BIO 208L Class Schedule

Wk / Date / Topic / Place / Readings / Assignments (due at the beginning of the lab or lecture, as noted)
1 / Jan. 17, 19 / Lecture/Lab: none
2 / Jan. 22 / Lecture 1: Introduction to course / BUR 216
Jan. 22, 24, 26 / Lab 1: Introduction to Brackenridge Field Laboratory (BFL) and the Nature Experience / BFL 114
1:30 p.m.
3 / Jan. 29 / Lecture 2: Scientific Method / BUR 216 / Diamond 1989
Jan. 29, 31, Feb. 2 / Lab 2: Designing experiments: Fire ant food preferences
(Paper due in lab during week 5) / BFL 114
1:30 p.m / Grisham 1994; Singer 1986; Singer et al. 1992; Porter & Savignano 1990; see also Krebs 1999 (on reserve)
4 / Feb. 5 / Lecture 3: Writing Scientific Papers / BUR 216 / McMillan 1997, Chapters 1, 3, 4, 6; Brower et al. 1998, pp. 22-25; Gopen & Swan 1990
Feb. 5, 7, 9 / Lab 3: Computer lab & resources/Intro. to formatting figures and using simple statistics on Microsoft Excel / ESB 103
1 p.m. /

Computer assignment due in lab

Bring your IF #/password to lab

5 / Feb. 12 / Lecture 4: Population dispersion patterns / BUR 216 / Brower et al. (1998), pp. 152-162;
Feb. 12, 14, 16 / Lab 4: Measuring population dispersion patterns
(Assignment due week 7) / BIO 108, then off-campus
1 p.m. / van Auken 1988, Payendah 1970, Pielou 1959 / Fire ant paper due in lab
Nature Experience proposal due in lab, includes question(s) addressed, tentative experimental design, and preliminary literature review
6 / Feb. 19 / Lecture 5: Plant diversity / BUR 216
Feb. 19, 21, 23 / Lab 5: Plant identification / BIO 108
1 p.m. / Nature experience proposal returned in lab
Wk / Date / Topic / Place / Readings / Assignments (due at the beginning of the lab or lecture, as noted)
7 / Feb. 26 / Lecture 6: Conservation & species-area relationships / BUR 216
Feb. 26, 28, Mar. 2 / Lab 6: Vegetation sampling: Species-area curves
(Assignment due next week) / BFL 114
1:30 p.m / Horn 1993; Smith 1980 (section on plants) / Population dispersion assignment due in lab
Fire ant paper returned in lab
8 / Mar. 5 / Lecture 7: Tools of the trade: basic statistics / BUR 216 / Brower et al. pp. 1-21, McMillan, Chapter 2 / Nature experience update/revised proposal (1 page) due in lecture
Mar. 5, 7, 9 / Lab 7: advising on writing, nature experiences / BIO 108
1 p.m. / McMillan 1997, Chapters 7 & 8 /

Species-area curves due in lab

9 / Mar. 12-16 / Spring Break
10 / Mar. 19 / Lecture 8: Statistics: tests / BUR 216
Mar. 19, 21, 23 / Lab 8: Computer lab / ESB 103
1 p.m. / Fire ant paper due in lab and distributed to peers
Computer lab assignment due in lab
11 / Mar. 26 / Lecture 9: Population demography / BUR 216
Mar. 26, 28, 30 / Lab 9: Population size estimates in Tenebrio & Pogonomymex
(Assignment due next week) / BFL 114
1:30 p.m / Brower et al. 1998, pp. 124-131; Porter and Jorgensen 1981, Smith 1980 (section on animals) /

Fire ant paper peer critique due in lab

Fire ant papers returned in lab
12 / Apr. 2 / Lecture 10: Aquatic insect diversity / BUR 216
12 / Apr. 2, 4, 6 / Lab 10: Aquatic sampling / BIO 108, then off-campus
1 p.m. / Rosenberg & Resh 1993, Ch. 1, 6; Brower et al. pp. 115-123 /

Population size assignment due in lab

13 / Apr. 9 / Lecture 11: Aquatic biomonitoring / BUR 216
Apr. 9, 11, 13 / Lab 11: Rapid bioassessment and insect identification
(Assignment due week 16) / BIO 108
1 p.m. /

Final fire ant paper due in lab

Apr. 13-15 / FIELD TRIP TO PORT A.-leave at 5 p.m. / Meet in BIO 108 / Bring necessary supplies & money for food
Wk / Date / Topic / Place / Readings / Assignments (due at the beginning of the lab or lecture, as noted)
14 / Apr. 16 / Lecture 12: River continuum concept / BUR 216 / Vannote et al. 1980
Apr. 16, 18, 20 / Lab 12: Stream mapping (off-campus field trip) / BIO 108, then off-campus
1 p.m. / Nature Experience poster draft, data analysis, and raw data submission due in lab (for those not on field trip)
Field trip participants may have an extra three days
15 / Apr. 23 / Lecture 13: Review / BUR 216
Apr. 23, 25, 27 / Lab 13: Lab practical / BIO 108
1 p.m.
16 / Apr. 30 / Lecture 14: Lecture Exam / BUR 216
16 / Apr. 30, May 2, 4 / Lab 14. Poster sessions / TBA
1 p.m. / Completed posters due in lab
Bioassessment assignment due in lab
Nature experience abstract (by email) due by scheduled final exam time