St. Ambrose Ecology

Biology 307: Ecology

Course Syllabus Internet Exercise Course FTP Site

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Last updated August 23, 2007

Course Syllabus

Course Description

This course in general ecology will examine the interrelationships of plants and animals with one another and with their physical environment. In general, we will NOT focus on human ecology, i.e., how humans have altered their own environment.

Texts

Smith, Robert L. and Thomas M. Smith. 2001. Ecology and Field Biology. 6th ed. Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco.
Cox, G.W. 2002. Laboratory Manual of General Ecology. 8th ed. Wm. C. Brown Co., Dubuque.

Attendance Policy

Your regular attendance is important to me, to you, and to your fellow students. This class is a joint venture between you and me, and I want you to be as committed to the course as I am. I expect you to be present for every class, although I will allow up to three absences from the classroom period.
Laboratory work will be done entirely within groups, so attendance at each laboratory will be required. Let me know in advance if you think you may have reason for an excused absence. Realize that in making up any lab, you will be on your own regarding transportation, assistance in data collection, etc

Course Requirements

Examinations. There will be four examinations. Each will be a take-home exam covering material since the previous exam. You will be given about ten days to complete it. You may use written resources (class notes, text, other published material) but you may not discuss the questions with other students or faculty. You may ask me any questions you wish. You will be asked to sign an honors pledge for each exam. Overall, the exams will contribute 70% toward the final grade.
Laboratory work. Five lab exercises on the accompanying schedule will require written reports. The format of each report will be discussed at the beginning of the lab. You should follow the format outlined in Exercise 5 of the lab manual ("Writing an Ecological Research Paper"). Due dates for reports are indicated on the schedule. Although you will be collecting the data as a group, the reports will be submitted individually. You may discuss the lab within your group, but ALL WRITTEN WORK MUST BE YOUR OWN. These laboratory exercises will contribute 30% toward the final grade.

Guidelines for All Written Work, Including Examinations

Written material will be evaluated for clarity of expression, careful addressing of scientific issues, freedom from typographic and grammatical errors, and, for lab work, experimental design, correctness of data analysis, and adherence to proper form. In general, I will be more concerned about content than form, but since proper form promotes communication, that will also be a consideration. NOTE: Any material copied directly from the text or any other source must be indicated with quotation marks and cited properly, according to the form presented in . Failure to use quotation marks and citations where appropriate will be considered plagiarism and may result in a failing grade for the work.

GRADING SCALE
A 90-100% excellent work (no major/minor flaws)
B+ 85-89% with fewer flaws than B work
B 80-84% good work (minor flaws, basically sound content)
C+ 75-79% with fewer flaws than C work
C 65-74% fair work (major problems in content or form)
D 55-64% poor work (major omissions, serious writing problems)
F below 55% unacceptable work

GRADING SCALE
A	90-100%	excellent work (no major/minor flaws)
B+	85-89%	with fewer flaws than B work
B	80-84%	good work (minor flaws, basically sound content)
C+	75-79%	with fewer flaws than C work
C	65-74%	fair work (major problems in content or form)
D	55-64%	poor work (major omissions, serious writing problems)
F	below 55%	unacceptable work

Laboratory Schedule

This schedule is flexible, based on weather conditions and project needs. Because it may not be possible to keep both Monday (M) and Wednesday (W) labs in synchrony, I ask that you come to lab on the same day each week.
Comfort in the field: Wear appropriate clothing for field labs: comfortable shoes and long, but not fuzzy, pants. (One experience with stinging nettle will convince you not to wear shorts. Fuzzy pants, like sweats, will pick up countless dispersing seeds.) I strongly recommend that you use an insect repellant with at least 30% DEET. As it gets colder, keep in mind that the temperature is lower in the field than on campus. It is better to wear too many layers and take some off than to freeze for three hours.

Aug M27,W29	No Lab
Sep M03,W05	No Lab (Labor Day Week)
Sep M10,W12	Sampling Design in Ecological Studies (Field)	Ex. 3
Sep M17,W19	Quadrat Sampling of Plant Populations (Field)	Ex. 8
Sep M24,W26	Plotless Sampling of Plant Populations (Field)	Ex. 8
Oct M01, W03	Reduction of Plant Population Data (Indoors)	Ex. 8
	REPORT DUE for Sampling Design
Oct M08,W10	Rain Date for Plant Population Labs
Oct M15,W17	Life Tables (Field)	Ex. 20
	REPORT DUE for Plant Populations
Oct M22,W24	Time and Energy Budgets (Field)	Handout
Oct M29,W31	Introduction to Statistical Analysis (Indoors)	Ex. 4
Nov M05,W07	Interspecific Association (Indoors)	Ex. 26
	REPORT DUE for Life Tables
Nov M12,W14	Measurement of Species Diversity (Indoors)	Ex. 28
	REPORT DUE for Time and Energy Budgets
Nov M19,W21	No Lab (Thanksgiving Week)
Nov M26,W28	Intrapopulation Dispersion Analysis (Indoors)	Ex. 18
Dec M03,W05	Open Lab
	REPORT DUE for Interspecific Association

Classroom Schedule

DATE	TOPIC	CHAPTER
27 Aug	Introduction; Experimentation and Models	1
29	Climate	2
31	Light, Water, Temperature, Nutrients	3
3 Sep	No class (Labor Day)
5	Soils I	4
7	Soils II; Adaptations	4,5
10	Plant Adaptations I	6
12	Plant Adaptations II; EXAM 1 handed out	7
14	Animal Adaptations I	8
17	Animal Adaptations II	8
19	Open class for Exam 1
21	Properties of Populations	10
24	Population Growth; EXAM 1 DUE	11
26	Intraspecific Competition	12
28	No class
1 Oct	Population Regulation	12
3	Life History Patterns	13
5	No class (Presidential Inauguration)
8	Interspecific Competition	14
10	Predation; EXAM 2 handed out	15
12	Plant-Herbivore Systems	16
15	Herbivore-Carnivore Systems	16
17	Open class for Exam 2
19	No class (Midterm Break)
22	Parasitism	17
24	Mutualism; EXAM 2 DUE	17
26	Human Impacts	18
29	Population Genetics	19
31	Communities; EXAM 3 handed out	20
2 Nov	No class
5	Community Structure	20
7	Community Dynamics I	21
9	Community Dynamics II	22
12	Landscape Ecology	23
14	Ecosystem Productivity	24
16	Biogeochemistry I	26
19	Biogeochemistry II; EXAM 3 DUE	26
26	Biogeography	27
28	Grasslands	28
30	Forests	29
3 Dec	Lakes; EXAM 4 handed out	30
5	Rivers	30
7	Saltwater Ecosystems	31
	EXAM 4 DUE by 12 noon Thursday of finals week

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