Lectures: Monday & Wednesday 13:00-14:20 Room RB 2024
ELECTRONIC DEVICES. Unless instructed to do so, students in class are not allowed to take photographs, send or receive phone or text
messages, to use E-mail or social networks, download files, stream content, or surf the internet. Audio and video recording during lectures and tutorials is
strictly prohibited unless permission is granted on an individual basis by the course instructor. All electronic devices other than notepads
or laptops used to take notes, and calculators required for assignments and tutorials, must be left out of the room or turned off and located
out of sight. No electronic devices other than calculators are allowed during quizzes. Students anticipating or sending urgent messages are expected to remain outside of
the classroom.
There may be one or more guest lectures during the course.
GUEST LECTURES ARE AN INTEGRAL COURSE COMPONENT AND STUDENTS WILL BE EXAMINED ACCORDINGLY.
BEHAVIOUR DURING LECTURES AND TUTORIALS. Students must respect the rights of others by conducting themselves at all times in a professional,
polite, unbiased and civil manner.
Contents:
Introduction | Course Outcomes and Assessment |
Evaluation | Report Format |
Report Due Date | Report Style |
Final Term Report | Format for the Term Report |
Tentative Timetable | |
2. Students will know the sources and content of relevant and recent literature on ecological structure in the north by incorporating required and recommended readings, as well as independently demonstrated scholarship, in the class research proposal and in each student’s term report.
3. Students will question and discuss current concepts in ecology and evolution during student-lead weekly workshops aimed at developing a class research proposal. Students will self-identify working groups, move among groups, and rotate leadership roles throughout the term.
4. Students will develop the skills, discipline, and study habits necessary for self-instruction in this and other areas of ecology by using NSERC’s peer review manual to write a final term report assessing the class-generated research proposal. The assessment must use relevant aspects of NSERC’s published review criteria available at NSERC's Website.
5. Students will attain the theoretical and empirical background necessary to solve ecological and conservation problems in the north by fully incorporating required readings, and the lectures’ rigorous theory and concepts, in the course research proposal and in each student’s final written term report.
6. Students will contribute to research and conservation strategies and priorities in the north by actively participating
in weekly workshops in order to write a collaborative research proposal structured as a NSERC Discovery Grant application.
Evaluation of the proposal by the course instructors will follow the same criteria used by NSERC.
Workshops will centre on writing a class-generated research proposal in a NSERC Discovery Grant style. A full proposal will include a table on proposed expenditures (5-yrs) by category, a budget justification not exceeding two pages, a research proposal of 5 pages or less and a maximum of two pages for references (maximum length of the complete application = 10 pages, Font = Times New Roman 12 Point). Details on preparing Discovery Grant Applications can also be found at NSERC's Website Any additional instructions on completing the proposal will be given to the class during the first workshop. Printed and WORD versions of the final proposal must be submitted no later than the end of class (14:20) on 27 March 2019. Failure to submit the proposal on time will result in a grade of zero for the final term report.
Performance will be evaluated regularly. The evaluation will be based on the student's grasp of important issues, logical reasoning, non-trivial criticisms of the material, and the ability to solve ecological problems. Students are encouraged to share their ideas and questions.
Written reports may be assigned at intervals during the course. Evaluation of the reports will be
based on the student's ability to synthesize a field of enquiry, to apply that synthesis to a
particular problem, or to develop significant new insights into ecological or evolutionary issues.
Reports will not, in general, be review papers. Rather they will require the student to apply what
is known (and what's not known) to an unresolved question in ecology. Evaluation will be
devoted equally to clarity of presentation, rigour of treatment, and suitability of the report to the
assignment.
Please note: The term report is a term project and not a final examination. Students will be ineligible to write a special examination as outlined in regulation VII in the Lakehead University Calendar.
SOME SUGGESTIONS:
DO start background work on each assignment as soon as you receive it.
DO read required readings (and appropriate related literature) on time so that you are always up-to-date on course material.
DO re-write your essays and reports as many times as necessary to meet the length restriction, to improve your prose, and to make your material as readable, interesting and informative as possible.
DO interact with classmates in order to ensure that you fully understand course material and assignments.
DO read professional scientific essays (eg., the "News and Views" section in the journal "Nature" or perspectives in "Science") in order to appreciate the value of concise, clear writing.
DO NOT leave the term report until the "last minute".
DO NOT stray from the instructions.
DO NOT use web-based material other than to search for and download properly reviewed and edited documents.
DO seek classmates' opinions, but other than the research proposal, DO NOT work on a joint term report.
DATES TOPIC
7-14 January Northern Ecosystems are Dynamic
16 Jan.- 28 Jan. Latitudinal Gradients in Diversity
30 Jan. -6 February Latitudinal Gradients in Body Size
11 Feb.- 4 March Population Dynamics of Northern Species
18-22 February FAMILY DAY AND STUDY WEEK - NO CLASSES
6-13 March Northern Food Webs
18-25 March Conservation and Management
27 MARCH FINAL RESEARCH PROPOSAL DUE 14:2027 March - 3 April Northern Climate Change
3 APRIL FINAL REPORT DUE 14:20
Guest lectures, tutorials, and workshops may be scheduled at irregular intervals.
Lectures: 13:00-14:20 Monday and Wednesday Room RB 2024
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