Spring, 2002
Goals of the course: To provide information on selected aspects of marine ecology, to guide the reading, understanding, and analysis of primary scientific articles, and to provide guidance and practice in searching the literature on a topic and writing a short review paper of that topic.
The course focuses on the ecology of three groups of marine organisms (plankton, marine mammals, and sea turtles) and four oceanic or coastal environments (benthic communities, polar seas, coral reefs, and aphotic ocean). For each topic, I will give three lectures and seek to stimulate discussion. At the fourth meeting, the class will discuss a recent scientific article on the topic. The articles will be primary literature, and each student is expected to have read the article prior to the discussion.
Requirements of the course: Attendance at lecture, reading of textbook chapters, reading of assigned articles and participation in class discussions. Completion of two written tests and a term paper.
The nature of the course content: Indicated by the course syllabus, textbook, and the statements given above.
Methods of instruction: Lectures presented by the course instructor during class time. Reading of text chapters for clarification of the lectures and expansion of understanding. Reading and discussion of assigned original literature scientific articles. Researching the literature on a topic and writing a short review paper.
Methods of evaluation: The grade in the course will be determined by the scores on the midterm and final exams and on the literature review paper. Test questions may include multiple choice, matching, short answer, and essay types of questions. The questions will be drawn from the lectures and from the scientific articles that have been assigned. An entirely new article may be presented on the test for your interpretation. The term paper will be graded on the ability of the student to locate scientific articles on their chosen topic, the analysis and synthesis of several (5-10) of these articles, the clarity of the writing style, and the absence of grammatical and spelling errors.
Dr. Don Kelso Office hours: flexible, by appointment; 3046 King Hall
703 993-1061 dkelso@gmu.edu
Honor Code Statement:
I support the Honor Code
and enforce it. No assistance may be given or received during an exam.
The term paper must be the product of your own independent research and
writing, although I do encourage you to solicit advice from other students
about the organization of the paper. To copy the words of another author
and present it as one’s own writing is plagiary, and that is an Honor Code
violation.
BIOL 449Marine EcologyDr. Don KelsoSpring, 2002
T and Th 12:00-1:15 Robinson Hall A247
Jan 22 Introduction to course and ocean environment (Text Ch. 1)
24 Plankton (Text Ch. 2)
29 No class meeting
31 Plankton
Feb5 Discussion: Plankton
7 Marine mammals (Text Ch. 3)
12 Marine mammals Paper topic due
14 Marine mammals
19 Discussion: Marine mammals Bibliography due
21 Benthic communities (Text Ch. 5, 6, 7)
26 Benthic communities Outline due
28 Discussion: Benthic communities
Mar 5Mid-term test
7 Aphotic ocean (Text Ch. 4)
8 Aphotic ocean
12 Spring break
14 Spring break
19 Aphotic ocean
21 Discussion: Aphotic oceanFirst two pages of paper due
26 Polar seas (Text Ch. 5)
28 Polar seas
Apr 2 Polar seas
4 Discussion: Polar seas
9 Coral reefs Final paper draft due (Text Ch. 9)
11 Coral reefs
16 Coral reefs
18Discussion: Coral reefs
23 Sea turtles
25 Sea turtles
30 Sea turtles
May 2 Discussion: Sea turtles
14Final exam (10:30-1:15)
Text book: Nybakken, James W. 2001. Marine biology. 5th edition. Addison Wesley Longman, San Francisco, CA. 516p.
Grade in course: Midterm exam 100 pts
Final exam100 pts
Term paper, etc. 100 pts
Total 300 pts
Literature Review Paper Guidelines
General
The choice of topic should be made on the basis of your interests and the availability of articles on the subject. The topic should be narrow enough to give coherence and depth to a short paper using only a few original literature articles and yet broad enough to insure that a few relevant articles are available. Most students err on the side of too broad a subject selection. If the title sounds like it could be a book title, the subject is too broad.
Create the paper with a computer, using Word or Wordperfect software. Double space all lines and correct all miss-spelled words, even in the draft versions. Use a hierarchical outline
to organize the paper. Refer to “Guide to writing in the biological sciences” website at the Biology Dept. website under Biol 307 (Ecology).
Do not include an abstract. The final copy should be about 5-6 pages long. About 5-10 references should be cited. The final draft of the paper is due on Apr. 9, 2002.
Title Page
The title of the paper should be centered on the page, and your name and the semester date centered below that. Staple this to the rest of the paper in the upper left corner. Do not enclose in a cover.
Introduction
A statement of the subject of the paper, setting a rationale for the undertaking and placing limits on the breadth of the subject. Usually several pertinent articles are cited here, and then perhaps discussed more fully in the body of the paper.
The body of the paper
No new heading is necessary. Review the results of research which have been published about the subject in the original (primary) literature.
Cite the sources of all factual information in the body of the text, using the author's last name and the year of publication. If several items in a paragraph are drawn from the same source article, then cite the source early in the paragraph. Put the complete citation of the source article at the end of the paper in a “Literature cited”.
Arrange the discussion into a coherent sequence, perhaps based on chronology or perhaps based on a sequence of insights which did not develop chronologically. Use paragraphs to group material with the same topic and let the paragraph format reveal the outline of the paper. Include or create tables, graphs or maps if they will clarify the text, but cite them in the text and cite the source on the table or figure. Tables are tabular material; all else are Figures.
Examine the validity of the research and the interpretations which are made or the implications which are drawn. Compare and evaluate the information which is in the journal articles. Point out where our understanding of the subject is incomplete and further research needs to be done. At a bare minimum, your paper should be a summarization of the state of our knowledge, but a creative, thoughtful analysis will earn a better grade. Perhaps close with a brief summary paragraph or thoughtful statement of the direction future research should follow.
Literature cited
An alphabetic listing, by the prime author's last name, of the citations of articles that were mentioned in the text of the paper. Use the citation format which is used in the journal Ecology.
Bibliography
In addition to the cited papers, I want a list of citations of 10 to 20 additional articles on your subject or closely related topics.
Points to consider when reading a scientific paper
What was the hypothesis being tested?
Was the review of past work coherent and complete?
Were the methods or techniques clear and reproducible?
Was the experimental design logical and appropriate?
Were the results presented with clarity?
Was the statistical analysis of the results appropriate and properly done?
Was the discussion in agreement with the results?
Did the discussion point out both agreement and disagreement with prior studies in the literature?
Were the conclusions justified by the results?
Subject material for first test questions
Plankton
planktonic organisms: major taxonomic groups, sizes, factors in survival and longevity
factors which contribute to phytoplankton growth and productivity
techniques for measuring productivity of phytoplankton
variations in phytoplankton productivity on geographic, temporal, and vertical (depth)scales
energy flow pathways in the plankton community
Marine Mammals
evolutionary history of the Orders of marine mammals
food items and feeding procedures in the Families of marine mammals
geographic distribution and habitats that are necessary to thje survival of each major species or Family of marine mammal
sound reception and production and its ecological value in marine mammal groups
adaptations for diving in marine mammals
Benthic communities
Soft bottom: typical physical characteristics of continental shelf, dominant benthic taxa,
Benthic communities: real or artifact? What factors would tend to make their existence real?
Factors affecting the stability of sediments and its role in structuring the ecological community
other factors in structuring the community and how the relative importance of each factor can be studied
meiofauna,
sea grass beds, and kelp “forests”