Field and Laboratory Techniques in Ecology and Natural History

Field and Laboratory Techniques in Ecology and Natural History

Author: Alberto Mimo

Publisher: Field and Laboratory Techniques in Ecology and Natural History

Published: 2019-02-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780974141121

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What Are Field and Laboratory Technique Manuals?This field and laboratory techniques manual will provide you, as a teacher, with the opportunity to engage your students in doing a research project.In the last ten years, science education has been changing from asking students to memorize texts and facts to empowering students to do hands-on research. It is clear that students should not only memorize facts, but also should be able to process these facts and build on them. Experimentation based on known facts with the objective of learning new things by trial and error is what science is all about.Over time, we have learned that the scientific method is not covered properly in all schools. Many students do not know what the scientific method is. And if they do know, they are unable to apply it to real-life scientific projects. We have also learned that in many cases, teachers are not able to come up with good experiments, and when they do, the methods used in the experiments to complete the research may not be sound and may lack scientific validity.I have developed a number of field and laboratory techniques throughout my career to provide teachers with the necessary tools to get their students involved in projects that require a hands-on approach and application of the scientific method.I have listed a number of field and laboratory technique applications here ranging from themes in mathematics all the way to techniques in forestry. All the activities are related to ecology and the environmental sciences. Each booklet found on the CD provides you with one application. In each booklet, all found in my website. I give you the information you will need to engage your students in a research project. I have always said that "the questions are more important than the answers". This field and laboratory techniques manual will provide you with a great opportunity to ask good questions and have the students come up with answers without looking them up in a single textbook. The manual will provide you with an introduction, the methods and materials you will need to obtain the results, blank forms to collect the data, and suggestions on how to analyze the data and come up with the results. But, let your students analyze the methods and contribute their own grain of sand to the project by finding constructive approaches to improve the methodologies.Most of these field and laboratory techniques will get the students very involved and should be implemented with plenty of time to let the students think and dissect each project. The results are not as important as the methods used to design the experiments, and the ability of the students to improve the methods. These projects should be done by groups of individuals, and not by one student. Students should be able to discuss the techniques, design their own forms, redesign methods, and have one hundred percent input on the scientific process used to study each case. Let the students organize and direct the outcome of the project. We need to nurture their creativity and allow them to make mistakes. Step back, and let them do the work!


Field and Laboratory Methods for General Ecology

Field and Laboratory Methods for General Ecology

Author: James E Brower

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science, Engineering & Mathematics

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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This introductory ecology lab manual focuses on the process of collecting, recording and analyzing data, and equips students with the tools they need to function in more advanced science courses. It reflects the most current techniques for data gathering so that students can obtain the most accurate samples. Balanced coverage of plant, animal and physical elements offers a diverse range of exercises. Includes exercise on writing research reports.


An Introduction to Methods and Models in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology

An Introduction to Methods and Models in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology

Author: Stanton Braude

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-01-04

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1400835453

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An innovative introduction to ecology and evolution This unique textbook introduces undergraduate students to quantitative models and methods in ecology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation. It explores the core concepts shared by these related fields using tools and practical skills such as experimental design, generating phylogenies, basic statistical inference, and persuasive grant writing. And contributors use examples from their own cutting-edge research, providing diverse views to engage students and broaden their understanding. This is the only textbook on the subject featuring a collaborative "active learning" approach that emphasizes hands-on learning. Every chapter has exercises that enable students to work directly with the material at their own pace and in small groups. Each problem includes data presented in a rich array of formats, which students use to answer questions that illustrate patterns, principles, and methods. Topics range from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and population effective size to optimal foraging and indices of biodiversity. The book also includes a comprehensive glossary. In addition to the editors, the contributors are James Beck, Cawas Behram Engineer, John Gaskin, Luke Harmon, Jon Hess, Jason Kolbe, Kenneth H. Kozak, Robert J. Robertson, Emily Silverman, Beth Sparks-Jackson, and Anton Weisstein. Provides experience with hypothesis testing, experimental design, and scientific reasoning Covers core quantitative models and methods in ecology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation Turns "discussion sections" into "thinking labs" Professors: A supplementary Instructor's Manual is available for this book. It is restricted to teachers using the text in courses. For information on how to obtain a copy, refer to: http://press.princeton.edu/class_use/solutions.html


Field Notes on Science and Nature

Field Notes on Science and Nature

Author: Michael R. Canfield

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2012-07-09

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0674072065

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Once in a great while, as the New York Times noted recently, a naturalist writes a book that changes the way people look at the living world. John James Audubon’s Birds of America, published in 1838, was one. Roger Tory Peterson’s 1934 Field Guide to the Birds was another. How does such insight into nature develop? Pioneering a new niche in the study of plants and animals in their native habitat, Field Notes on Science and Nature allows readers to peer over the shoulders and into the notebooks of a dozen eminent field workers, to study firsthand their observational methods, materials, and fleeting impressions. What did George Schaller note when studying the lions of the Serengeti? What lists did Kenn Kaufman keep during his 1973 “big year”? How does Piotr Naskrecki use relational databases and electronic field notes? In what way is Bernd Heinrich’s approach “truly Thoreauvian,” in E. O. Wilson’s view? Recording observations in the field is an indispensable scientific skill, but researchers are not generally willing to share their personal records with others. Here, for the first time, are reproductions of actual pages from notebooks. And in essays abounding with fascinating anecdotes, the authors reflect on the contexts in which the notes were taken. Covering disciplines as diverse as ornithology, entomology, ecology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, and animal behavior, Field Notes offers specific examples that professional naturalists can emulate to fine-tune their own field methods, along with practical advice that amateur naturalists and students can use to document their adventures.


Landscapes and Labscapes

Landscapes and Labscapes

Author: Robert E. Kohler

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-11-15

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 0226450112

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What is it like to do field biology in a world that exalts experiments and laboratories? How have field biologists assimilated laboratory values and practices, and crafted an exact, quantitative science without losing their naturalist souls? In Landscapes and Labscapes, Robert E. Kohler explores the people, places, and practices of field biology in the United States from the 1890s to the 1950s. He takes readers into the fields and forests where field biologists learned to count and measure nature and to read the imperfect records of "nature's experiments." He shows how field researchers use nature's particularities to develop "practices of place" that achieve in nature what laboratory researchers can only do with simplified experiments. Using historical frontiers as models, Kohler shows how biologists created vigorous new border sciences of ecology and evolutionary biology.