Week

 Date

 Topic

 Skills

1

29-30 Aug.

** No Lab This Week **

2^a

5-6 Sept.

Forest Succession ^a

Field sampling methods and identification of local tree species; matrix multiplication; computer graphics

3^a,c

12-13 Sept.

Photosynthetic Strategies and Their Consequences for Community Succession (week 1)  ^a,c  

Field sampling methods; operation of portable light ceptometers; inferential statistics (Student's t-test) and computer graphics    

4^a,c

19-20 Sept.

Species Diversity, Species Composition, and Age Structure of Freshwater Fish Communities ^a,c

Field sampling methods and fish identification; statistical methods (data transformations and linear regression analysis); use of diversity indices 

5^a,c

26-27 Sept.

Photosynthetic Strategies and Their Consequences for Community Succession (week 2)  ^a,c    

Field sampling methods; operation of portable photosynthesis system; inferential statistics (Student's t-test) and computer graphics  

6^a,c

3-4 Oct.

Herbivory and Antiherbivory (week 1) ^a,c

- and -

Island Biogeography & Design of Nature Preserves (week 1) ^a,c 

Field sampling methods, identification of different types of herbivore damage to plants

7

10-11 Oct.

** Fall Break - No Lab **

8^b

17-18 Oct.

Lab Exam 1 (during lab time; Forest Succession through Island Biogeography 1)  

- and -

Intraspecific Competition and Optimal Oviposition Behavior in Bean Beetles - sign up for a brief setup period outside of class time) ^b  

Handling of live organisms; comparison of distribution patterns, inferential statistics (e.g., linear regression), computer graphics  

9^a

24-25 Oct.

Human Demography ^a

Life table analysis; computer graphics with Excel

10 ^c

31 Oct. -1 Nov.

Herbivory and Antiherbivory (week 2)  ^c  

Dilutions; brine shrimp and radial diffusion assays; inferential statistics (X² two-sample test; correlation); computer graphics 

11^c

7-8 Nov.

Island Biogeography & Design of Nature Preserves (week 2)^c

Identification of arthropods to Order; quantitative measurement of species diversity; data manipulation and graphics with Excel  

12^a,b

14-15 Nov.

Habitat influence on leaf litter decomposition and microbial functional diversity (week 1) ^a,b

Data manipulation with Excel; computation of similarity and diversity indices 

13

21-22 Nov.

Habitat influence on leaf litter decomposition and microbial functional diversity (week 2)

Data manipulation with Excel; computation of similarity and diversity indices

14

28-29 Nov.

Intraspecific Competition and Optimal Oviposition Behavior in Bean Beetles (week 2)

Handling of live organisms; comparison of distribution patterns, inferential statistics (e.g., linear regression), computer graphics 

15

5-6 Dec.

Lab Exam 2 (during lab time; Human Demography through Leaf  Litter Decomposition and Microbial Functional Diversity labs)

16

Scheduled time for lab section

Lab exercise evaluations