Names ______________________________
Science Forward Paper Puzzle
Scientists communicate their results to the scientific community through scientific papers. These
make up what we call the primary literature. These are works that have gone through the scientific
vetting process of peer review; other experts have deemed these works worthy of publication. Most
peer reviewed articles follow a similar format consisting of Introduction, Methods, Results, and
Discussion sections. At the beginning of the article there is an Abstract, which consists of a
summary of all the other sections and at the end there is a Literature Cited section, which has all the
resources the authors used in their paper.
In this group activity, you will rebuild a scientific paper from select sentences. You must decide
whether they came from the Introduction, Methods, Results, or Discussion sections.
Your paper is entitled “Biodiversity on urban roundabouts—Hemiptera, management and the
species–area relationship” by Alvin J. Helden, Simon R. Leather. Hemiptera is a type of insect.
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Can you figure out some of what this paper is about based on the sentences you’ve read? Describe it
on the back.
Names ______________________________
Many factors have been suggested as important in determining the relative species richness of
different urban habitats and habitat patches.
INTRO
In the work presented here, roundabouts within the town of Bracknell, in south east England, were
used to investigate both whether significant species–area relationships can be found in urban areas
using relatively small road delimited sites, and whether two groups of Hemiptera exposed to
contrasting management intensity showed differences in those species–area relationships.
INTRO
The 18 study sites were a series of 14 roundabouts and four other road enclosed sites.
METHODS
Grassland Hemiptera were sampled, between 15th and 17th July 2002, using a Vortis Insect Suction
Sampler (Burkard Manufacturing Co Ltd, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, UK).
METHODS
A nested analysis of variance was used to compare management regime within roundabouts, which
showed that less frequently managed grassland had greater numbers of individuals.
METHODS
…the lowest number of individuals were recorded at sites in management category A, with the
highest numbers being found at sites of category C and D.
RESULTS
Grassland Hemiptera species richness was found not to be related to area, and the only factor found
to significantly affect species richness was the management regime.
RESULTS
In order to maintain the maximum level of species richness at a given site, cutting should either be
limited to cutting once in a year and then not repeated annually, or a system of rotational
management should be used…
DISCUSSION
However in the grassland Hemiptera, which are very strongly affected by grassland structure,
management appeared to be a great enough influence on species richness to prevent a species–area
relationship: an outcome consistent with the small island effect.
DISCUSSION
Names ______________________________
Science Forward Paper Puzzle
Scientists communicate their results to the scientific community through scientific papers. These
make up what we call the primary literature. These are works that have gone through the scientific
vetting process of peer review; other experts have deemed these works worthy of publication. Most
peer reviewed articles follow a similar format consisting of Introduction, Methods, Results, and
Discussion sections. At the beginning of the article there is an Abstract, which consists of a
summary of all the other sections and at the end there is a Literature Cited section, which has all the
resources the authors used in their paper.
In this group activity, you will rebuild a scientific paper from select sentences. You must decide
whether they came from the Introduction, Methods, Results, or Discussion sections.
Your paper is entitled “Rapid, pervasive genetic differentiation of urban white-footed mouse
(Peromyscus leucopus) populations in New York City” by Jason Munshi-South and Katerina
Kharchenko. Genetic differentiation occurs when separate populations of the same species become
different at the DNA level. An allele is a version of a particular gene (the blood type gene has
different versions (alleles) A, B, and O).
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Can you figure out some of what this paper is about based on the sentences you’ve read? Describe it
on the back.
Names ______________________________
More than 50% of the human population now occupies urban areas, and most ecosystems will
experience urbanization in the near future.
INTRO
NYC is also comprised of four separate landmasses (the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn on western
Long Island, Manhattan Island, and Staten Island) each containing multiple white- footed mouse
populations, facilitating comparisons of genetic differentiation among populations on an indi- vidual
landmass to differentiation between landmasses.
INTRO
We conducted trapping surveys for white-footed mice from June to October 2008 and May to
October 2009 at 14 sites in NYC and one rural area (site 1) 67 km north of Central Park (site 6, Fig.
1) in Manhattan.
METHODS
We extracted DNA from 312 individual tail snips using the protocol for rodent tails provided with
the Qiagen DNEasy tissue kit.
METHODS
Genetic diversity was relatively high at each site as measured by the mean number of observed and
effective alleles; most sites contained substantial numbers of [unique] alleles.
RESULTS
Site 5, Van Cortlandt Park, contained two separate [allele groups] not present in other sites.
RESULTS
Our report of relatively high genetic diversity for urban white-footed mice is at odds with many
previous studies on the genetic impacts of fragmentation on small mammal populations.
DISCUSSION
The results presented here show that urban adapters can become rapidly and pervasively
differentiated … owing to human-driven landscape change, but also maintain genetic diversity over
hundreds of generations.
DISCUSSION