A simple ecological study--Data Collection: You should be prepared to pick one hypothesis from your group's effort last week, and be prepared to collect data. If you need an equipment that was not available last week, let me know before lab. You may pick up your hypothesis sheets from me at the start of lab, and discuss how you will collect samples at the start of lab.
A presentation following the same general format at the Dispersion presentation will be given in class. Each presentation should include the following sub-sections: Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results and Discussion. In the Discussion section you should present two alternative functional hypotheses to explain the pattern you documented (if you did not find the pattern you expected, you will need to suggest new functional hypotheses). Use your text book, at least one published research article (available from JSTOR in the library), and at least one internet resources as literature references (that's a minimum of three references that will be referred to and written down in your presentation). Remember, we are discussing population ecology in lecture, and any knowledge you transfer into your presentation and show that you can use the stuff you are learning in lecture will help your grade.
Graphs, data tables, or SYSTAT output should be clearly labeled and logically designed. Appropriate statistical tests must be described and p values and tests listed on a slide or in a graph.
Grading will be based on (1) the clarity of your introduction--does it state your observations and hypothesis clearly and concisely introduce the species you worked with (2) accuracy and completeness of your description of the methods used (3) accuracy and completeness of your interpretation of the data (4) clarity of your graphs and data summaries--(5) logic and soundness of your functional hypotheses. Please print a copy of your presentation for me to look at while you give your presentation. The presentation will be worth 30 points (5 points each for the 5 criteria listed above, plus 5 for a question).
Here are some web links to oral and poster presentations.
good general tips on presentations: http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/effective.html
an example from previous students in General Ecology: PowerPoint Presentation on Blackberry
Each presentation will have a 10 minute time limit with 5 minutes for questions. Each should include the following sub-sections:
Introduction--tell about your initial observation, the nature of the problem your group addressed, ending with a clear statement of your hypothesis or the question you asked. It will usually help to state why your group thought your hypothesis or question would be interesting, and this usually means giving us some information on you functional hypothesis too. Be sure to include all the background we need to understand the organisms you worked with (sometimes this material may go better a "biology of the organisms' sections in the methods.
Methods and Materials--follow the information in 1c
Results and Discussion--Clearly present your results by stating what you found "we found that there were more tadpoles in shallower ponds compared to deep ponds", then show data to support your statement. Make sure to go through your data presentation carefully and completely (start with describing axes, then what each point or bar represents). Then you should present statistical tests to determine if the pattern you show in your figure is significant or not. If it is on the borderline, you will need to state that and consider that it could be either. You then need to offer two functional hypothesis that could explain the pattern you document. If you did not find the pattern you expected, you will need to suggest new functional hypotheses. Remember, a hypothesis is an educated guess, and you will need to use your text book, articles available from the library (under research databases go to the Science link and look in KLUWER, JSTOR, and PROQUEST for fulltext ecological articles), and other internet resources as literature references to clearly demonstrate that your functional hypotheses are based on good biological/ecological information. Remember, we are discussing population ecology in lecture, and any knowledge you transfer into your presentation and show that you can use the stuff you are learning in lecture will help you.
Overall tips, advice. Find figures of your organisms if possible (in PowerPoint presentations it is easy to paste in pictures--look for pictures of your organisms at Google.com under the link for images rather that the default, Web. Graphs, data tables, or SYSTAT output should be clearly labeled and logically designed. Appropriate statistical tests must be described.