General Ecology – BIOL 350 Fall 2012
Lab Syllabus
Lab Instructor
Stefanie Wolf
Office: 264 Waggoner Hall
Email: SR-Wolf2@wiu.edu
Office Hours: 5-7 pm Monday, or by appointment on a M, TU, or TH
Biology Assistance Center (BAC) Hours: 3-5 pm Monday, Waggoner Hall 104
Attendance Policy
Laboratory attendance is mandatory for credit in Biology 350. You are expected to be present and on time for every
laboratory session. If you arrive twenty minutes late for the lab, you are not allowed to do the lab and it will
be considered an UNEXCUSED absence.
Absences can be considered either excused or unexcused depending upon the reason for the absence. Absences will be
considered excused with documentation for the following reasons: illness (your own), death in the immediate family
(sibling, parent, grandparent, child, spouse), and official university trips. All other absences will be considered unexcused.
In order for a lab to be considered excused, you are responsible for providing appropriate documentation within
three weeks of the absence. To verify an absence due to illness, you must provide a note from your
physician. If you miss a lab due to an EXCUSED absence, you will not be permitted to make up the lab or the write-ups
and will receive a zero for that lab. However, in order not to penalize you for a legitimate absence, your total possible
points in lab will be reduced by the number of points associated with the lab exercise. You can not make up a lab for
which you have an UNEXCUSED absence, therefore you will lose the lab write-up points and the total possible lab points
will not be reduced.
You are allowed only one unexcused absence and three total absences. On the second unexcused or fourth total
absence (i.e. combined excused and unexcused absences) you will receive a zero for the overall lab grade and an
automatic F in the course. It is your responsibility to keep up with how many absences of each type you have.
Grading
Please come to lab with the hand-outs for that weeks lab already printed and read. Lab write-ups will be due at the
beginning of class the following week. E.g. Lab 1 write-up will be due at the beginning of Lab 2. No late lab write-ups are
accepted. Check your grades on Western Online regularly. You should keep all your lab work papers until your grade is
finalized. If there is a grade dispute, you must provide your instructor with your graded quiz, lab write-up, or presentation
evaluation, in order for your grade to be changed.
Lab accounts for 300 of the 800 total points for BIOL 350. These 300 points break down as follows:
10 Lab Write-Ups (15 pts. each)
2 Quizzes (25 pts. each)
Presentation
Presentation evaluations
150 pts.
50 pts.
80 pts.
20 pts.
Conduct
Long pants and close toed shoes are required, and failure to comply will result in a loss of lab points
Eating and drinking are strictly prohibited in lab
Cell phones are prohibited in lab. Possession of a cell phone in lab without explicit permission from your lab instructor
that week will result in the loss of two points from that week’s lab grade
At the end of each laboratory session, you are expected to clean your laboratory station and replace all materials to their
original locations
Academic Honesty
“Due to the nature of the laboratory setting, most of your in-class work, except for quizzes, will be completed as a group
or at least in pairs. All group members are expected to contribute equally to all parts of the lab. A group member who
does not participate as an equal member may have his/her grade lowered. The homework assignments and quizzes are
to be performed as an individual effort, meaning that you are to do your own work. If you have questions about how to
complete an in-class or homework assignment, you may seek the assistance of a peer, partner, tutor, or instructor, but
ultimately you are responsible for understanding the information and completing the work yourself. Remember, any work
you sign your name to will be considered your original work unless you specify otherwise. Failure to properly cite a
source that you used to assist you in completing your work is considered a form of plagiarism, including failure to cite
your textbook, a web site, a peer or tutor, etc.” Academic Dishonesty Policy:
http://www.wiu.edu/VPAS/handbook/policies/acdishst.shtml
ADA REQUIREMENTS
“In accordance with University policy and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), academic accommodations may be
made for any student who notifies the instructor of the need for an accommodation. For the instructor to provide the
proper accommodation(s) you must obtain documentation of the need for an accommodation through Disability Support
Services and provide it to the instructor. It is imperative that you take the initiative to bring such needs to the instructor's
attention, as he/she is not legally permitted to inquire about such particular needs of students. Students who may require
special assistance in emergency evacuations (i.e. fire, tornado, etc.) should contact the instructor as to the most
appropriate procedures to follow in such an emergency. Contact Disability Support Services at 298-2512 for additional
services.”
Tentative Lab Schedule
Week of
Topic
8/20
No Lab
8/27
Lab 1: Being a Naturalist
9/3
Lab 2: Population Genetics
9/10
Lab 3: Pine Needle Variation
9/17
Lab 4: Measuring Diversity
9/24
Lab 4: Measuring Diversity (cont.)
10/1
Lab 5: Discussion Lab
10/8
Quiz Labs 1-5
Lab 6: Mark and Recapture
10/15
Lab 7: Foraging Behavior
10/22
Lab 8: Cemetery Demography
10/29
Lab 8: Cemetery Demography (cont.)
11/5
Lab 9: Squirrel Density
11/12
Quiz Labs 6-9
Lab 10: Squirrel Habitat Selection
11/19
NO CLASS – Have a nice break!
11/26
Presentations
12/3
Presentations (cont.)