, 30-Mar by
e-mail |
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31-Mar |
TH |
#6 |
Forest Ecology 1, mixed
hardwood forest (Field Trip) |
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Assignments for Final Laboratory Seminar
distributed |
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7-Apr |
TH |
#7 |
Forest Ecology 2,
coniferous forest (Field Trip) |
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14-Apr |
TH |
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Final Laboratory Seminar Presentations |
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21-Apr |
TH |
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Final Laboratory Seminar Presentations |
Laboratory
Manual
The
laboratory book for this course, Laboratory Studies in Ecology, is available
on-line at www.morehouse.edu/facstaff/lblumer/BIO320L/manual Download and read the upcoming
laboratory protocol before the 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 only need one USB flash-drive 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.
Course Grading
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Laboratory Attendance (12 x 10
points each) |
120 points |
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Two Research Posters (110 points
each) |
220 points |
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Library visit and two Friday
meetings (20 pts each) |
60 points |
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Mid-Semester Seminar |
100 points |
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Final Laboratory Seminar |
100 points |
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Total = |
600 points |
Letter
grades will be assigned as described below:
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A |
= |
90 |
to |
100% |
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A- |
= |
88 |
to |
89% |
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B+ |
= |
86 |
to |
87% |
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B |
= |
80 |
to |
85% |
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B- |
= |
78 |
to |
79% |
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C+ |
= |
76 |
to |
77% |
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C |
= |
70 |
to |
75% |
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C- |
= |
68 |
to |
69% |
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D+ |
= |
66 |
to |
67% |
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D |
= |
60 |
to |
65% |
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D- |
= |
58 |
to |
59% |
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F |
= |
57% and less |
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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 20% 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 10 points for each
absence (even with a valid excuse).
Class will begin promptly at 1:00 pm and late arrivals will not be
permitted (the door will be locked). We will leave for field trips without
waiting for late individuals.
Attendance at the Library session (during class time) and bioassay data
collection on two Fridays, (see schedule) will each be worth an additional 20
points. Absence from these
activities will not be excused. 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. Schedule
your appointments for times other than laboratory time.
á
No food or drink
is to be brought into the laboratory under any circumstances.
á
No cell phone
use in the laboratory (turn your cell phone off).
á
Dress
appropriately! Fancy clothes
invariably get stained in a laboratory, and ruined in the field. Closed toe shoes must be worn at all
times.
á
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. We
always leave our laboratory cleaner than we found it.
Research Posters
Two
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. A part of your poster grade is based on your responses to
poster interview questions that are at the end of this syllabus.
Disability
Accommodation
Morehouse College is committed to equal opportunity in
education for all students, including those with documented disabilities.
Students with disabilities or those who suspect they have a disability must
register with the Office of Disability Services (ÒODSÓ) in order to receive
accommodations. Students currently
registered with the ODS are required to present their Disability Services
Accommodation Letter to faculty immediately upon receiving the
accommodation. If you have any
questions, contact the Office of Disability Services, 104 Sale Hall Annex,
Morehouse College, 830 Westview Dr. S.W., Atlanta, GA 30314, (404) 215-2636,
FAX: (404) 215-2749.
Disclaimer
This
syllabus is not a contract. The
instructors reserve the right to modify it at their discretion.
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.
Simply copying and pasting the statistical analysis output that I send
to you for each experiment is not acceptable for presentation in either your
poster or your seminar presentation.
Giving a literature citation is not sufficient. I
require that you submit work that you have written yourself in your own words. Writing 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.
Mid-Semester and Final Laboratory
Seminar
Each
of you will prepare and present a brief (10 minutes) review of the purpose,
results, and conclusions of a published research paper (Mid-Semester) and one
of the studies (or a part of one of the studies) we conduct during the semester
(Final Laboratory Seminar). You
will be required to prepare a PowerPoint presentation and present your seminar
from a computer projector. You should be prepared to answer questions about the
study you present. You must be
able to discussion the meaning of the results and how the results address the
question and hypotheses posed in the study you are presenting. The Final Laboratory Seminars are meant
to help us review the work we have done the semester and put it all into a
larger context. Think about how
different studies are interrelated.
Your
seminars will be evaluated for clarity, organization, and accuracy. Each presentation will count for 100
pts. My laboratory seminar
evaluation form is attached. I
will be happy to discuss the format and content of your seminars prior to your
presentations. Please dress as you
normally would for the laboratory.
If necessary, I will conduct a demonstration of the PowerPoint
Presentation program in class.
The
published research papers from which you will prepare your Mid-Semester Seminar
will be assigned two weeks prior to the presentation date. Final Laboratory Seminar assignments also
will be distributed in class two weeks prior to the presentation times in the
last two class meetings. Seminars
will be presented in Room 311 Hope Hall. We will begin promptly at the start of
the scheduled time and late arrivals will result in a 25-point penalty.
ECOLOGY
LABORATORY, BIOLOGY 320L Name______________________________
Morehouse
College
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, 10 pts. maximum)
________
BIO 320L Ecology Laboratory, Research Poster
Evaluation (110 points possible)
Poster Title _____________________________
Poster Author
______________________ Score (_____ 110 points possible)
Poster
(80 pts possible) _______
Interview
(30 pts possible) _______
Title (______ out of 5
points possible)
Title
describes both the question and the system being studied: 5 points
Title
describes either the question or the system: 2
points
Title not
descriptive, such as ÒExperiment #1Ó or missing: no points
Introduction (______ out of
15 points possible)
Statement of question addressed,
statement of hypotheses to be tested, and context for the current study
provided: 15 points
Statement
of question and alternative hypotheses given, but context missing: 7 points
Statement
of alternative hypotheses missing:
5 points
Statement
of question missing: no points
Methods (______ out of 5
points possible)
Description
of the treatments including the control and a summary of the study
protocol: 5 points
Description
of treatments and summary of protocol, but control not identified: 3 points
Descriptive
summary of protocol given but treatments not described: 2 points
Description
of methods limited to a list of materials: 1 point
Methods
missing: no points
Results (______ out of 20 points
possible)
Statistical summary of findings
(average values, total counts for each treatment) in prose and in the form of graphs or tables, and a prose description of the
findings: 20 points
Statistical summary of findings
(average values, total counts for each treatment) in prose and in the form of graphs or tables, but no prose description of
the findings: 10 points
Statistical
findings only in the form of graphs or tables: 5 points
Raw data
presented without statistical summaries:
no points
Discussion (______ out of 20
points possible)
Interpretation of results to reject
hypotheses and address the question posed in the Introduction, and provide a broader context on the
meaning of the findings: 20 points
Interpretation of results to reject
hypotheses and address the question posed in the Introduction, but no context
on the meaning of the findings provided:
10 points
Interpretation of results to reject
hypotheses provided but the question posed in the Introduction not
addressed: 5 points
Interpretation of results to reject
hypotheses and address the question posed in the Introduction not
provided: no points
Literature Cited (______ out
of 5 points possible)
Scientific literature (minimum of
five books or journal articles, government or university researcher websites)
cited in both the Introduction and the Discussion to provide context. In text, citations use Author, year
method and full citation provided in Literature Cited: 5 points
Scientific literature cited in both
the Introduction and the Discussion to provide context. In text, citations use Author,year
method, but Literature Cited missing or contains references not cited in the
prose of the Poster: 4 points
Scientific literature cited in
either the Introduction or the Discussion but not both. In text, citations use Author,year
method: 3 points
Scientific literature not cited in
prose of Poster, but a Literature Cited or References list provided: 2 point
Scientific
literature not cited and Literature Cited or References missing: no points
Format (______ out of 10
points possible)
Poster is appropriately organized
with Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited sections. Writing is for an informed external
audience: 10 points
Poster is appropriately organized
with Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited sections. Audience inappropriately focused on the
instructor or the class context: 5
points
Poster is organized with Results and
Discussion confused or one section of Poster format missing: 2 point
Poster is not organized with
Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited sections: no points
Academic Honesty
If any one of the following is true,
the score for the entire assignment is zero.
Direct quotations from another
student or a published source without quotations marks or without attribution.
Direct quotations (with minor
editing) presented without quotation marks or
without attribution.
Extensive use (more than one
sentence) of direct quotations with quotation marks and attribution.
Reprinting graphs or tables prepared
by another student.
Reprinting graphs or tables from
published source without attribution.
BIO 320L Ecology Laboratory, Research Poster
Interview (30 points possible)
Poster Title _____________________________
Poster Author
_________________________ Score (_____ 30 points possible)
What question did your experiment address?
5 points: Concisely stated the experimental question.
3
points: Correctly stated the
experimental topic but stated a question not addressed
by the experiment conducted.
1
point: Only stated the general
topic of the experiment.
0
points: Could not state the
experimental topic.
What was the null hypothesis?
5 points: Clearly stated the null hypothesis.
3
points: Stated an alternative
hypothesis.
1
point: Stated an hypothesis not
addressed by the experiment.
0
points: Could not state an
hypothesis.
What were the treatments in the experiment? What was (were) the control treatment(s)?
5 points: Clearly stated the experimental and control treatments.
3
points: Clearly stated either the
experimental or control treatments but not both.
1
point: Incorrectly described the
treatments.
0
points: Could not state any
treatments.
Summarize the results of your experiment and the statistical tests of
our results.
5 points: Described a) data means or total outcomes b) comparing
controls to treatments
and c) noted whether differences were statistically significant.
3
points: Described two of the
above.
1
point: Described one of the above.
0
points: Could not describe any of
the above.
What is the main conclusion from your study?
5 points: Clearly and concisely stated conclusions.
3
points: Conveyed the main
conclusion, but lacked clarity
1
point: Only restated the results.
0
points: Response addressed neither
results nor conclusions.
Based on your conclusions, what future experiment(s) would you propose?
5 points: Clearly stated at least one potential future experiment
related to the conclusions.
3
points: Stated at least one future
experiment related to the topic but not related to the conclusions.
1
point: Stated at least one
experiment but not related to the current experimental topic.
0
points: Could not propose any
future experiments.