Not For The Good Of The Species

This week we briefly discussed some misconceptions with natural selection, most notably that natural selection is not best defined as "survival of the fittest" and that natural selection does not assure the survival of the species. I saw this interesting article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education.

Not For the Good of the Species by David Barash
http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/not-for-the-good-of-the-species/36828?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Free Learning- Climate Change

Human activity, including burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and buring trees, has altered the global carbon cycle. This alternation of the global carbon cycle is the proposed cause of global climate change (global warming).

Obviously, global climate change is a very imporant issue facing us today. If you are alive and paying any attention, then you probably know that there is some disgreement out there about (1) whether global warming is occuring, (2) if it is occuring is it a natural occurence or is it caused by humans, and (3)what should we as individuals and a society do about these issues. As I mentioned in class, it is very important that you understand what components of the debate are facts and what components of the debate are based on mathematical models or other forms of argument. I think that it is important that you should be able to explain to other people why scientists will never be able to conduct the experiment that will nail down whether or not humans are causing global warming (we have only one earth).


Further Reading

Carbon cycle- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Carbon_cycle

Global warming- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Global_warming

Global warming Frequenty Asked Questions- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Global_warming_frequently_asked_questions

Climate change FAQ- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Climate_change_FAQs

Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change_%28IPCC%29

IPCC Assessment for Policymakers- http://www.eoearth.org/article/IPCC_Fourth_Assessment_Report%2C_Working_Group_I%3A_Summary_for_Policymakers




Here is a link to a powerpoint presentation that I have used in other classes.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/j33lxyHuPGwVzS

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged student should be able to

- describe why climate scientists have concluded that global temperatures are increasing

- describe why climate scientists have concluded that humans are the cause of this increase in temperature

- discuss changes, other than increases in temperature, that are thought to be caused by humans increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Activity: Competition in Malaysian Bats

Competition is one of the most important interspecific ecological interactions. Interspecific competition can influence biodiversity, population sizes, and phenotypic characteritstics.

Readings

Competition- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Competition

Intraspecific competition- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Intraspecific_competition

Interspecific competition- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Interspecific_competition?topic=58074

Exploitative competition- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Exploitative_competition

Competitive exclusion principle- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Competitive_exclusion_principle

Powerpoint Slideshow

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/competition-mbea-activity

Here are the Smart Board Notes on the Lotka-Voltera Model of Competition

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/lotkavolterra-model-of-competition

Clutch Size Model

I have been extremely impressed with the level of detail that Brock has been able to cover in his discussions about calculus. It has been very informative for me to listen to his presentations as well. Although we don't expect any of you to be considered as "calculus scholars" after just a couple of days of instruction, I have seen that you all have a greater understanding and appreciation about how calculus works, and even more importantly, you don't fear discussions of issues using calculus as a tool.

I wanted to briefly introduce the clutch size model as an example of how ecologists can use calculus in mathematical models that they use to answer questions in ecology. I have used this approach to study house building in woodrats, foraging in beavers, and reproduction in plants.


Here is a link to the Smart Board Notes.

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/smart-board-notes-clutch-size

If you ever need a sleep aid, then here are links to a couple of papers where I use mathematical and graphical analysis to try to understand the world. The first is one of the main papers from my Ph.D. and the second is from my Masters.

Parental investment in offspring in variable environments: theoretical and empirical considerations, by Mark McGinley, David Temme, and Monica Geber.
http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/mcginley-temme-and-geber-1989

Central place foraging for non-food items:determination of the stick size-value relationship of house building materials collected by eastern woodrats. by Mark McGinley.
http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/woodrat-paper

Brock's Calculus Smart Board Notes

Here is the link to Brock's Smart Board Notes about Calculus. June 22nd, 2011

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/brocks-smart-board-notes-calculus

Here is the link to Brock's Smart Board notes. June 23rd, 2011

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/brocks-smart-board-notes-june-23

Introduction to Biodiversity

Readings

Biodiversity- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Biodiversity

Species Diversity- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Species_diversity

Species Richness- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Species_richness


Slideshows

Introduction to Biodiversity

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/introduction-to-biodiversity-8383743

Biodiversity: Species, Classification, and Importance

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/biodiversity-species-classification-importance


Species Diversity in Malaysian Bats- Exercise

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/iQrgbLVr19ozgo

Diversity Exercise- Nemo

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/biodiversity-exercisenemo

Diversity Exercise- Candy

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkMcGinley/diversity-exercise-candy-8383776

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- define biodiversity

- discuss components of biodiversity including species richness, species evenness, genetic diversity, etc.

- develop your own "metric" to measure biodiveristy

- use diversity indices such as Shannon Index and Simpson Index

Using Statistical Analyses to Explore Data From MBEA

Now that you have learned how to (1) compare means, (2) test for correlations, and (3) test for associations you now that the basic tools necessary to explore authentic data sets such as those found in the MBEA.

If you want to test your ability to use statistical analyses to explore a data set try answering these questions.

1) What are three questions that you can help answer by using a t-test. Choose a different "categorical variable for each of these questions".

2) What are two questions that you can help answer using a linear regression test? Be sure to choose different independent and dependent variables for each question.

3) What is one question that you can help answer using a Chi Square Test?

If you want more practice conducting statistical analyses then you can use the data to answer your questions.