Course: Ecology Lab, Fall 2007

In the Fall of 2007 I was co-instructor of "Ecology Lab" with Norah Warchola.  Ecology Lab had existed as a course, but had not been taught for a few years.  We used materials from the previous versions of the course and developed new projects and activities.  During the semester we had numerous field trips during which the students carried out experiments and observational studies.
These included:

Weld Nature Santuary to observe bee foraging and flower constancy
Stony Brook Village's Mill Pond to experiment with duck foraging and observe the ideal free distribution
Cathedral Pines County Park to observe the frequency of different color morphs of the salamander, Plethodon cinereus, and compare it to the population on the Stony Brook Campus
The Long Island Pine Barrens, to compare patches burned in the Sunrise Fire of 1995 and unburned areas
Flax Pond Salt Marsh, to observe many aspects of marine and wetland ecology

On weeks without field trip we conducted laboratory activities to teach the students basic statistics.
A particularly fun activity was the "Diversity Brownie," which we carried out indoors on a stormy winter day.  Norah and I baked brownies with different ingredients, including peanuts, chocolate chips, M&Ms, marshmallows and others (after having checked out any potential dietary restrictions of the class members).  Each ingredient represented a "species."  The students "dissected" brownies of different size and composition and collected data that they used to construct species-area curves, to compare diversity using standard indices and to compare community similarity, using the Bray-Curtis Index.

The students in this class carried out semester-long field projects.  Early in the semester the students submitted lists of topics that they found interesting.  Norah and I discussed those with each student and from those,, they developed proposals outlining the background and methods for field experiments and observational studies.  We returned these to the students with suggestions on methods and other information to assist with the project.  The students submitted mid-project progress reports, giving us another opportunity to help the students with problems and to encourage them in areas where the project excelled.  Once complete, the students submitted results summaries that we used to offer analytical advice.  The rough drafts of their final reports were "reviewed" by class-mates.  All of these steps offered us points of intervention to help students that were struggling and encourage those that were excelling.  The final reports were excellent.

A student offers flowers to a bee to see whether it prefers locally abundant species or one that it has not encountered recently.

Students observing bees at the Weld Santuary, Smithtown, NY

These students have found some salamanders and are measuring them, after having noted the color morph.

Measuring a salamander, Plethodon cinereus

The class enters Flax Pond Salt Marsh

The class observes intertidal zonation at the inlet jetty of Flax Pond.

The class is listening to their instructor, J. Matt Hoch, explain soft sediment ecology. 

The class members search for the coffee bean snail, Melampus bidentatus, to observe its distribution in the Spartina