Use maps, online databases, and peer-reviewed literature to:
(1) learn background information on
WNV (history of emergence in the US; life cycle, hosts, and vectors; different forms of WNV
disease and susceptibility of various human age groups) and
(2) generate and test hypotheses
correlating human, avian, and mosquito WNV infection with avian biodiversity,
presence/abundance of different...
Species diversity generally increases in the tropics but testing theories that explain this phenomenon is challenging. Here we use body size to quantify niches in ecological communities and explore how species diversify towards the equator.
At the end of this activity, students will demonstrate their ability to understand basic principles of disease transmission, convey real epidemiological data as visual stories, and develop a plan to handle a “real” outbreak. Instructors may evaluate students’ knowledge and comprehension of the basic principles of disease transmission by analyzing how students’ initial and final hypotheses changed...
This class was designed for an introductory ecology course. Students are introduced to Microsoft Excel PivotTables by amending an existing PivotTable, then create their own PivotTables to explore the main data sets. These data sets provide information on the breeding success of carrion crows parasitized by great spotted cuckoos in Spain. Students summarise the large data sets, produce bar charts,...
This activity is designed to show students how to perform an ANOVA using RStudio. To integrate the lesson plan with course content in an undergraduate ecology lecture course, students read an accessible scientific article (Chase & Knight 2003) that explores interaction between abiotic (climate and habitat permanence) and biotic (competition & predation) environmental conditions on the population...