Thanks to everyone who contacted me with winning general ecology labs. Below is my original email followed by the responses I received via ECOLOG and Twitter.
Thanks! James Beck Wichita State What are your 5-star General Ecology labs? I'm looking to re-tool a few of my labs this fall and need suggestions. I’m particularly interested in: 1) simulation-based labs in R 2) reliable field-based exercises (I'm in Kansas in an urban setting) I’m particularly looking for those relating to mark recapture, pollen movement, population growth/demography, community ecology, and primary production, but am honestly interested in any labs that are really “stars” of your course. I've reviewed the TIEE labs, and if any of those are particularly good let me know. Any materials you can share would be greatly appreciated. ANSWERS ———————————————————— 1. You mentioned TIEE and I've used the "Correlates of Stomatal Density" (approx. title) lab for years. Given the diversity of planted trees in shrubs in cities, it should work very well there, even in the winter. On my campus, there are 6 or 7 broadleaf evergreen species that my students use in February. The counts are relatively easy to make and generate data that allow a hypothesis test. It is also easy to relate to climate change, given that carbon dioxide levels can influence stomatal density. Plus, there are experimental (and paleontological) data that demonstrate this relationship. 2. If you aren't familiar with the AMNH NCEP (Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners) modules, many of these are outstanding and relevant to ecology. For example, I have used the "What is Biodiversity" lab many times. If you register on their website (it's free), you can download the labs, associated PowerPoints, and instrutor's solutions for the various exercises. Some of these (e.g., the one on population genetics of plants) are short enough to use during class. Here's the link: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/capacity-development/ncep/ncep-module-collection/ ———————————————————— 1. Mark-recapture with grasshoppers. First lab section in the week collects them & dabs nail polish on the dorsal surface (thorax). We count. Later in week, second lab section captures as many as possible, and a student "jailer" must "incarcerates them" in an old pillowcase while keeping running total of numbers marked and unmarked. Use Lincoln Index to estimate population size and S.E. 2. Community comparison of forest plots. Several TIEE entries relate to this, and I have a version I just blogged, too: https://1earth2learn.wordpress.com/ 3. Cemetery demography. It's a classic! Lots of great data sets exist already, plenty of analyses students can perform on the data. 4. I always do an aquatic habitat...thing. Lately it's just a simple pond study "ecosystem assessment" with dip nets and simple water quality tests. Could always set up a light-dark bottle the day before & test D.O. if interested in production (and community metabolism). ———————————————————— Have you considered the computer-based labs by Simbio/Simutext? ———————————————————— Not strictly an ecology lab (more evolutionary ecology), but we have had excellent experiences measuring species interactions and phenotypic selection on the gall size of a gall forming fly (Eurosta solidaginis). Eurosta should be in your area, is often very abundant, and can be found on goldenrod everywhere from roadsides to abandoned lots to forest clearings. The story is that galls differ in size, with large galls being attacked by birds (chickadees & some woodpeckers) and small galls being attacked by a parasitoid (Eurytoma gigantea). This generates (1) stabilizing selection favoring intermediate gall types, and (2) directional selection favoring the galls favored by the rarer enemy. I have done this exercise as part of my research or as a class exercise ~a dozen times, and it has always "worked". We typically get partners to collect ~50 galls. They then measure gall diameter using calipers, before quantifying survival and attack rates. Attack by birds is obvious (there is a big hole in the side of the gall), but galls need to be cut open to determine whether or not they contain an intact larvae or a parasitoid. If you're short on time you ignore the parasitoid component and still measure differences in bird attack/resultant selection (which should only be directional). We typically get students to enter their own data into EXCEL (column titles: gall size, survival, bird, parasitoid). We then go through how to use simple linear regressions in R, and can jump into such statistical topics as GLMs (fitness is binary in this case), and when to standardize variables (i.e. to make selection coefficients comparable). Basically the exercise allows your to go from the field, to the lab, to a statistical test and near sure-thing result in 2-4 hours (depending on the group etc.). You can imagine many tweaks to this, for instance using two different environments (e.g. near and far from trees). Here is a page with keys and more info on the system (http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/abrahmsn/solidago/eurosta.html). ———————————————————— I do a feral cat camera trap activity in my nature of new England course. It's an intro course for non-majors. It's my urban nature activity. I can't say it's a "hit," but it's ok. I've also played with the idea of having this be a semester-long activity where students each sign up for a week. However, I've not been willing to make that commitment on my end yet. This could be a mark-recapture activity, but we typically only do one trapping occasion. ———————————————————— I'll have some data analysis in R labs coming soon at https://rachelss.github.io/BIO263_Fall18/ - not simulations though we'll be reproducing work from real papers. ———————————————————— Kery—introduction to winbugs, and Kery & Royle—Bayesian population analysis have great simulations and analysis in R and winBUGS. All the code is readily available in multiple languages—JAGS and STAN so as students progress quantitatively then can revisit old work.
