Prospectus
Fall 3-week 2008
Off Campus - in Florida 28 Nov - 16 Dec
Denny Taylor - Biology 330 569 5267 (office)
Colton 207 e-mail: taylordj at hiram.edu fax: 330 569 5448
A marked mangrove periwinkle snail
Photo: Unknown
I. Course Description:
Welcome to the 2008 version of Marine Ecology. This course evolved from three related courses taught by at the Shoals Marine Lab since 1982, Adaptations of Marine Organisms, Experimental Marine Ecology and its current version called Research in Marine Biology. Through the years, the focus of the course has shifted from adaptation and marine ecology to experimental design. In this course, you will learn skills that are required of all scientists including: designing and carrying out effective experiments, analyzing results using statistics, and communicating the meaning of your results in the form of scientific presentations and papers. The only way to develop these skills is to practice them, and this course is designed to give you plenty of opportunities to flex your experimental muscles.
The context in which you will learn these skills is marine ecology and physiology, and we will use the varied and diverse marine habitats of Florida as a natural laboratory for study. Together we will design and carry out seven or more experiments, which will expose you to a variety organisms and environments, and experimental and statistical techniques. We will provide background material for each experiment in the form of lectures, readings, and the results of experiments conducted by previous classes (from as far back as May of 2003. Lectures will emphasize a few model ecological and/or physiological concepts, and how these discoveries were made experimentally.
We have data sets from May of 2003, December 2004 and 2006 on mangrove snail habitat selection, plant ecology of new sand dune environments, shark monitoring and fish/invertebrate sampling of altered and stable estuarine environments, wading bird orientation and on black horn snail morphology and distribution.
You will be expected to be a full participant in the course at all times. Be prepared to put in 12 to 14 hour days including full participation in running our field study site (cooking and cleaning) This means that you must be helpful and cooperative at all times. Also be prepared: 1) to run 10 days at a stretch with no break, 2) to get up at 5 or 6 p.m and work until midnight or later on some days, 3) to expect the unexpected and divert regularly from the plan for the day. If you can not cope with uncertainty and need structure, THIS IS NOT THE COURSE FOR YOU.
Everyone has a different background, and therefore, will have more or less competence and ability in different areas. If you are not up to the average, then seek out assistance from instructors and participants. If you are above average, then it is your responsibility to learn how to help others learn. The best way to learn is to teach. Your grade will be determined in part by your cooperation in group projects.
II. Grading
400 pts Group Projects
Field Book 150 pts;
Analysis 100 pts
Write-up - 150 pts;
200 pts Class presentation
100 pts presentation
100 pts content
200 pts Examination -
Questions by the class and faculty.
You will have these questions before the examination.
100 pts
Individual website development on research project/ecosystem
100 pts Participation in discussions, experimental designs, and completion of all work.
III. Notes
We will spend much time designing and carrying out experiments. The process of scientific discovery is as important in this course as the end results. Your participation is needed at all times. If you have any questions or concerns, please see me immediately.
If your background in marine biology is weak, don't worry. Although the content of the course is important, the main emphasis will be on the process of carrying out scientific experiments in field and laboratory situations. I will have an extensive collection of articles available for you to learn more about topics presented in lectures, and to help you in writing your papers.
We will also be crunching numbers, generating figures, and writing papers using computers. I look forward to a great course.
Dennis J Taylor and 2006 Marine Ecology Participants
taylordj at hiram.edu
last updated 28 October 2008
Banner Photo by Mathew J. Wilson