Limnology Laboratory
BS 210 W 12:10-5:00
Instructors:
ZOO 4430 Fall 2003
Robert Hall, 408 Biological Sciences, 766-2877 bhall@uwyo.edu.
Office hours: 1-2 pm Mon., 10-11 am Wed and Fri. Any other time by
appointment.
Brad Taylor, 417 Biological Sciences, 766-4156 btaylor@uwyo.edu
Office hours T 1-2 R 2-3. Other times by appointment
Course goals
1. Learn basic limnological field and lab methods.
2. Apply these methods to test hypotheses of lake and stream processes.
Course requirements and grading
Lab practical exam (30%) 15 Dec. 1:15-3:15 Note that this time is NOT the time
specified by the Fall bulletin for a 12:00 Wed. class. That time would be Monay at 10:15
which is right after the lecture exam. My guess is that no one in lab will be interested in
taking the lab final 15 minutes after the lecture final, so I suggest this alternate time.
Lab reports:
Lake lab (10%) 22 Oct.
Grazing vs. nutrient control of phytoplankton (25%) 5 Nov.
Laramie River gradient study (30%) 12 Dec.
Participation in lab (5%). Attendance is required for this class because labs do not work
well if there is no one there to do the work. Conflicts need to be discussed with one of us
prior to the missed lab (except for emergencies). Unexcused labs will each lose 20% of
the 5% participation grade.
Late lab reports will lose 10% (i.e. one whole letter grade) for each day late.
Grading will be 90=A, 80=B, 70=C, and so on. We will curve final course grades up if
necessary.
The combination of Limnology lecture and lab means that there will be a lot of
assignments that you will have to do this semester. Please map out well ahead of time
when things are due and start early on them. I honestly try to space things out as evenly
as possible, but some tight scheduling is inevitable. This lab in combination with the
lecture has few deadlines in the early part of the semester, and many deadlines towards
the end. Please use this to your advantage to get a head start on data analysis and writing
for reports.
Because much of this course is field-based, the schedule may change due to weather,
experimental failure etc. Please bear with us when this happens!
Bring a notebook with you on field trips and labs so that you can record methods and/or
conditions that you will need to know for writing the lab reports.
Schedule
Sept
3
10
17
24
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Lab introduction, semester plan, Set out nutrient/grazing experiment*
Sample nutrient/grazing experiment*
Granite Lake*
Laramie River gradient 1 and 2
1
8
17
22
29
5
12
19
26
Laramie river gradient 3 and Bioassessment sampling*
Nutrients
Algae and chlorophyll
Zooplankton
Nutrient spiraling and open-channel diel metabolism*#
Lake stratification and P vs I curves
Benthic organic matter, macroinvertebrates
Benthic organic matter, macroinvertebrates
Thanksgiving
3
10
More macroinvertebrates, bioassessment
Review and lab reports
*Field labs. Be dressed for getting cold and/or wet and capricious weather on field lab
days. Remember than when it is warm and dry here in Laramie it may be cold and wet up
on the Snowy Range where one of the field trips will be. Bring changes of clothes
because we may get really wet. You can store your waders in the Limnology Lab.
# Change in schedule.