Plant Ecology Lab Syllabus Fall 2015
Course Professor: Suzanne Koptur
Attendance: Every week each student is expected to show up on time and stay for the whole lab period, every lab period, or until the instructor says you are done for the day. Only one absence can be excused without affecting your final grade. If you know you must be away, plan ahead and let the me know, and perhaps you can do something in advance or make up the missed activity in another lab.
Attire: Please come to lab every week ready to work, and to get dirty, either in the greenhouse, lab, or field. For work outside the lab room, a hat, long-sleeved shirt, and water bottle will protect you and make you more comfortable. You may want to bring a change of clothes for lab, or for after lab; please do not wear fancy clothes, high-heeled shoes, or anything that might get damaged during lab activities.
Planned activities: Students will participate in nine labs, working in groups. Members of each group will work together to do the activities, collect data, discuss data analysis, and maintain treatments and care for plants in the greenhouse (some of these duties can be shared among groups, as scheduled with the instructor). The written lab report of each lab will be due within one week of completing the data collection.
Each group is responsible to write a full lab report for each experiment. One person from each group will take primary responsibility for data analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results for each lab exercise (written and oral). Data can and should be shared among the groups. Every student will get a grade for every lab, based on the grade given to the written and oral report, weighted by their participation and teamwork with their lab group. At the end of the course, each experiment will be presented to the class by students who sign up to work together to make the presentation - each student must sign up for one presentation.
Grading: Each lab will count for 10% of your lab grade (9 x 10 = 90 %; or if some lab does not work out, adjusted proportionally to the total number of labs). The final 10% may be given for preparation, attitude, and cooperation.
Needed by every student for every lab: a lab notebook, perhaps a spiral notebook or a slim binder with looseleaf paper, and/or a clipboard; lined paper; pencils and pens.
recommended lab textbook: Ambrose, H.W. III and K.P. Ambrose. A Handbook of Biological Investigation, sixth edition. Hunter Textbooks Inc. ISBN 0-88725-266-4.
Labs that we will do:
Functional anatomy of graminoids (wet vs. dry habitat dwellers) – field observations, collection, and lab study
Herbivory and secondary compounds - field assessment, damage, chemical analyses
Relative growth rates – Greenhouse experiment, two harvests, drying ovens, weighing
Above-ground vs. below ground competition in butterfly pea
Response to defoliation: subsequent growth – greenhouse expt.
Drought tolerance of native species – greenhouse or lab experiment
Post-fire recovery/ succession in pine rocklands – field observations, initial and later
Seed dispersal
Pollination syndrome and nectar standing crop
SCHEDULE
Wk 1 – 25th August – presentation of syllabus - plans for the semester - seed preparation for germinations for later experiments
Wk 2 - 1 Sep - Introduction to lab activities - tour of campus plant sites - looking at plants with an ecological eye
Wk 3 – 8 Sep – Functional anatomy of plants – comparing upland and flood-tolerant species – campus fieldtrip to observe and collect samples – follow with lab study
Wk 4 – 15 September – no lab meeting - seedling care
Wk 5 - 22 September - Herbivory measurements in field; record characteristics of native plant species; collect leaf samples for chemical analyses. (Perhaps: set up field artificial damage experiment on selected native plant species). FIU preserve.
Saturday 26 September - Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden 9 am - 1 pm
Wk 6 – 29 September – Secondary chemistry of native plants - collect leaf samples from native plants, including experimentally damaged leaves and undamaged leaves from selected native plant species. [could do this previous week, and keep in freezer for this week's analyses, to allow maximum lab room time for certain tests.]
Wk 7– 6 October - Greenhouse work - Plant seedlings and set up for four experiments: relative growth rate, above-vs-below ground competition, drought tolerance, and defoliation [details in lab handouts]
Relative growth rate AND Drought tolerance: Hibiscus coccineus, Crotalaria maritima, Sophora tomentosa
Above-vs.-below ground competition: Centrosema virginiana [maintain treatments throughout coming weeks]
Defoliation: Senna polyphylla, S. alata, S. bicapsularis, S. fasciculata, S. mexicana
– harvest first group for relative growth rate experiment (measure, weight, dry, do not plant these!); set up plants in apparatus for drought tolerance experiment (to be conducted in two weeks or more).
Wk 8 – 13 October – pine rockland succession - Larry and Penny Thompson Park
Sunday 18th October - Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
Wk 9 – 20 October - Response to defoliation: remove 75% biomass from experimental greenhouse-grown plants (to later compare with controls)
Wk 10 – 27 October – Begin drought tolerance experiment – raise plants out of solution for 3 days and for 7 days – next lab period compare FW, DW, relative water content
Wk 11 – 3 November – final measurements for drought tolerance experiment; also harvest final group of plants for relative growth rate experiment.
Wk 12 – 10 November – Shoot-vs-root experiment dismantling and measurements of each plant - fresh and then dried.
Wk 13 - 17 November – Defoliation experiment (greenhouse) – measure plants, compare clipped and non-clipped controls.
Wk 14 – 24 November – Pollination syndromes and nectar standing crop - pine rockland site - OR Seed dispersal - FIU preserve and campus locations
Wk 15 - 1 December - last lab day - final presentations - submit last of lab reports