TROPICAL BIOLOGY
Zoology/Plant Biology/Entomology 485
Fall 2013
Lecture: T & Th 10:20-11:40 pm
Location: 114 Berkey Hall
3 credits
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Catherine Lindell, Associate Professor, Zoology/Center for Global Change
and Earth Observations; Dr. Nate Swenson, Assistant Professor, Plant Biology
OFFICE: Dr. Lindell--203 Natural Science, 884-1241, lindellc@msu.edu. Dr. Swenson--262
Plant Biology, 355-3368, swensonn@msu.edu. If you have questions that require short answers,
feel free to use email. However, if you have a detailed question, please talk with us, either in
person or on the phone. We are happy to make appointments to talk with you if you are not
available after lecture or during office hours…Dr. Lindell--Thursdays 12-1 pm, Dr. Swenson-Mondays 1-2 pm.
TEACHING ASSISTANT: Kristen Nolting, noltingk@msu.edu. Kristen will hold office hours
from Tuesdays from 12-2 pm, or by appointment. Location for office hours pending.
COURSE WEB ADDRESS: http://www.msu.edu/course/zol/485/
We will try to put lecture outlines in this folder about a day before each lecture. We can't
promise this will always happen but it should most of the time. Please do not skip class because
the lecture outlines are on the web. The outlines include major points but not all the details we
go over in lecture. The best strategy is to print the outlines and come to class with them. In
addition, discussions of the readings are a major part of this class and your participation
influences your grade.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Tropical Ecology by J. Kricher and Breakfast of Biodiversity by J.
Vandermeer and I. Perfecto will be required texts. The books are available at the MSU
bookstore.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: We will investigate major themes in tropical biology and contrast
tropical and temperate ecosystems. We will also explore some of the social, economic, and
political influences on tropical ecosystems.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of the course students should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
define “the tropics” in a geographical sense;
identify climatic and biological characteristics of tropical ecosystems;
identify several major tropical ecosystem types;
contrast and compare tropical and temperate ecosystems;
identify several of the major drivers of latitudinal patterns of species richness;
describe a number of the important interspecific interactions in tropical ecosystems;
7. describe several of the ways in which tropical biologists try to answer scientific questions,
and develop methods for trying to answer particular questions;
8. explain how social, political, and economic factors influence land-cover change and, thus
ecosystems in the tropics;
9. read and evaluate a scientific research paper;
10. make meaningful contributions to discussions of scientific papers;
11. find references through electronic databases available through the MSU library web site;
12. make an oral presentation and write a paper on a focused question in the field of tropical
biology;
13. write a book review;
14. write an op-ed piece about an environmental topic.
COMPUTATION OF GRADES
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Oral presentation based on Research Paper
Research Paper (5 pages plus references)
Book review (1000 words)
Op-Ed (500 words)
Homework assignments, 4-each worth 15
points
Class participation and attendance
Blog responses to Op-Eds, 3-each worth 4
points
Tropical thanksgiving poster
Species richness lab
Total
50
100
50
100
50
50
60
80
12
20
10
582
Grading scale
90% and up 4.0
85-89%--3.5
80-84%--3.0
75-79%--2.5
70-74%--2.0
65-69%--1.5
60-64%--1.0
EXAMS
Exam dates are indicated in the course schedule. Exams will have short answer and essay
questions. The exams will cover material presented in lecture and material from the readings.
The final exam will include material from the entire course. Your grade will be assigned based
on your point total for the whole course and the distribution of grades of the whole class.
MAKE-UP EXAMS will be allowed only in the case of medical necessity (doctor’s note
required) or other emergency to be discussed with the instructor in advance if possible.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS will automatically lose 25% of the points available for that assignment
and must be turned in the next class. For example, a book review that is worth 50 points would
only be worth a maximum of 38.5 points if the assignment is turned in one day late.
Assignments not completed by one class after the deadline will not be accepted and you will
receive no points.
ASSIGNMENTS are marked in the syllabus. Detailed instructions for each assignment are on
the course website. You must send Kristen a copy of the homework, book review, op-ed, and
tropical Thanksgiving poster before 10 am on the day of class. Please send the oral presentations
and papers to either Dr. Swenson or Dr. Lindell, whoever has overseen your paper. The subject
of emails with attached assignments should be “ZOL485_your last name_assignment name
(like homework assignment 1)”. After the first assignment, points will be deducted if you
do not use this subject heading.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS will receive 15, 14, 12, 10, 8, 5, or 1 point. See sheet in
course folder. Please also bring a copy of the homework (or notes) and paper to class to help you
discuss the assigned papers.
ATTENDANCE will be taken every day.
DISCUSSIONS
A significant portion of the course is discussion of scientific papers. To be prepared for these
discussions you should have completed the homework and brought a copy of it to class.
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have
emergency medical information to share with us, or if you need special arrangements in case the
building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with Dr. Lindell or Dr. Swenson as
soon as possible.
RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
If there is a conflict between your observance of a religious holiday and a class requirement,
please let us know at least one week ahead of time.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
Please see the following website for MSU regulations, ordinances, and policies regarding
academic honesty and integrity: https://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/RegsOrdsPolicies.html. If we
discover that any work you produce for this class violates the policies on this website you will
receive no points for that component of the course.
CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR
Please be considerate of other students and the professor during class. Please do not eat, read the
newspaper, check email, make phone calls, or carry on conversations unrelated to class. Also,
please do not start to pack up your materials before we have dismissed the class.
EMAIL ETIQUETTE
If you e-mail Dr. Swenson or Dr. Lindell, please start your e-mail by addressing us as Dr. Lindell
or Professor Lindell, for example, rather than launching into your message with no greeting.
This is a good policy to follow in any e-mail correspondence with professors or supervisors.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
You should complete the reading by the date indicated below.
EXTRA HAND-OUTS from lecture will be available from Kristen.
HONORS OPTION—Students interested in an honors option will write an expanded paper.
You must meet with us during the first two weeks of class if you are interested in this option.
COURSE EVALUATION
Michigan State University takes seriously the opinion of students in the evaluation of the
effectiveness of instruction, and has implemented the SIRS (Student Instructional
Rating System) process to gather student feedback. The Zoology Department utilizes the “online
SIRS” system, and you will receive an e-mail sometime during the last two weeks of class asking
you to fill out the SIRS web form at your convenience. Please note that the final grade for this
course will not be accessible on STUINFO during the week following the submission of grades
for the course unless the SIRS online form has been filled out. You also have the option on the
online SIRS form to decline to participate in the evaluation of the course – we hope, however,
that you will be willing to give us your frank and constructive feedback so that we may instruct
students even better in the future.
LECTURE SCHEDULE, READING AND OTHER ASSIGNMENTS --THIS SCHEDULE
IS TENTATIVE BUT WE WILL LET YOU KNOW OF ANY CHANGES IN ADVANCE
OF THE DATE.
Links to the references for the homework assignments are below the lecture schedule.
Alternatively, you can go to the MSU library website and find the journal under “Electronic
resources” and then find the appropriate volume and page numbers. We do all this because it
violates copyright laws if we simply send you pdf files of the papers.
Dates
Aug. 29
Sept. 3
Sept. 5
Sept. 10
Topic
What are the tropics?
Climate, pre-course quiz
Historical forces
Global species diversity
patterns with class
exercise
Video—Andes: The
dragon’s back
Global species diversity
patterns
Discussion of homework
Leader
Reading, Assignment
Lindell
Lindell
Text pp 1-34
Text pp 38-71
Lindell
Lindell
Poulsen 2002 Homework #1
Sept. 12
Sept. 17
Sept. 19
Sept. 24
Sept. 26
Oct. 1
Oct. 3
Oct. 8
Oct. 10
Oct. 15
Oct. 17
Oct 22
Oct. 24
Oct. 29
Oct. 31
Nov. 5
Nov. 7
Nov. 12
Nov. 14
Nov. 19
Nov. 21
paper
Global species diversity
patterns
Discussion of research
paper assignment
Lindell
Species diversity and
ecosystem function
Discussion of homework
paper
Discuss plagiarism
Lindell
Species richness
estimation lab
Lindell
Nolting and
Plant-insect interactions Lindell
Agroecosystems,
Indigenous groups,
Discussion of book
Lindell
Species interactions and
species coexistence
Swenson
Midterm exam
Species diversity and
ecosystem function
Swenson
Tropical plant structure
and function
Swenson
Old World Tropics,
Savannas
Discussion of homework
paper
Swenson
Human dimensions of
tropical biology
Urquhart
Tropical birds
Lindell
Lindell and
Student presentations
Swenson
Lindell and
Student presentations
Swenson
Restoration Ecology
Lindell
Discussion of homework Lindell and
paper
Swenson
Student presentations
Swenson
Swenson and
Student presentations
Lindell
Tour of green house
Carbon storage and flux
in tropical forest
ecosystems
Swenson
Forest fragmentation
Swenson
Text pp 71-78
Erskine et al. 2006 Homework #2
Meet in 222 South Kedzie
Breakfast of Biodiversity, Book
review
Chapter 7
Text pp 79-108
Sankaran et al. 2005 Homework #3
Text pp 469-499
Text pp 132-153
Bianconi et al. 2007 Homework #4
Op-Ed
Blog responses to Op-Eds
Nov. 26
Dec. 3
Dec. 5
Dec. 12
Tropical thanksgiving
Changing tropical
environments
Conservation and the
future
Post-course quiz
Swenson and
Lindell
Tropical thanksgiving food and
paper
Lindell
Text pp 500-529
Lindell
Final exam
7:45-9:45 a.m.,
Room 137 IM
Circle
Text pp 530-565
PAPERS FOR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
Homework #1--Poulsen, B. O. 2002. A comparison of bird richness, abundance and trophic
organization in forests of Ecuador and Denmark: are high-altitude Andean forests temperate or
tropical? Journal of Tropical Ecology 18:615-636.
*Link to article: http://ezproxy.msu.edu:2047/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3068786
Homework #2--Erskine, P.D., D. Lamb, and M. Bristow. 2006. Tree species diversity and
ecosystem function: can tropical multi-species plantations generate greater productivity? Forest
Ecology and Management 233:205-210.
*Link to article:
http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6X4K717SD2&_user=1111158&_coverDate=09%2F15%2F2006&_rdoc=4&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_or
igin=browse&_zone=rslt_list_item&_srch=docinfo(%23toc%235042%232006%23997669997%23633677%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_
cdi=5042&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=23&_acct=C000051676&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_
userid=1111158&md5=f2d398847704575554704a23aa2e2309&searchtype=a
Homework #3--Sankaran, M. et al. 2005. Determinants of woody cover in African savannas.
Nature 438:846-49.
*Link to article: http://ezproxy.msu.edu:2047/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature04070
Homework #4--Bianconi, G. V., S. B. Mikich, S. D. Teireira, and B. H. L. N. S. Maia. 2007.
Attraction of fruit-eating bats with essential oils of fruits: a potential tool for forest restoration.
Biotropica 39:136-140.
*Link to article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/doi/10.1111/j.17447429.2006.00236.x/full
OTHER READING THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
The last forest: the Amazon in the age of globalization. 2007. Mark London and Brian Kelly.
The last hunger season: a year in an African farm community on the brink of change. 2012.
Roger Thurow.
Foundations of Tropical Forest Biology. 2002. Robin L. Chazdon and T.C. Whitmore