Wlf314 Wildlife Ecology I
Fall 2008
Assignment #7: Trophic cascades: wolves, coyotes and pronghorn
(20 pts)
Read the article: Indirect effects of trophic cascades: a test involving wolves, coyotes and
pronghorn (Murray Berger et al. 2008).
Type a 2-pg essay (double-spaced, 1-in margins) that summarizes the main points of the article.
What is a trophic cascade? What hypotheses were tested and what data supported the authors
conclusions? What are the broader implications for the concept of trophic cascades with
respect to wildlife conservation and management?
Write a clear, logically-organized essay. Think about topic sentences, grammar, etc. Also, be
sure to write in your own words – avoid quotes. Because you will be summarizing information
from the article, there is no need to continually reference it in the text of this essay, but you
should cite it at least once).
You also should include a references section that will include only this reference. Check out the
article for the correct way to cite an article in the text and the correct format (or a correct
format) for the references section (different journals have different specific styles, but the
general format is consistent).
Here are a few dos & don’ts based on the last essays that I graded:
1. When discussing a study that is published, use past tense (the study was conducted … the
authors demonstrated … the results indicated ….)
2. Use the correct pronouns to match the nouns – “they” or “their” for more a plural noun, and
“it” or “he” or “her” for a singular noun.
3. Best to be gender neutral – use “effects of humans” rather than “effects of man”.
4. “data” = plural, “datum” = singular
5. Do not use contractions (e.g., don’t, aren’t, can’t)
6. Write out numbers when there are at the start of a sentence.
Last essays had many nice topic sentences – keep up the good work!!