Esteban Fernández-Juricic

ANNOUNCEMENTS

- These links have interesting information about dependent and independent factors and some key experimental design concepts:

http://www.cs.umd.edu/~mstark/exp101/expvars.html

http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/compmatl/statistics.html

http://nimitz.mcs.kent.edu/~blewis/stat/stat.html#factor

- GRADES

- RESULTS FILE (for the research project)

- Topics included in Exam 1: introduction to ecology, statistics applied to ecology I and II, evolution, temperature and water relations, energy and nutrient relations, and social relations.

- Topics included in Exam 2: statistics applied to ecology I and II, Population distribution and abundance, Population dynamics, Population growth, Life histories, Competition, Exploitation, Mutualism.

- Topics included in Exam 3: statistics applied to ecology I and II, species abundance and diversity, species interactions and community structure, primary production and energy flow, succession and stability, landscape ecology, geographic ecology, and global ecology

- Supplementary material for download:

* group activities (Exam 1)

* group activities (Exam 2)

* group activities (Exam 3)

* sample questions for Exam 3

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Meeting point: LA5-243

Meeting time: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30 PM to 4:45PM

Course Website (please, bookmark it): http://www.csulb.edu/~efernand/genecol/

Prerequisites: BIOL 211A,B, with a grade of “C” or better, 260; MATH 112 or 117 or 119A or 122. Chemistry and physics recommended.

Instructor: Dr. Esteban Fernández-Juricic

Phone: 562-985-7597 (but you can reach me faster by e-mail)

E-mail: efernand@csulb.edu

Instructor's website: http://www.csulb.edu/~efernand/

Office: PH1-226

Office hours: Wednesdays from 1 PM to 3 PM (or by appointment)

Textbook: Molles, M.C. 2005 (3^nd Edition). Ecology: Concepts and Applications. McGraw Hill. ISBN: 0-07-243969-6

Please, bring the book to class, as you may use it for the group activities.

Course goals:  

(1) Study the patterns of distribution of organisms at the individual, population, community, and ecosystem levels, and the environmental and biological processes affecting such patterns.

(2) Improve the student’s critical and analytical skills through group activities during class and the development of a short research project, which involves the elaboration of hypotheses and predictions, data analysis, interpretation of graphs and tables, assessment of primary scientific literature, and communication of results. 

Teaching approach:

The best way of learning Ecology is to think critically about your surroundings. Critical thinking will be promoted through deeper questioning, challenging assumptions, finding new strategies to solve problems, and answering thought-provoking questions. During lectures, I will use group activities to encourage discussion and the reinforcement of the concepts studied. Students will develop a short-term research project to integrate the theoretical and empirical aspects of General Ecology. Communication skills will be improved through written presentations of the research results.

Most course activities will be approached through a guided inquiry process. Guided inquiry is a multifaceted process that involves making observations; posing questions; examining the literature to determine what is already known; planning research; using tools to gather, analyze and interpret data; discussing the results of novel experimental evidence; proposing answers, explanations and predictions; and communicating the results. Guided inquiry gives equal weight to knowledge and skills through a hands-on, activity-based focus that relies on strong content.

Some activities will be highly structured (considerable instructor guidance through detailed procedures, pre-made data tables and questions that call for fairly specific answers), while others will be less structured (students will have much more responsibility for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data). The goals of combining both types of activities are to (a) explore concepts in real-world situations, (b) use evidence to reason through a problem, and (c) use concepts to reach independent conclusions justified by evidence. 

My expectations of students:

• attend classes consistently,
• be prepared for class meetings (read the papers that are assigned for each class),
• participate actively in class discussions and group activities,
• be respectful of your peers (including myself), and
• take advantage of this course as an opportunity to learn and think!

What students can expect from the Instructor:

• strive to create a positive learning environment in the classroom,
• encourage you to be actively engaged in your learning,
• bring enthusiasm about general ecology,
• be respectful and supportive,
• try to challenge you in positive and constructive ways to improve your learning experience, and
• show up to each class on time and well-prepared. 

How can you meet the goals of General Ecology?  

It is very important that you attend all lectures to understand the general concepts and that you read the textbook in order to clarify ideas and learn new examples. You should definitively NOT consider lecture notes as your primary study material. While studying, try to apply the concepts you learn to different contexts (namely, imagine habitats with different environmental and social conditions and predict the biological consequences of manipulating certain ecological conditions). Working in groups will enhance your learning abilities, particularly during class and the research project. Critical thinking (besides memorizing key concepts) will be an substantial component of the lecture exams.

Finally, do take advantage of your instructor and ask as many questions as necessary. If there is not enough time during lectures, drop by my office during Office Hours or arrange an appointment (e-mail is the best way of reaching me). Do not be shy! 

Evaluation

Slight adjustments may be made at the end of the semester according to the class curve.

Attendance to lectures

Students are expected to attend lectures. It is not the instructor’s responsibility to repeat material for students who miss class. Thirty points are given for class attendance. All students start with 30 points and lose points, as determined by the instructor, for absences or other failures to participate, such as newspaper reading, bubble-gum blowing, and other class disruptions. Excused absences include: (a) illness or injury to the student, (b) death, injury, or serious illness of an immediate family member, (c) religious reasons, (d) jury duty or government obligation, and (e) University sanctioned or approved activities. The instructor should be informed about excused absences within 48 hours.

For more information, please read the CSULB attendance policy carefully at: http://www.csulb.edu/~senate/Policies/01-01.html 

Make up exams

Make-up exams will ONLY be allowed for justified absences (see above). I must be informed within 24 hours of missing the exam due date. Make-up exams may be oral exams.

Late work

Students will be penalized for late work by deducting 7% per day of the total point load of that activity for three days. Afterwards, the work will not be graded, and students will not earn credits for that activity (= 0 points).  

Policy on Withdrawals

It is the student’s responsibility to withdraw from classes.  Instructors have no obligation to withdraw students who do not attend courses, and may choose not to do so. 

Please, download this file to find information about withdrawing from classes.

Accommodation

It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor in advance of the need for accommodation of a disability.

Cheating and Plagiarism 

Written work that you hand in is assumed to be original unless your source material is documented appropriately. Using the ideas or words of another person, even a peer, or a web site, as if it were your own, is plagiarism.

Cheating and plagiarism are serious academic offenses. Students should read the section on cheating and plagiarism in the CSULB catalog.  

Furthermore, students should be aware that Faculty members have a range of academic actions available to them in cases of cheating and plagiarism from arranging a conference, to failing a student on that particular work, to failing a student in a course, to referring the case to judicial affairs.

Regular instructor-student communication out of class: Announcements and messages to the class may come by e-mail through BeachBoard. If you do not check your CSULB e-mail account regularly, but use another account instead, please set your CSULB account so that it will forward messages to your other account.

Computer Help! The CSULB Technology Help Desk is now available for students. You may check the Help Desk at: http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/academic_technology/thd/ or call 985-4959.

Format for group activities

Before you turn in your group activities at the end of each lecture, please, make sure the following information is included or points will be deducted: (a) date, (b) group number, (c) group members' names, (d) name of the member writing the answers, and of course (e) the answers.

Research project:

Students have to conduct a study and write a paper to demonstrate their ability to combine their knowledge of General Ecology with the use of the scientific method. This activity will have two phases: an abstract and a full research paper. The Instructor will give a group abstract based on its contents, and each group member will grade the performance of the other members based on their degree of participation in the preparation of the assignment. Each member of the group will write only one section of the paper. The full paper grade will consist of an individual grade based on the contents of the section written by each group member and a group grade based on how all the sections are integrated in relation to the goal of the study. Students will hand out ONE copy of the abstract and the paper per group.

The Instructor will supervise the projects closely. Students are expected to discuss their projects at length with the Instructor, review the scientific literature, gather data in the field, and inform the Instructor on a timely basis of any problem regarding the project. If any of these requirements are not met, points will be deducted from the research project point load.

General instructions

• Your paper should include the following sections: Title, Authors (along with their e-mails, phone numbers, and the sections each author wrote), Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Literature Cited, Tables (with captions explaining their content), and Figures (with captions explaining their content). 
• Each research group will have four students. Within the group, each student is expected to write a specific section of the research paper (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) due at the end of the semester (see below). Pay as much attention to the sections you write as to the whole paper. The Abstract should be included in the final paper. The Literature Cited section should be written by all group members.
• If you cannot decide which section each group member will write, ask me. I will be happy to help.
• Write clearly and concisely.
• Use double space (not 1.5 spacing) text and 12pt font size, and number pages (page 1 is the Title Page).

• Handwritten work will not be accepted.

• Avoid slang and jargon.
• Avoid passive verbs. Use the active voice when possible.
• Define abbreviations the first time that you use them.
• Include headings for each component of your paper.
• You must cite your references following the stylistic format (see below).
• Do not quote from your sources. You should paraphrase and cite.
• You must provide the Instructor with a hard and electronic copy of your paper, an electronic copy of your data sheets (in Excel), the output of the statistical analysis including figures (in Excel), and the sources of information in case you got any data online. 
• Pay attention to your writing (use the grammatical tool provided by Word).
• A minimum of 10 references (all primary literature, not review papers or textbooks) should be read and cited at the end of the paper. This applies to all sections together. 

Specific instructions

To learn how to write a scientific paper, please visit and read thoroughly the following online resource:

If you have questions after reading this resource, please do not hesitate to ask me.

Some sections of your research paper require special attention. Here are some tips:

• Before turning in your work, include the name as well as e-mail of the authors.
• If you measured something, it should be clear exactly how you measured it and to what accuracy.
• Use the metric system, please.
• In the Results, you ought to provide the results of the statistical tests.
• Careful consideration should be made regarding the most effective way to show your results. For instance, you may use a graph with means and standard errors instead of a Table. However, if you have a lot of means and standard errors to present (or results from statistical tests) then you should use a Table.
• Please, do not repeat the same results in both a table and a figure.
• Never use the raw output of your statistical software in your Results. Each table of test results needs to be redrawn so that it is clear what exactly is being displayed. Each test should include the p-value and the test statistic.
• Make sure that your data satisfy the assumptions of any statistical test that you wish to perform BEFORE you run the test.
• For all parametric tests (e.g. t-test, ANOVA), your data must be normally distributed and the variances must be equal among treatments. If these assumptions are not met, you may have to transform the data.
• The final paragraph of the Discussion should have the take-home message of your paper (what have we learned with your study?) and how will that affect future research.

Checklist before turning your research paper in:

• Do the Title and Abstract accurately describe the contents of the article?
• Does the Introduction clearly state how the study is novel and set out the reasons for, and context of, the study?
• Is the purpose/goal of the study made clear in the Introduction?
• Are the hypotheses/predictions being tested clearly stated in the Introduction?
• Are the methods and experimental design described in sufficient detail for the study to be repeated?
• Are the results correctly presented?
• Are the tables and figures in poor format or crowed? Do they show what they purport to show?
• Are there errors of fact or interpretation?
• Have any ideas been over- or under- emphasized?
• Do you find any content repeated or duplicated?  A common fault is repetition in the text of data in tables or figures.
• Are the authors’ statements clear?
• Have the authors cited the pertinent literature?
• Is the overall presentation clear and accurate, without wordy or tangential passages?
• Is the paper formatted correctly? 

Please, note that these will be the evaluation criteria.

Examples

The assignment was to study the effects of human disturbance (namely, visitors to protected areas) on the population density, habitat use, and tolerance of an endemic species (in this case, an amphibian). You may download examples of this project written by different students that got different grades to have an idea of the requirements of the research project. Grades: F, D, C, B, A. 

Selection of papers (primary literature) for the research project

You should select papers from primary literature (try to balance classic and recent papers). Many journals include ecological articles. You can search for these papers in databases (MY RECOMMENDATION: Web of Science).

IMPORTANT: If you do not find a copy of a paper at the Library, you could request it from the Library (free service for CSULB students, but it takes about 10 days to get the papers) or directly from the author through e-mail (stop by my office, and I will explain how to do it). 

- Papers for the Annotated Bibliography:

(a) You are required to read five papers.

(b) Please, download the following two:

Marzluff et al. 2001. Causes and consequences of expanding American Crow populations. Pp 332-363 in Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world (J. M. Marzluff, R. Bowman, and R. Donelly, eds.). Kluwer Academic Press, Norwell, MA.

Muratomo et al. 2006. Pathogenicity of H5N1 Influenza viruses isolated in Vietnam between late 2003 and 2005. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 68: 735-737.

(c) The third paper could be downloaded in .pdf from this link (if you are on campus, but not off campus):

Fernández-Juricic, E. 2004. Spatial and temporal analysis of the distribution of forest specialists in an urban-fragmented landscape (Madrid, Spain). Implications for local and regional bird conservation. Landscape and Urban Planning 69: 17-32.

(d) You should look into the literature for the other two papers. They should be related to the topic of the research project (there are keywords in the Instructions for the Research Project). My recommendation: try Web of Science.

Reading primary literature: general guidelines

While reading papers (quiz, research project) please, try to connect the ideas to the broader context of ecology. Focus on how the paper solves a problem/answers a question/tests a hypothesis.

General assessment of a paper:

• Identify the novelty of the paper.

• Identify the hypothesis/es and prediction/s.

• Identify a flaw in its design or in the analyses or in the interpretation of data.

• Identify the relevance of the study to other areas.

Some specific questions you are expected to ask/answer:

Fall 2005: Class schedule

Please, note that occasionally adjustments in the course schedule or the course assignments may be necessary. Students will be notified about changes, if any, and, whenever possible, students will be consulted in advance about any changes.

Outlines of the topics covered in class are usually posted at 5:00 PM the day before the lecture.