ZOO 511 Ecology of Fishes Lab
Assignment 1: Ecology of your fish
Due: Week 3 (Feb. 2,3)
2010
Goals:
1-Get experience using various search engines to find primary fish ecology literature
2-Learn some of the factors that affect the distribution and abundance of your two fish species
Assignment:
Each of you has a freshwater species and a marine species. We want you to use the various primary
literature databases to search, find, and download primary literature on each of your species. For each
fish species you should find one paper that focuses on how that species is influenced by its environment
(ie. temperature, water quality, physical habitat, there are many others) and one paper on how the
ecology of the species is influenced by other organisms (these do not have to be fish). In other words,
find one paper on an abiotic factor one on a biotic factor and how they relate to your species.
Remember, a species or population can affect itself. For example, maybe the paper is about how the
abundance of your species influences the growth of the individuals.
Answer the following questions about EACH paper (total of 4 papers).
Q1. What search engine did you use?
Q2. What factor did the paper identify as influencing your species?
Q3. How did that factor influence your species according to the authors? Note: sometimes a study
finds there is not a relationship between a factor and a species or population. This can be as interesting
as a positive result…think about that one.
Q4. Describe one figure or table from your paper. Did this figure or table help you to understand the
paper more clearly? Why or why not? If your paper does not have any figures or tables (this is rare),
describe a figure or table that would have been helpful.
*Please group answers by species with the common and scientific name at the top of each section.
Type your answers and turn them in during class with a literature cited section referencing
your papers.
Appropriate citation format:
Carpenter, S.R., Kitchell, J.F., and Hodgson, J.R. 1985. Cascading trophic interactions and lake productivity.
Bioscience 35(10): 634-639.
Helpful tips on finding papers:
Go to http://library.wisc.edu/  E-Resources/Article Databases-Find by Name  Search “Web of Knowledge” 
click on “General Search”
Type your species name in the “Topic” box
Or use http://scholar.google.com
Both Web of Science and Biological Abstracts have “FIND IT” buttons to direct you to the paper in the UW library
system. Some will be online and you can download the paper quickly. Others will be in journals and you’ll have to go to
a library to get them and photocopy them.