Ecological Theory and Research
Bio 4309, Spring 2012

Readings for class discussion

Research design wiki

This course is a research literature and practice seminar.  The two primary objectives are to gain comfort and facility as a consumer of the primary research literature and to begin implementing conceptual understanding in designing and executing research.  A general background in ecology is assumed, as is comfort with mathematical/quantitative approaches to data analysis and modeling (including an appreciation of the basic principles of statistical testing).

Students will be responsible, individually and in groups, for most of the work of the class, both in and out of the classroom, and should anticipate committing significant amounts of time to independent work.

Class time will generally be used for presentation and discussion of readings from the primary literature, and for presentation and discussion of research proposals/projects.  
Regular class meeting time is 8-12, Tues.  My office hours will be 2-4 Tues, 10-12 Wed, 2-4 Wed
Expectations and evaluation:

This class meets only once per week; regular attendance is, therefore, particularly important.  Because independent research is central to the class, and because students are responsible for much of classroom presentation and discussion, students should also expect to devote a substantial number of hours/week outside classtime to their work for the course.

Evaluation will be based participation in and contribution to the literature seminar portion of the class (about 40% of grade for those requesting grades), and on the design and execution of independent research (about 60% of overall grade, with primary emphasis on design and development and on presentation and interpretation of results).