Professor: Douglas E. Gill Lab Room: Biology 0275

Assistant: Michael Leigh Lab Time: Fridays 1-5pm

office: Biology 1215R

email: ml192@umail.umd.edu

Schedule

Week	Exercise
Sept 6	Insect and Plant Diversity—Collection in Field
Sept 13	Lecture: Insect Diversity (Gill) Duckweed: Setup experiment Insect and Plant Diversity—Begin Sorting and Identification
Sept 20	Insect and Plant Diversity—Sort and Identify Lecture: Measures of Diversity (Leigh)
Sept 27	Due: Introduction and Methods Insect and Plant Diversity—Identify
Oct 4	Insect and Plant Diversity—Analysis
Oct 11	Ant Behavioral Ecology—Mapping Colonies in Field
Oct 18	Due: Manuscript for Insect and Plant Diversity (4 copies) Ant Behavioral Ecology—Field Experiments in Field
Oct 25	Due: Manuscript Reviews for Insect and Plant Diversity Discuss Manuscripts Duckweed Setup – experiment two
Nov 1	Due: Final Paper for Insect and Plant Diversity (1 copy) evolutionary discussion - nature walk
Nov 8	Due: Manuscript for Ant Behavioral Ecology (4 copies) Ecology and Conservation -- Field Trip to Grassland Restoration Discuss Manuscript Reviews
Nov 15	Due: Manuscript Reviews for Ant Behavioral Ecology Discuss Ant Manuscripts Ecology and Conservation Discussion Library Time or Populus Exercises
Nov 22	Due: Final Paper for Ant Behavioral Ecology (1 copy) Duckweed Analysis Ecology and Conservation Presentation Proposals Populus—Theoretical Exercises
Nov 29	Thanksgiving Break
Dec 6	Populus - Applied Exercises. Due: Final Paper for Duckweed Community
Dec 13	Ecology and Conservation: Debates & Written Summaries Due: Conservation

Reports

There will be three major reports due in this course. Each report should be composed and typed in a professional manner, conforming to the standards of the scientific journal Ecology. General length guidelines are given at the beginning of each section description. Your paper should be long enough to tell your complete story; no longer. The most effective writers convey information in a succinct, clear manner.

Abstract: 3-4 sentences summarizing the main features of the study, including purpose, system, and conclusions.

Introduction: One page. Paragraph one states the concepts being examined and explains why the problem is intriguing. Relevant literature should be cited as background. Paragraph two states the hypotheses being tested. Paragraph three explains why the organisms and systems where chosen to test these hypotheses.

Methods: Three-four paragraphs. The first paragraph describes the locality and methods of the field investigation. The second describes the techniques and apparatus used in the laboratory. The third outlines the statistical methods of analysis.

Results: First, prepare figures which graphically represent the data and lead the reader through the data. Clarity is a priority. The message of each graph should be obvious to the reader by examining the axis labels. Each figure should include a short description in the caption describing the data and the relevant results. In general, figures are more effective than tables, unless you are presenting the results of a statistical test.

Second, describe the results in words. Be sure each figure is referenced in the text. Be succinct; restrict text to less than two pages. Simply tell the reader what trends and relationships you want them to see in the figures and tables. Do not present interpretations, inferences, or conclusions. Save these for the Discussion.

Discussion: Maximum of 4 pages. Interpret you results. Put your explanations into the context of the hypotheses presented in the Introduction. Explain the biological relevance of these new results to previous theories and investigations. Present possible problems with the study and future directions of study.

Literature Cited: List the full citation of all sources, citations, or quotes used in the text. Web sites are not accepted as valid references in the academic world because they are ephemeral and not peer-reviewed. The exception to this would be peer-reviewed journals which are only published on the internet such as Conservation Ecology, available at http://www.consecol.org. Failure to properly credit your sources is Plagiarism. It is illegal, unprofessional, and subject to severe academic penalties. Every student must read and understand the pages of the official U of MD Student Handbook on Academic Dishonesty.

Example:

Habitat fragmentation can have wide impacts on food web structure (Mikkelson 1993). Too often, these ecological factors are not integrated into the evolutionary theory (Gill et al. 1982, Doebeli and Ruxton 1997). However, Berven et al. (1982) integrated all of these aspects in their study of Rana clamitans.

Literature Cited

Berven, K. A., D. E. Gill, and S. J. Smith-Gill. 1979. Counter-gradient selection in the green frog, Rana clamitans. Evolution 33:609-623.

Doebeli, M. and G. D. Ruxton. 1997. Evolution of dispersal rates in metapopulation models: branching and cyclic dynamics in phenotype space. Evolution 51:1730-41.

Gill, D. E., K. A. Berven, and B. A. Mock. 1982. The environmental component of evolutionary biology. Pages 1-36 in C. E. King and P. S. Dawson, editors. Population biology: retrospect and prospect. Columbia University Press, New York.

Mikkelson, G. M. 1993. How do food webs fall apart - a study of changes in trophic structure during relaxation on habitat fragments. Oikos 67: 539-47.

Grading

The grade for this course is independent of the lecture course BSCI 462. The final grade in this course will be based primarily on your final reports, but also on your manuscript reviews and your participation. All items are to be turned in at class time on the date listed below.

		Due Date	Value
Insect and Plant Diversity
	Introduction and Methods	Sept 27	15
	First Manuscript	Oct 18	10
	Reviews	Oct 26	15
	Final Paper	Nov 1	60
Ant Behavioral Ecology
	First Manuscript	Nov 8	10
	Reviews	Nov 15	15
	Final Paper	Nov 22	75
Populus worksheet		Nov 30	25
Duckweed Community
	Final Paper	Dec 6	100
Presentation		Dec 13	50
Team and class participation			50
TOTAL			425