ENV 330 - FALL 2006

ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY: SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATIONS

Ecosystem Review Paper Assignment

Science is meaningless without the effective communication of results and insights, and the written word is the primary means of scientific communication. That is why we write in the ENV core classes. There are various forms of scientific writing, but the two most common are research papers and review papers. Your lab reports give you extensive experience writing research papers; the purpose of the two assignments for the lecture portion of this course are to give you experience writing a review paper.

Assignment: Choose an ecosystem for which you will become the class expert, and write an overview. First, do a literature review (library research). Next, make an outline. Then write about the fundamental characteristics of your ecosystem, including its location, extent, dominant species, energetics, human values, etc. (see below). You might start by reading a short introduction to the major ecosystems of the world, available in many ecology textbooks. But remember, this is just a starting point; you will have to focus your topic appropriately.

You may choose a local ecosystem, such as wetlands on Anderson Mesa or alpine tundra on the San Francisco Peaks. You may prefer to study a distant ecosystem, perhaps tropical dry forest in Central America or the Atacama Desert in Chile – the choice is entirely up to you. After completing this relatively simple first assignment, you will examine this ecosystem in greater detail for your second, longer paper, which will focus on a particular environmental issue related to global change in your chosen ecosystem, so choose carefully. You should be able to use much of the text from this first paper in the introductory and background sections of the second, and most of the citations will be useful. Thus, effort invested now will pay double dividends.

Length: The text of paper should not exceed 5 pages, excluding figures, graphs, illustrations, and literature cited section (all of which should be included).

Literature citations: In carrying out background library research on your ecosystem, you should consult a variety of published sources. You must have at least 10 different sources cited in the text of the paper, and each of these must be listed alphabetically, by author, in a Literature Cited section at the end of the text (see lab manual for examples; guidelines for the journal Ecology are available online at http://esapubs.org/esapubs/preparation.htm). Web references may be used if cited correctly, but will not be counted toward the minimum of 10 different sources.

Grading: Grading will based on the information content of papers and your ability to organize ideas and express them clearly and concisely. Your paper will receive two grades -- one for content and one for composition. For this first paper only, the content grade alone will count toward your course grade. This assignment will be worth 5% of your course grade. It is due on Thursday, Sept. 21. I will mark your paper in a manner intended to help you get the most out of your writing efforts as you complete the second assignment. Specifically, I will comment on and evaluate the following:

Content Grade (counts toward course grade)

Ø Definition of ecosystem – e.g., location, extent, key features

Ø Description – e.g., physical and climatic conditions, seasonal and other patterns of change (dynamics) that affect the ecosystem (brief)

Ø Community structure – e.g., dominant species and their roles, sensitive species, species interactions

Ø Ecosystem function – e.g., primary production, energetics, nutrient cycling

Ø Environmental impacts/issues, current trends and the future (brief; this is not the focus of this assignment)

Ø Use of figures, graphs, illustrations

Ø References (number, appropriateness)

Note: the use of appropriate headings and subheading in the text of your paper will help you organize your thoughts, and it will also make the paper much clearer for the reader.

Composition Grade (doesn’t count toward grade, but should help you improve)

Ø Organization

Ø Clarity

Ø Grammar

Ø Sentence structure

Ø Spelling