Fall 2007
All students will visit a local forest of their choice prior to the next class period. The basic objectives of this assignment are multiple, including:
· Ensure that all students have examined a forest from an ecological perspective prior to the forest ecology discussions in class;
· Become acquainted with some of Gainesville’s forested ecosystems;
· Get to know each other a little better.
Our suggestion is to read the Peters reading prior to making the forest trip with your class partners. Please find attached a list of questions that should stimulate your thinking about forests and forest ecology. Each student is expected to address these questions based on the readings and their visit to the woods. We expect you and your partners to discuss and share your observations in the field. Each team will have at least one student who has had some ecology and can facilitate group learning. Please know that we are not expecting 100% ecologically correct responses, but your “best guess” based on the reading materials and what you and your team observe. While it’s very likely that you and your partners will come up with very similar answers based on your discussions, each student must turn in their own typed (computer generated) responses – bulleted phrases are welcome. As with all assignments, we expect you to turn in a paper that is free of spelling errors (use spell check!). Also, convention is to cite the scientific name of any organism along with its common name the first time it is cited in a paper. After that, you may use either the scientific name or the common name. However, don’t feel bound to this convention in this informal assignment, but it will be expected in all drafts of your research paper. This assignment is due September 4, and worth 5% of your grade.
There are several public parks and conservation areas in and
around
http://www.natureoperations.org/NP&Fframes.htm
http://www.floridastateparks.org/paynesprairie/default.asp
Have fun!
The ecologist in your
group is expected to discuss the questions in bold. There is no need to provide any written
response to these particular questions.
Name:
Other team members:
Site:
Date of visit:
Time of visit:
General weather (i.e., approx temp plus cloudy, sunny,)
Latitude of site:
Average annual rainfall:
1. Can you distinguish different kinds of forest communities within the site? (i.e., longleaf pine, flatwoods, swamp, mixed hardwood hammock, sandhill…). This terminology can typically be found in the interpretive literature for the site.
·
What is
an ecological community?
2. Is there a lot of tree species diversity? Or is the site dominated by one tree species or genera?
3. Do you see any regeneration? If so, can you discern if it originated from seed? Root sprouts? Coppicing (regrowth from stumps)?
4. Are the younger trees predominantly of the same species as the overstory, or different?
·
What do
we mean by succession?
5. Are the mature trees the same species or genera as those regenerating?
6. How diverse is the structure of the vegetation? How many layers do you see? Are there snags? Downed woody material? Herbaceous epiphytes?
·
Why are
we concerned with structural diversity?
3. When you examine the forest floor, can you distinguish leaves from Fall 2006? Fall 2005? Do you see any that have recently fallen? How thick is the litter layer?
·
Please
describe, in general terms, how nutrients cycle within this forest-dominated
ecosystem.
4. Do you think the leaves in the canopy are still photosynthesizing? If so, for how many more months? Does this vary between species?
5. What are some of the plausible natural and anthropogenic disturbances that may have affected these woods?
6. Is there any evidence of human intervention?
Tapping pine resin?
Farming?
Pasturing?
Logging?
Fire?
7. Compare bark from a pine (ideally longleaf) and from a hardwood. Why do you think the bark is different on these different species?
8. List at least 3 plant-animal interactions that you observe on your visit.
·
What do
we mean by mutualisms?
9. Name or describe seeds from three different species found either on the forest floor or still on the tree. How do you think they get dispersed?
10. Look toward the end of a branch. Can you distinguish bud scars from last fall (2006) from the year before (2005) and the year before (2004), determining approximate growth? Is growth different between years? What might be some reasons?
11. What sorts of dramatic changes (and why might they occur) would you likely observe if you went back to these woods in late January/early February in terms of:
a. Leaves
b. Sunlight on forest floor
c. Insect activity
Please reflect on
these last two questions as a group.
While you may not have data to back up your hunches, we’d like you to be
thinking about both historical and current management contexts.
12. Who manages this forest?
13. What do you think this forest looked like 50 years ago? 100 years ago? 150 years ago?
Each student will provide comments or queries that flow from the readings assigned for that class period. The rationale behind this assignment is to provide us with insights of individual perspectives prior to class, better incorporate what others have to say on the topic at hand, and begin class dialogue.
There are 13 class periods with assigned readings, and students are required to send in comments 10 of these 13 periods. You are free to choose whichever 10 periods you wish. We do not want a summary or abstract of each of the readings or a formalized, well-thought out rebuttal of the authors’ arguments. Rather, we expect you to share with the class some of your thoughts that were stimulated by the readings. You don’t have to refer to all the readings if one just didn’t grab you. What did the readings mean to you? Do you buy the author’s thesis? Why? Did the readings stimulate you to reflect on a past experience? How? We have purposefully chosen a more informal group discussion format so that students feel freer to express their basic reactions to the readings.
Each student should post his or her comments out by the Monday morning (8:00 am.) before each Tuesday session. Comments will be posted through UF’s E-learning (formally WebCT) system at http://lss.at.ufl.edu/. On this initial webpage, you will see on the left hand column, “Which system?” Click on E-learning system. You will also see “How will you be logging in? Click Gatorlink, and then press “Continue”. Login using your Gatorlink account and password. Click on the course Community Forest Management. Go to “Discussion”, and then click on the topic for the week. For example, by Thursday, August 30, please post that you have successfully posted under the first topic “Test for postings”. You will then post again by September 4 after you have read the first series of readings. If you have any technical questions about using E-learning, please call 352-392-4357 for assistance.
The length of comments is not fixed, but should range from one to four paragraphs. No student is responsible for reading the comments of others, but you are welcome to do this and comment if you wish. The sum of these comments is worth 10% of your grade.
ASSIGNMENT: Reflection
Paper on Ethics & Social Responsibility
The reflection paper will be read by Drs. Schmink and Kainer only, and we ask that you provide us with two copies. Please prepare a 2- to 3-page paper that reflects your thoughts on the questions below whic are designed to guide your thinking and reflecting, but please do not feel that you have to adhere strictly to these specific questions. It is due on Monday, November 26 at 8:00 am because we need time to read the papers prior to the following Monday’s class; please send an electronic copy to Dr. Schmink and Dr. Kainer separately. It is worth 10% of your grade.
(1) What are your responsibilities, if any, to society as a university-trained scientist? To the environment? What values do you draw from in defining these responsibilities? Where/how did you obtain these values?
(2) Look up the “code of ethics” for a professional society or organization that corresponds to your discipline (i.e., Society for Conservation Biology, American Anthropological Association, Ecological Society of America…). Please print off this code and bring it to the next class. What are your impressions of this code? (i.e, What is missing? What had you not thought about before? What struck you as most interesting?) How well does it match to your own professional ethics “code”?
(3) How does the code you researched and the code compiled by Karen Firehock (see readings) apply to graduate student researchers? What extra challenges (and opportunities) might exist for graduate students in trying to apply a code of research ethics? Is this any different if you are working in the developing world?
Each student will write a research proposal or paper related
to the themes of the course, to be developed over the semester. The intent is to allow students to develop a
paper that is a necessary part of their graduate program. If you are in the proposal-writing phase,
then this paper may be your research proposal, or some portion of it. If you have already carried out your graduate
fieldwork, then you may consider preparing an article or chapter for your
thesis/dissertation. Students may
propose another focus for their paper.
Students are strongly encouraged to discuss their ideas with the
instructors during office hours or by appointment to get approval for their
plan. Use
spell check and grammar check for all versions!
The research paper will be developed in steps. A preliminary title of the paper and three- to four-sentence description will be turned in on September 11. By September 18, all students will submit 5 copies of a preliminary statement (two- to three-pages) and an accompanying bibliography. This statement should convey main ideas you intend to pursue in your proposal/paper, including data you intend to collect and/or analyses you foresee carrying out. The bibliography should demonstrate that you have identified sufficient material to write a proposal or paper on this topic (even though you may not have read all the sources yet). At the beginning of your statement, please record the following: Advisor and department, if pursuing an M.S. or Ph.D., if paper is a proposal or manuscript for publication (if for publication, include targeted journal(s)), and 8-10 keywords. This statement/bibliography is worth 10% of your final grade. Dr. Schmink and Dr. Kainer will provide written feedback to each student. In addition, each student will grouped with 3 to 4 other students. Due September 25, each student within the group will also provide a written peer review (Peer review I) of each student’s preliminary statement and bibliography within their group. A copy of each peer review will be given to the student and two copies will be turned into Drs. Kainer and Schmink. These reviews are worth 10% of your total grade. See Chilton’s guidelines (online, listed in readings) before reviewing.
As a second step, students will prepare a complete draft of the proposal or paper; these drafts are required, but not graded. Three copies are to be turned in by October 23, and both Dr. Schmink and Dr. Kainer will provide written feedback, indicating possible revisions for the final paper. Each student will also receive feedback from one of their group peers. In other words, each student will carry out one written Peer review II for one peer in their group, to be turned in on October 30 (one copy to each Drs. Schmink and Kainer, and one to be returned to the student). This final peer review is worth 10% of your grade.
Finally, students will turn in two copies of a final paper on December 5. The suggested length is 7 to 10 pages (single-spaced), excluding tables, figures and bibliography. The final version is worth 40% of your grade, and will be evaluated by Drs. Schmink and Kainer using the following criteria: