Ecology on Campus

Description

This flexible laboratory manual contains nearly 60 exercises involving small-scale ecological systems that can be conducted within a weekly lab period right on campus, regardless of weather or resources available. Each chapter explains a fundamental concept, and then gives three separate hands-on exercises that can involve outdoor observation and measurements on campus, laboratory systems, library research, biological collections, or computer resources.

Additionally, calculation pages accompanying each lab walk students through standard mathematical modeling or statistical tools commonly used by ecologists to address the question at hand, building students’ quantitative and critical thinking skills. All calculations and statistical analyses can be completed by students using simple calculators.

This flexible laboratory manual contains nearly 60 exercises involving small-scale ecological systems that can be conducted within a weekly lab period right on campus, regardless of weather or resources available. Each chapter explains a fundamental concept, and then gives three separate hands-on exercises that can involve outdoor observation and measurements on campus, laboratory systems, library research, biological collections, or computer resources.

Additionally, calculation pages accompanying each lab walk students through standard mathematical modeling or statistical tools commonly used by ecologists to address the question at hand, building students’ quantitative and critical thinking skills. All calculations and statistical analyses can be completed by students using simple calculators.

PREFACE: TEACHING AND LEARNING ECOLOGY IN A CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT

1. DESCRIBING A POPULATION

Exercise A: Seed weights in legumes

Exercise B: Needle length in conifers

2. ALLOMETRIC RELATIONSHIPS

Exercise A: Modeling size and shape relations

Exercise B: Heat exchange in beetles

Exercise C: Size and shape of trees

3. ESTIMATING POPULATION SIZE

Exercise A: Mark-recapture simulation

Exercise B: Mark-recapture estimate of a student population

Exercise C: Mark-recapture estimate of a mealworm population

4. POPULATION GROWTH

Exercise A: Calculating r from a published data set

Exercise B: Comparing exponential and logistic growth

Exercise C: Population growth of yeasts

5. DEMOGRAPHY

Exercise A: Demography simulation

Exercise B: Developing a life table from the alumni newsletter

Exercise C: Demography of campus trees

6. POPULATION GENETICS

Exercise A: Population genetics simulation

Exercise B: Hardy Weinberg equilibrium in a fruit fly culture

7. SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

Exercise A: Dispersion of plants in a lawn community

Exercise B: Dispersion of herbivores on plant resource units

Exercise C: Dispersion of isopods in an artificial habitat

8. THE NICHE

Exercise A: Feeding niches in the community aquarium

Exercise B: Niches of birds at a feeding station

Exercise C: Plant niches on a disturbance gradient

9. THE CONCEPT OF THE COMMUNITY

Exercise A: Geographical distributions of tree species

Exercise B: Direction of exposure and plant communities

Exercise C: Microbial communities on a salt concentration gradient

10. COMPETITION

Exercise A: Demonstrating allelopathy

Exercise B: Competition within and between species

Exercise C: Competition problems

11. PREDATION AND PARASITISM

Exercise A: Predator/prey simulation

Exercise B: Predation by Daphnia on Euglena

Exercise C: Simulating functional responses of a predator

12. MUTUALISM

Exercise A: Effects of Rhizobium on legumes

Exercise B: Microbial symbionts in termite gut and lichen thallus

Exercise C: Flower/pollinator mutualism

13. BIODIVERSITY

Exercise A: Measuring biodiversity of campus birds

Exercise B: Measuring invertebrate biodiversity

Exercise C: Measuring biodiversity in sweep net samples

14. ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

Exercise A: Succession in hay infusions

Exercise B: Comparing r-selection and K-selection in trees

15. PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SOILS

Exercise A: Physical properties of soils

Exercise B: Soil pH in two microhabitats

Exercise C: Nutrient capture by soils

16. AQUATIC SYSTEMS

Exercise A: Dissolved oxygen and temperature

Exercise B: Sediment load and water clarity

Exercise C: LD₅₀ determination for a pesticide

17. ENERGY FLOW

Exercise A: Productivity of plankton

Exercise B: Pyramid of biomass for plankton

Exercise C: Estimating ecological efficiency of leaf miners

18. ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY

Exercise A: Biogeography simulation game

Exercise B: Species-area relationship for bird communities

APPENDIX 1: The variance

APPENDIX 2: Critical values for the t-test

APPENDIX 3: Correlation and regression

APPENDIX 4: Critical values for the Mann-Whitney U test

APPENDIX 5: Critical values for the Chi-square test

APPENDIX 6: A table of random numbers

APPENDIX 7: Writing a laboratory report

Comprehensive glossary of ecological terms

Additional information

Dimensions	1.00 × 9.10 × 10.90 in
Imprint	Pearson
Format	gen
ISBN-13	09780805382143
ISBN-10	0805382143
Author	Robert Kingsolver
BISAC	SCI026000
Subjects	science, biology, life sciences, ecology, SCI026000, higher education