BIOL 370L

Home
Teaching
Research
Links

 

      

Students marking periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) for a mark-recapture study at Waties Island. Snake found while sampling on campus. Venus fly traps (Dionaea muscipula) seen on field trip at Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve. Spicebush swallowtail butterfly (Papilio troilus) caterpillar seen in Fall 2006 lab. Photo by Lindsay Smith. Female striped killifish (Fundulus majalis) collected during seining in surf at Waties Island during Fall 2009 lab. Photo by Justin Rogers.

Syllabus

Advice about writing Ecology lab reports.

Here are some brief tips for writing about statistics from Dr. Chris Hill. Follow his advice and you'll do well on your lab reports.

Lab 1:  Introduction to graphics and statistics. 

Lab 2:  Analyzing variation. Bring a calculator. We'll be collecting pine needles on campus for a short while. Be prepared for rain.

Lab 3:  Natural history.  Be sure to wear appropriate clothing for being outside walking through a forest and being potentially wet.  Bring bug spray. You'll also need a pencil, and some paper or a notebook to record your observations.

Lab 4: Life tables.  We'll be visiting the cemetery next to the football stadium; be prepared in case of rain.

  • Conway cemetery data (be sure to save the data for your lab to your computer before doing the analyses)

Lab 5:  Spatial distribution of Ilex opaca (American Holly) and Vitis sp. (grape).  Bring a calculator. Be prepared for rain as we walk in a local forest. It's sometimes 'buggy'--you may wish to bring some repellent.

Lab 6: Mark-recapture experiment in the salt marsh at Waties Island. Be prepared for mud, bugs, tides, and rain. Knee-high rubber boots or other mud-shoes are helpful.

Ignore the crab section; we'll only focus on snails.

Data for mark-recapture experiment. Be sure to save the data to your computer before doing the analyses.

Lab 7: Gall formation on red bay.  We'll be walking around campus. Be prepared for rain and bugs.

If you're interested, here are some pictures of Red bay and the jumping plant louse.

Lab 8:  Ecotones at Lewis Ocean Bay.  Come prepared to get dirty and to potentially deal with small, annoying critters as well as vines with thorns.  Wear closed-top shoes (not flip-flops!). Long pants are very helpful. You are also likely to get some ashes on your clothes when you brush past trees burned during past fires.

We also should see some carnivorous plants.

Lab 9: Soil microarthropods. We will be collecting leaf litter on campus for a short while during the first lab.


Sometimes we'll need these tables below to interpret the statistical significance of our results.

Chi-square table of critical values

Student's t-test table of critical values