Plant Population Ecology Fall 2011

Syllabus

Instructor:

• Larry Venable venable@email.arizona.edu BioSciences West Building 504. Office hours by appointment.

Goal: The goal of the class is to give students a good sense of what is going on today in the area of plant population ecology. 

Readings:

Will be from primary literature papers made available weekly, either in the online Schedule page or by email. There is also good background material in Silvertown, J. and D. Charlesworth. 2001 Introduction to Plant Population Biology. 4th edition. Blackwell.

Class Meetings: Tuesdays from 10:00AM-12:00PM in room BSW 302

Class structure: Lecture, student presentations and discussion.

Expectations: Participants are expected to:

1. Choose a topic and lead the discussion twice during the semester.
2. Each week there will be readings, usually one or two journal papers from the recent primary literature. All students will hand in written answers to the following 3 questions for the journal paper:

   1. What struck you about this paper?

   2. How could this work be extended? Or how does it relate to other research in the field?

   3. Ask a question about the paper.

   Answers can be brief (as little as one phrase or sentence) and informal (hand written on a scrap of paper), but should be turned in during the relevant class period.

   5) Attendance is required (communicate with the instructor in advance if you must miss a class).

Grades will be based on:

• Attendance and participation in class discussions.
• Questions turned in.
• Performance as discussion leader.

Preparation of your topic:

1) Read your chapter and choose several topics that appeal to you (1st week of class).

2) Search for these topics on Web of Science (2nd week of class): Try to find some interesting well done research on one of these topics. Some topics will have been investigated in an interesting way recently, some won't. Complle some paper and abstracts (5-8) and come to discuss them with me. Together we will chose one or two for the class readings.

3) Make an annotated bibliography of (5-10?) papers on your topic of choice or on other interesting topics in your chapter.

4) Prepare some background information on your specific topic and put it in a powerpoint. Don't prepare too much material since it will stretch out with discussion. Also leave time to discuss the paper we assigned the class. Go over any basic concepts and definitions that will help us discuss the journal paper and summarize major ideas (topics, findings, conclusions) from the papers on the bibliography to round out our understanding of the topic.

5) Hand out your annotated bibliography during the class in which you are in charge along with a brief outline of introductory information. Be sure to make enough copies of the outline and bibliography for all the students.