Laboratory exercise to teach undergraduates about factors determining territory size. It begins with dissecting owl pellets and leads students through a series of calculations. A key theme is the ability to make and defend valid estimations.
Students are given photos of different phases of ecological succession that are from Table Rock State Park in Pickens, South Carolina. Using their knowledge of ecological succession, students arrange the photos in chronological order of the phases of succession.
The ecological questions in this exercise are:
1) Have long-term temperatures changed throughout Ohio? 2) How will these temperature changes impact plant and animal phenology, ecological interactions, and, as a result, species diversity?
This exercise is designed to give students experience working with large datasets and to allow them to use real ecological data to evaluate long-term...
During two lab periods, students collect demographic data on perennial plants and then use these data in a matrix model to perform population viability analyses. During the first lab, students tag and record data on individual plants in the field. During the second lab, students compile these data to build transition matrices and then use R to run simulations. In the first year that instructors...