Field
Biology (BIO 310)
Department of
Biological Sciences
State University of New
York at Cortland
Course
Information: Instructor
Information:
Credit
Hours: 3 Instructor: Dr. Steven B. Broyles
Semester/Year: August 2003 Phone: 607.753.2901
Location: Outdoor Education Center Office: Casino & Cedars Cabin
Required
Texts: (1) Peterson=s Field
Guide to Office Hours: Mon.CSat. 8 A.M.-9 P.M.
to Wildflowers; (2) Peterson=s
Field Guide to E-mail: broyles@cortland.edu
Trees and Shrubs; (3) Barron=s
Guide to
Mushrooms; (4) additional papers.
Course Description: Examination of biological
diversity and ecology in terrestrial and aquatic communities of New York. This course is taught during August at
Cortland=s Outdoor
Education Center in Adirondack State Park.
Daily and evening classes include field trips, laboratories, and
lectures. Students are assessed a fee
for room and board. Required
of biology majors in programs for adolescence biology education and
environmental science concentration. Prerequisites: BIO 110-111 or BIO 201-202.
Goals/Objectives of the Course: This course will
introduce students to the major components of biotic communities in the
Northeastern United States. Field
Biology is designed with the intention of exposing students in Adolescence
Biology Education and Environmental Science to many areas of field
studies. Students will demonstrate
taxonomic knowledge of land plants, algae, amphibians, fungi, insects, and
birds. Students will develop a
conceptual understanding of ecological processes, organismal behavior,
biological interactions, and natural history through intensive field study and
experimentation. Students will design,
perform, and interpret individual and/or group projects on the Adirondack
biota.
Course Attendance Policy: Due to the nature location
of the course, ALL CLASSES, FIELD TRIPS, and MEALS ARE MANDATORY. Classes generally run form 9:00 to 11:30
A.M.; 1:00-5:00 P.M.; and 7:30-9:00 P.M. Monday through Saturday. Any foreseen absence should be brought to the
attention of the instructor in advance of arriving at Raquette Lake. Please be on time for lectures and scheduled
field trips.
Evaluation and Grading: Students will be graded on
two half-day examinations, an individual / group project/presentation, daily
journal entries, and plant/insect collections.
Exams usually include short answer and essay questions, but may also
include identifications from projection slides, preserved specimens, and living
specimens. Fair exam material includes
reading assignments not directly discussed in class. Questions regarding possible grading errors
should be discussed as soon as possible with the instructor.
If you are a student with a disability and wish to
request accommodations, please contact the office of Student Disability
Services in B-40 Van Hoesen Hall or call 607.753.2066 for an appointment. Information regarding your disability will be
treated in a confidential manner. Because
many accommodations require early planning, requests for accommodations should
be made as early as possible.
Specific Assignments and Grades:
Exam
1BSaturday, August 2 100
points
This exam will include taxonomic
questions and identification of trees and shrubs, flowering plants, fungi, and
insects. Students will also be expected
to assimilate information, describe data, and draw conclusions for experiments
conducted during the first week.
Exam
2-Saturday, August 9 100
points
This exam will include taxonomic
questions and identification of birds, wetland plants, algae, and stream
macroinvertebrates. Students will also
be expected to answer conceptual questions on water quality, limnology,
forestry techniques, wetland biology, and the relationships between glaciation,
bog ecology, and palynology.
PowerPoint
Presentation and Digital Photography 100
points
Each student is required to learn
how to operate a digital camera and import photographs into meaningful
PowerPoint Presentations. The
Presentation should included a title slide, a
reference slide, and a minimum of 10 text/photo slides. Students should select their Presentation in
consultation with Dr. Broyles. Topics
are variable, but we need to keep the interest of the audience in mind. Since you will share these with others in the
course who will in turn become educators, you should direct the instructional
level toward students and educators of grades 8-12.
Journal
and Project Notebook 100
points
Every project, worksheet question,
graph, figure, interpretation should be written and maintained in a
well-identified section of your notebook (preferably a small three-ring
binder). In addition, Dr. Broyles will
frequently ask reflective thought questions that should be answered completely
and thoroughly in the Notebook. These question often provide insight into concepts that Dr.
Broyles believes are important, and therefore, are likely to appear on
examinations.
Personal-Small
group Project and Report 100
points
Each student is required to design
and conduct a personal field biology project during the third week of the
course. Students will need to develop
clear, testable, hypotheses, experimental methods, and data collection
protocol. Students will need to conduct
appropriate statistical tests, construct graphs, and tables. Upon returning to Cortland, students have
three weeks to complete library research for references and write a report
following a standard scientific format.
Grades: A+ 487.5-500 pts. B+ 437.5-449.9 C+ 387.5-399.9 D+ 337.5-349.9
A 462.6-487.4 B 412.6-437.4 C 362.6-387.4 D 312.6-337.4
A- 450.0-462.5 B- 400.0-412.5 C- 350.0-362.5 D- 300.0-312.5
Daily Schedule:
Week 1
Sunday,
27 July 2:00-5:30 P.M. Check-in at Outdoor Education
Facility
6:00
P.M. Dinner
7:00
P.M. Orientation and Class
Monday,
28 July Routine meal schedule
(8:00 A.M.; NOON; and 6:00 P.M.)
Morning:
Tree Identification and Forest
Biology
Afternoon: Canoe Certification, Adirondack History,
Forest Transects
Evening: Diversity Statistics, Data
Interpretation
Concepts: Evapotranspiration, mycorrhizal
interactions, woody tree adaptations, dendrochronology.
Tuesday,
29 July Morning: Herbaceous Flowering Plant Families
Afternoon: Hummingbird Foraging and Nectar Biology
Evening: Film: Sexual Encounters of a Floral
Kind
Concepts: Coevolution, pollination biology,
economy and ecology of flowering plants, nitrogen fixation and legumes,
chemical diversity of plants.
Wednesday,
30 July Morning: Limnology
Afternoon: Limnology
Evening: Algae of Raquette Lake
Concepts: Water chemistry, lake definitions,
stratigraphic sampling of dimetic lakes, biology of algae.
Thursday,
31 July Morning: Goodnow Mountain
Afternoon: Goodnow Mountain
Evening: TBA
Concepts: Forestry techniques, adaptation,
community changes on elevation transects
Friday,
1 August Morning: Water Quality and Macroinvertebrates
Afternoon: Water Quality and Macroinvertebrates
Evening: Sound, Avian Vocalizations &
Microphone DesignBOwl Prowl
Concepts: Eutrophication, water chemistry, pollution,
indicator species, physics of sound, design of parabolic reflectors, circuits
and microphones.
Saturday,
2 August Morning: EXAM 1
Afternoon: Completion of Exam
Evening: Free
Sunday,
3 August Free TimeBMeals schedule TBA
Daily Schedule:
Week 2
Monday,
4 August Morning: Fleshy FungiCDr.
Baroni
Afternoon: Identification of Fungi
Evening: Toxicology
Concepts: Morphology of fleshy fungi, ecology of
fungi, phylogeny of fungi.
Tuesday,
5 August Early Morning:Bird Surveys
Morning: Bog Ecology and Palynology
Afternoon: Bog Ecology and Palynology
Evening: Free Time
Concepts Glaciation
and land history; climatology, pollen indicators of climate and forests,
adaptations to wetlands, avian vocalizations.
Wednesday,
6 August Morning: Community Ecology on Whiteface Mtn
Afternoon: Community Ecology on Whiteface Mtn
Evening: Lake Placid Dinner
Concepts: Forest stratification and diversity,
community migration in response to climatic change, forest adaptation.
Thursday,
7 August Morning: Insect Biology
Afternoon: Insect Population Size Estimates
Evening: Travels of the Monarch Butterfly
Concepts: Arthropod morphology, ecological
diversity and evolution of insects, capture-mark-recapture techniques for
estimating population sizes; chemical coevolution, migration and navigation of
animals (star, sun, and magnetic compasses).
Friday,
8 August Morning: Ferns and Clubmosses
Afternoon: Scavenger Hunt Challenge & ReviewCFinish Capture-Mark-Release study
Evening: Study Time
Saturday,
9 August Morning: EXAM 2
Afternoon: Completion of Exam
Evening: Free
Sunday,
10 August Free
Daily Schedule:
Week 3
Monday,
11 August Morning: Hypotheses Construction, Statistics
Review, Project Design
Afternoon: Project Design
Evening: Evening Plane Ride
History of Adirondack ParkBDr. Pasquarello
Tuesday,
12 August Morning: Projects
Afternoon: Projects
Evening: Bill EvansBMonitoring
Songbird Migration
Wednesday,
13 AugustMorning: Projects
Afternoon: Projects
Evening: Guest Speaker
Thursday,
14 August Morning: PowerPoint Presentations are Due
Afternoon: Presentations and Projects
Evening: Analysis and Lab Packing
Friday,
15 August Morning: Analysis, Clean-up, Departure