BIOLOGY 364 - Ecology Lab

Dr. Monica Tischler
Office: Birk 333
Phone: 630-829-6536

Office Hours as posted or by appointment

BIOL 364 -- Ecology Lab
Fall 2001

BIOL 364: Ecology Lab
Syllabus

Texts	Course Schedule	Prerequisites and Policies
Course Objectives	Lab Rules	Write-ups and Grading

Required Course Texts:

Laboratory packet. Available at the bookstore.

Strongly Suggested Text:
Biometry or statistics text of your choice

Course Schedule:

Lab Period	Exercise	Assignment
8/28	Introduction Set up Carrying Capacity
9/4	A Comparison of Four Microclimates	results
9/11	Testing the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis	report
9/18	No class — work on computer modeling
9/25	Ponds
10/2	Ponds	results
10/9	Plant competition
10/16	Flocking and foraging
10/23	Flocking and foraging (cont.)	report
10/30	Capture/Recapture
11/6	Capture/Recapture (cont.)	report
11/13	Plant competition (cont.)	report
11/20	no class — work on computer modeling
11/27	Mimicry
12/4	Mimicry (cont); Carrying Capacity	results

Course Objectives:

This course is a laboratory and field experience in basic and applied ecology. Laboratories are investigative in nature and are designed to introduce the student to: Sampling

ecological methods and theory;
elementary experimental design;
data collection and analysis; and
the subsequent writing of a scientific report.

Prerequisites and Policies

Course prerequisites:
BIOL 229 (Biometry) is a prerequisite for this course. If you have not already had Biometry or an equivalent statistics course, you will have difficulty in this course. If you are co-registered in Biometry, you will have difficulty with the lab write-ups, and you will not be permitted in the course.

BIOL 363 (Ecology lecture) is a prerequisite or corequisite for this course.

Attendance Policy:
Attendance at labs is mandatory. Students not attending a particular lab will not be allowed to hand in a research paper of results sheet for that lab. Therefore, absence will result in a grade of zero for that lab unless there is a documented illness or death in the family. THERE ARE NO MAKEUP LABS IN THIS COURSE.

This laboratory is investigative in nature, and not all experiments can be neatly packaged into a 3 hour time slot once a week. We will have several laboratories that will involve effort outside of scheduled class times. Students will be expected to sign up for times to keep the experiments going (e.g. feed fish, water plants, make observations at the bird feeder), and it is the responsibility of each individual in the class to keep his or her committment. Those not fulfilling their responsibilites will lose points from their grade. These experiments will be collaborative in nature. The consequences of missing observations or letting fish or plants languish will be felt by the entire class.

Course Drop Date:
The last day to drop a course at Benedictine U. is November 2.

Academic Honesty Policy:
All students are required to read and abide by the Honesty Statement in the Student Handbook. Any instance of an activity that constitutes cheating as outlined in the statement of Academic Policy in the Student Handbook will result in a grade of zero for that assignment or exam. A second infraction of the Honesty Policy will result in a grade of F for the course. Plagiarism (using someone's ideas, not just exact words, without crediting that person) is considered cheating. Any instance of cheating will be reported to the Dean of Students, the student's advisor, and the Health Sciences Recommendation Committee.

Other helpful information:
We will be doing field exercises rain or shine. It is in your interest to make sure you have sturdy shoes and are dressed in an appropriate fashion. For some of the labs early in the semester, bug spray will be a very good idea. If it is damp, you might want a rain slicker. If it is cold, remember your gloves and your hat. Three hours is a long time in the wet or cold.

Lab Rules:

Attendance at labs is mandatory.
A paper or lab report will not be accepted for labs from which a student is absent.
Some of our labs will be outdoors, rain or shine. Dress appropriately. However, the instructor reserves the right to alter the order of labs in cases of extreme weather.
No smoking, eating, or dirinking in the lab or while in the field.
The grade for a lab report or results sheet will be reduced by 5% for each day (or partial day) that it is late.

Write-ups and Grading:

Write-ups:

There are two basic formats expected for write-ups upon completion of field and laboratory exercises. Formal lab reports are expected to be complete and thorough and include an introduction/purpose, materials and methods (especially including any deviations from the lab handout), results in tabular or graphic form (or both), and discussion and conclusions. Short lab reports or results sheets are expected to be complete treatment of the data in tabular and/or graphic form and an explanation of those results. The lab handouts specify which format is expected for each exercise.

For both types of write-up, it is expected that the student is able to communicate his/her understanding of the results in a clear and concise manner. Tables and graphs must be titled with labels on the axes and statistical treatment of data must be accompanied by the words explaining the symbols. Although students are encouraged to work in groups, each student is responsible for an individual write-up. If a student copies from another student, that is cheating. Students who work together and turn in identical or substantially similar lab write-ups will be penalized as outlined above.

Dr. Tischler can generally tell when students copy from each other. For some interesting examples that she has received in the past, click here.

Assignments may be hand written rather than typed, but they must be neat and legible to the instructor. Write-ups are due one week from completion of the exercise. Students may not turn in a write-up for an exercise from which they were absent. If there are questions about the policy, please ask Dr. Tischler for clarification. Grades will be lowered by 5% for each day or part of the day that an assignment is late.

Basis of Grading:

Lab Exercise	Assignment	Points	Tentative due date*
Carrying Capacity	results	50	12/11
Microclimates	results	50	9/11
Intermediate Disturbance	report	100	9/18
Ponds	results	50	10/9
Flocking and Foraging	report	100	10/30
Mark/Recapture	report	100	11/13
Competition	report	100	11/27
Mimicry	results	50	12/11
Computer modeling	results	50	12/4
lab courtesy, cooperation		100
Total		750

*Due date is tentative and may be modified if class schedule is modified

Grades will be assigned on the following basis:

Percentage	Grade
90-100%	A
80-89%	B
70-79%	C
60-69%	D
below 60%	F

Dr. Tischler's Home Page

This page was last updated on August 23, 2001 by M. Tischler.