Tropical Ecology in Panama Course Overview: Course Objectives: Credits: three (3) credit Prerequisites: Course Structure: Location:

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1 Tropical Ecology in Panama BIOSCI 475 SPRING SEMESTER, 2011 Professor: Dr. Stefan Schnitzer Department of Biological Sciences, UWM Course Overview: Tropical Ecology is the study of the biotic and abiotic interactions that shape the origin, maintenance, and consequences of species diversity in the tropics. The incredibly high species diversity found in tropical forests has intrigued biologists for centuries, including such luminaries as Darwin and Wallace, and continues to engage biologists today. In this course, we will explore a variety of different forest types within the Republic of Panama to gain an appreciation for the basic patterns and processes of tropical forests and the mechanisms believed to be responsible for them. This course is modeled after the Organization for Tropical Biology s Tropical Ecology Field Course. Course Objectives: This is a tropical ecology course that is designed to expose students to a variety of different tropical forest types, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the common patterns found in tropical forests, the theories proposed to explain these patterns, and some insight into whether these theories are supported by empirical data. Assigned readings from texts and primary literature are meant to provide a general overview of the classical and contemporary theories in tropical ecology. Students will also be exposed to current research topics in Tropical Ecology via guest research lectures by resident scientists in Panama. Credits: This is a three (3) credit, undergraduate/graduate course. All students will be evaluated on their performance on their participation, one exam, and on their independent project report. Graduate students will have the additional assignment of a comprehensive literature review on the topic of their independent project. Prerequisites: BioSci 310 (General Ecology) and instructor permission. This is an upper-level Ecology course and all students should have a solid understanding of general ecology. Course Structure: This is a hybrid scientific immersion laboratory course that consists of a 9-day trip to the Republic of Panama. The field component of the course is combined with online readings and a written report based on field research. The course will be broken into three component parts. The first component will take place in Milwaukee in the form of online readings and online discussion with the professor and the TA. The second component will be the 9-day field portion of the course in the Republic of Panama during Spring Break (and the preceding and subsequent weekends). This portion of the course will consist of one to two lectures per day, excursions in tropical dry and moist forests on islands and mainland areas in the former Canal Zone, and independent projects on a topics selected by the students. The third component part will take place during the remainder of the semester in Milwaukee, where the students will participate in online consultations with the professor and the TA while they work on a scientific paper based on their field project. Location: : We will be based (eat, sleep, and have lectures) at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) field station in the town of Gamboa. We will also spend time at the Barro Colorado Island (BCI), another STRI field station.

2 Meals: Three delicious meals per day will be provided (Breakfast: 6:30-7:45 am; Lunch: 12:00-12:45 pm; Dinner: 6:30 7: 15 pm. To-go lunches will be prepared for field trips. Texts: Carson, W.P. & Schnitzer S.A. 2008, Tropical Forest Community Ecology, Wiley-Blackwell. Kricher, J. 2001, A Neotropical Companion, Princeton University Press. Exam: There will be one exam that is designed to measure the fundamental understanding of the reading and lecture material. The exam will have essay questions totaling 100 points. Discussions: There will be class discussions on specific topics of interest interspersed throughout the trip. Participation of ALL students in discussions is expected. The ability to articulate and discuss the key ideas covered in readings and in class is an important aspect of learning. A total of 100 points will be awarded for the Discussion component of the class. Points will be awarded based on the quality of students contributions to the discussions and on the field trips. Research report: The research report is an important component of this course and will be worth 150 points. Research reports are based on the independent research conducted by each student. Students will be allowed to work in pairs or groups of 3 to conduct their research; however, each student is required to write their own report. This portion of the course will also be conducted online via course and individual discussion with the professor and the TA. Attendance: Attendance is mandatory... Grading: Undergraduates will be evaluated on a total of 350 possible points: 100 for discussion and participation, 100 for Exam 1, and 150 for the final research report. Graduate students must also complete a comprehensive written literature review on the topic of their independent research (100) points and present their research at the end of the course (50 points). (500 total points for the course). Letter grades will be based on the following percentages: > 92% = A, = A-, = B+, = B, = B-, = C+, = C, = C-, = D+, = D, = D-, < 60 = F. Office Hours: In Panama: In Milwuakee: by appointment. Academic Misconduct: Please see the separate handout on Academic Misconduct. Special needs: We will make every effort to accommodate students with special needs. Students needing special accommodations to meet the requirements of this course should contact me before the CIE enrollment deadline of October 15. Other University Policies: See /

3 Tropical Ecology in Panama BIOSCI 475 Syllabus Date Time Topic Topic Assigned Reading / Reference 31 January Introduction to Tropical Ecology in Panama field course General Information and Syllabus on D2L 7 February 7:00 pm Introduction to Tropical Forests - Discussion 14 February 7:00 pm Tropical Forest Functioning Discussion 21 February 7:00 pm Tropical Forest Dynamics and Evolutionary Patterns 28 February 7:00 pm Testing explanations for species diversity - Discussion 7 March 7:00 pm Tropical Forest Succession - Discussion 14 March 7:00 pm Online question / answer session about the Panama excursion what to bring and what to leave at home - Discussion Safety Issues in Tropical Forests Kricher - Chapters 1, 2 Carson&Schnitzer - Chapter 1 Kricher Chapter 3 Kricher - Chapter 4, pp Carson&Schnitzer - Chapter 3 Carson&Schnitzer - Chapters 5,7 Carson&Schnitzer -Chapters 22,23 PANAMA TRIP CHECKLIST (available on D2L) Kricher - Appendix Saturday 19 March 6:30 am Travel to Panama Airplane reading assignment: Common Tropical Forest Plants & Animals that you may see Kricher - Chapters 12, 13 Sunday 20 March Monday 21 March 6:30 am 12:00 1:00 pm 6:00 pm 6:00 am 6:45 am 12:00 pm 1:30 pm 3:40 pm Breakfast Introduction to Gamboa tour Lunch Gamboa forest excursion Dinner The tropical forest at night night hike Breakfast Boat to BCI Tour of the BCI forest Lunch Plant/animal observations on BCI Return to Gamboa Lecture: TBA

4 Tuesday 22 March 12:00 pm 4:00 pm The Ecology of the Panama Canal - tour of the Panama Canal Locks Lunch STRI Tuesday seminar Somewhere good Smithsonian Tupper Center 9:00 pm Return to BCI Wednesday 23 March 9:00 am Lecture & Lab: Ecology of Small Islands of Gatun Lake Dr. S. Mangan 1:00 pm Independent project guidelines & discussion of independent project ideas 1:30 pm Begin independent projects Discuss Independent Project progress Thursday 24 March 1:00 pm 2:00 pm Trip to the canopy crane in a tropical dry forest (Parque Metropolitano) on the Pacific coast of Panama Return to Gamboa Independent research projects Conference Room Friday 25 March Independent Projects - all day Independent Project Q/A session Please inform Professor and TA where you will be during the day Balcony Saturday 26 March Independent Projects - all day Please inform the TA where you will be during the day Sunday 27 March 5:00 am Trip to Airport, Return to Milwaukee 4 April 7:00 pm EXAM I Exam will be based on the reading, discussions, and lectures (including seminars), and field experiences in Panama 11 April 7:00 pm D2L: writing the introduction to your independent project report, including relevant literature 18 April 7:00 pm D2L: writing the methods and results, including statistical analyses Due: Summary data from your independent study in graph and table format Due: Draft of introduction 25 April 7:00 pm D2L: writing the discussion Due: Draft of methods and results 2 May 7:00 pm D2L: No meeting on D2L Due: Draft of Discussion 9 May 7:00 pm Due: full draft of research report Submit reports to me by

5 Tropical Ecology in Panama Research Project Report Guidelines The research report is worth 150 points and is a major component of the course. Reports will be evaluated on the grammar, clarity of writing, conceptual setup of the introduction, experimental design (including the statistics), the interpretation of the results, and the appropriate use of references. In essence, the reports will be evaluated in the same manner as any scientific manuscript that is submitted for publication. All field research will be conducted while in Panama. Students will have time to research all of the appropriate references while in Milwaukee, after the field component of the course is over. The Research Project Report is due on the day of the last online meeting. Research reports should be written in the style recommended by the Ecological Society of America s Report format for the journal Ecology (instructions for authors can be found at: Each report will include the following sections: Abstract a short (200 words or fewer) summary of the importance of the study, the empirical findings, and what the importance and significance of the findings. Introduction provides the conceptual context of the study, why it is important, and what background the reader needs to know to understand the importance of the study. Methods how the study was conducted and analyzed. Results data are presented in text, tables, and figures. Discussion the section where the author interprets the meaning of the data. Literature Cited all literature cited in the body of the paper must be included in this section. Tables one table per page, including a stand-alone description (legend) of the table so that the reader should be able to understand the table without referring to the body of the paper. Figures one figure per page, including a stand-alone description (legend) for the figure so that the reader should be able to understand the figure without referring to the body of the paper. Reports for Ecology must be less and 20 manuscript pages (double spaced, 12 point font) including the title page, literature cited, tables, and figures (one table or figure per page). Graduate Student Presentations To be discussed in class. NEED HELP WITH YOUR WRITING? The Writing Center of UWM welcomes all writers, beginning through advanced, freshmen through graduate students, whatever their major or type of project. (FYI--over 1/3 of the students who visited in the past 2 yrs were juniors, seniors or grad students.) No matter where students are in a task, whether still exploring a reading, brainstorming, drafting or revising, they can benefit from talking to one of our well-trained staff. WRITING CENTER HOURS CURTIN 382 Make appointments online 24/7: call , or walk in.

6 OVERVIEW - ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT REGULATIONS UWM Academic Affairs Policies and Procedures Student academic misconduct procedures are specified in Chapter UWS 14 and the UWM implementation provisions (Faculty Document 1686). A combined set of these UW System and UWM procedures can be found at: Academic misconduct is an act in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of another without authorization or citation, uses unauthorized materials or fabricated data in any academic exercise, forges or falsifies academic documents or records, intentionally impedes or damages the academic work of others, engages in conduct aimed at making false representation of a student's academic performance, or assists other students in any of these acts. Prohibited conduct includes cheating on an examination; collaborating with others in work to be presented, contrary to the stated rules of the course; submitting a paper or assignment as one's own work when a part or all of the paper or assignment is the work of another; submitting a paper or assignment that contains ideas or research of others without appropriately identifying the sources of those ideas; stealing examinations or course materials; submitting, if contrary to the rules of a course, work previously presented in another course; tampering with the laboratory experiment or computer program of another student; knowingly and intentionally assisting another student in any of the above, including assistance in an arrangement whereby any work, classroom performance, examination or other activity is submitted or performed by a person other than the student under whose name the work is submitted or performed. An instructor who believes a student has engaged in academic misconduct first discusses the matter with the student. Following the meeting, if the instructor concludes that misconduct occurred, the instructor may impose a sanction of reprimand, a repeat assignment, lower or failing grades for the assignment or course, or removal from the course. All sanctions may be appealed to a hearing committee. An instructor who considers the misconduct to be serious enough to warrant probation, suspension or expulsion makes such a recommendation to the appropriate investigating officer (IO) who is an appointee of the dean in the student's school or college. If after discussions with the student the IO agrees with the instructor's recommendation, a hearing is scheduled before the academic misconduct hearing committee corresponding to the students status (undergraduate or graduate). Relative to such hearings students have a right to a written notice of the alleged offense and sanction sought, to question adverse witnesses, to be heard and present evidence, to be represented and obtain a record of the hearing at student expense and to a written decision and a copy of all applicable procedures. Students who are suspended or expelled by a hearing committee may appeal to the Chancellor. Suspensions and expulsions bar enrollment at any campus in the UW System. Students may petition for readmission after half of the suspension period, in the case of suspensions, or one year in the case of expulsions. Records of all disciplinary actions are maintained by the Dean of Students.