Introduction

Page 1

BIO 2129 - Ecology

Lab schedule - Fall 2017
(Lab sections A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7 and A8 meet on the 3rd floor of the Biosciences
Complex in BSC 335. Labs begin at 8:30 am unless indicated by an asterisk (*).
Schedule for Sections A1, A2, A3 and A4
Date Room Section Lab #
Tues., Sept. 12 BSC335 A1 1 - Introduction
Wed., Sept. 13 BSC335 A2 to field work
Thurs., Sept.14 BSC335 A3 **(8:30 am)**
Fri., Sept. 15 BSC335 A4

Tues., Sept. 19 BSC335 A1 *2 - Old Chelsea

Wed., Sept. 20 BSC335 A2 stream ecology
Thurs., Sept.21 BSC335 A3 Field Trip
Fri., Sept. 22 BSC335 A4 **(7:45 am)**
Tues., Sept. 26 BSC335 A1 3 - Analysis of
Wed., Sept. 27 BSC335 A2 stream
Thurs., Sept. 28 BSC335 A3 data
Fri., Sept. 29 BSC335 A4

Tues., Oct. 3 BSC335 A1 *4 - Old field

Wed., Oct. 4 BSC335 A2 succession
Thurs., Oct. 5 BSC335 A3 field trip
Fri., Oct. 6 BSC335 A4 **(7:45 am)**

Tues., Oct. 10 BSC335 A1 5 - Analysis of

Wed., Oct. 11 BSC335 A2 old field
Thurs., Oct. 12 BSC335 A3 data
Fri., Oct. 13 BSC335 A4

Tues., Oct. 17 BSC335 A1

Wed., Oct. 18 BSC335 A2 No labs
Thurs., Oct. 19 BSC335 A3
Fri., Oct. 20 BSC335 A4
**Attention: No labs will occur during the week of October 24 to 27, 2017! **

Tues., Oct. 31 BSC335 A1 6 - Start algal bloom

Wed., Nov. 1 BSC335 A2 experiment
Thurs., Nov. 2 BSC335 A3
Fri., Nov. 3 BSC335 A4

Tues., Nov. 7 BSC335 A1

Wed., Nov. 8 BSC335 A2 No labs
Thurs., Nov. 9 BSC335 A3
Fri., Nov. 10 BSC335 A4

Tues., Nov. 14 BSC335 A1 7 - Finish algal bloom

Wed., Nov. 15 BSC335 A2 experiment (last lab)
Thurs., Nov. 16 BSC335 A3
Fri., Nov. 17 BSC335 A4
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****Lab section A8 is not open in the Fall 2017 semester****

Schedule for Sections A5, A6, A7 and A8
Date Room Section Lab #
Tues., Sept. 12 BSC335 A5 *1 - Introduction
Wed., Sept. 13 BSC335 A6 to field work
Thurs., Sept.14 BSC335 A7 **(10:00 am)**
Fri., Sept. 15 BSC335 A8

Tues., Sept. 19 BSC335 A5

Wed., Sept. 20 BSC335 A6 No labs
Thurs., Sept. 21 BSC335 A7
Fri., Sept. 22 BSC335 A8

Tues., Sept. 26 BSC335 A5 *2 - Old Chelsea

Wed., Sept. 27 BSC335 A6 stream ecology
Thurs., Sept. 28 BSC335 A7 Field Trip
Fri., Sept. 29 BSC335 A8 **(7:45 am)**

Tues., Oct. 3 BSC335 A5 3 - Analysis of

Wed., Oct. 4 BSC335 A6 stream
Thurs., Oct. 5 BSC335 A7 data
Fri., Oct. 6 BSC335 A8

Tues., Oct. 10 BSC335 A5 *4 - Old field

Wed., Oct. 11 BSC335 A6 succession
Thurs., Oct. 12 BSC335 A7 field trip
Fri., Oct. 13 BSC335 A8 **(7:45 am)**

Tues., Oct. 17 BSC335 A5 5 - Analysis of

Wed., Oct. 18 BSC335 A6 old field
Thurs., Oct. 29 BSC335 A7 data
Fri., Oct. 20 BSC335 A8
**Attention: No labs will occur during the week of October 24 to 27, 2017! **

Tues., Oct. 31 BSC335 A5

Wed., Nov. 1 BSC335 A6 No labs
Thurs., Nov. 2 BSC335 A7
Fri., Nov. 3 BSC335 A8

Tues., Nov. 7 BSC335 A5 6 - Start algal bloom

Wed., Nov. 8 BSC335 A6 experiment
Thurs., Nov. 9 BSC335 A7
Fri., Nov. 10 BSC335 A8

Tues., Nov. 14 BSC335 A5

Wed., Nov. 15 BSC335 A6 No labs
Thurs., Nov. 16 BSC335 A7
Fri., Nov. 17 BSC335 A8

Tues., Nov. 21 BSC335 A5 7 - Finish algal bloom

Wed., Nov. 22 BSC335 A6 experiment (last lab)
Thurs., Nov. 23 BSC335 A7
Fri., Nov. 24 BSC335 A8

There is no final lab exam in BIO2129!

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Name:______________________________ Student number: ______________

Computer number: __________________ Locker number: _______________

Demonstrator(s): _____________________________ Lab/Office number: ____________

Office hours: ________________________

Laboratory Coordinator: Dr. Peter Heinermann, Biosciences Complex, BSC 105

562-5800 ext. 6352, email: pheiner@uottawa.ca
Office Hours: To be announced
Introduction
General Objectives
The laboratory component of Bio 2129 aims to:

1) develop the ability of students to effectively analyse and interpret ecological data and
communicate their results in the form of scientific reports and articles,
2) allow students to carry out the scientific method in ecology,
3) allow students to test ecological hypotheses using field and lab experiments,
4) familiarize students with aquatic and terrestrial ecology sampling methods,
5) reinforce and complement the material presented in the lecture portion, as well as
6) familiarize students with general laboratory skills and safety procedures.

Required Text
Currie, D., Findlay, C.S., Heinermann, P.H. and Kerr, J. 2017. Bio 2129 Ecology Lab Manual.
Recommended Text
Krohne, D. T. 2017. Ecology: Evolution, Application, Integration. 2nd Edition, Oxford University
Press Canada, Don Mills, Ontario.

BIOLABo
Consult the BIOLABo web site (http://salinella.bio.uottawa.ca/biolabo/) for useful information
on microscopy, biological drawings, photography, lab techniques and graphing.

Virtual Campus (D2L Brightspace login)

Check out the BIO 2129 lab web site for useful documents and information pertaining to the lab
portion of the course, log in at http://tlss.uottawa.ca/site/connection-to-the-lms .

Supplies
You should bring to EACH lab session: lab outline combination lock
pen, a permanent marker lined notebook paper
small stapler small clear plastic ruler
masking tape pencils (HB or +), eraser
*** (Lab coats and safety glasses are obligatory for labs 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7.) ***
You must bring to each field trip: rain gear clipboard, plastic bag
pencils, eraser change of clothing, towel
lab outline, paper forceps, eye dropper
proper footwear camera/cell phone (optional)
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Laboratory Sessions
You must read the appropriate exercise in the laboratory manual before your lab session. The
corresponding sections in the course textbooks and lecture notes may also be helpful.

Labs normally begin at 8:30 AM sharp on Tuesdays through Fridays. **For labs 2 and 4
(field trips) please arrive at BSC335 by 7:45 AM sharp. As the lab usually begins
with a quiz or lab talk introducing the day's work, it is necessary to be there on time. Students
arriving late (i.e. after 8:30 am for labs 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7) will not be allowed to enter until the
lab quiz is completed. Late students will receive a zero for the quiz. Labs finish at 11:20 and
we must be out of the lab by that time.

Laboratory Rules
Due to safety regulations (Fire Marshal's orders) and space limitations, no outerwear, briefcases,
gym bags, etc. will be allowed in the labs. You will be provided a locker in the corridor outside
your lab room. You may lock your locker only for the duration of the lab. Locks left on your
locker beyond your normal lab period will be removed.

The Seven Commandments

1. Safety glasses or goggles must be brought to each laboratory period in the Biosciences
Complex and worn during any potentially hazardous procedures.
2. Lab coats are obligatory and must be worn at all times in the laboratory. You will not
be allowed to enter the lab rooms for labs 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 without your lab
coat and your safety goggles! Both these items may be purchased in Marion Hall,
Room 308.
3. No smoking, eating or drinking in the lab rooms.
4. No rowdiness. We work with expensive and sometimes dangerous equipment, as well as
poisonous substances.
5. Discussion is encouraged, but general noise is disruptive.
6. Cleanliness. You must keep your own equipment and notes in order. Clean up your
equipment and your bench at the end of each lab.
7. You will be assigned a computer to use for the entire semester. If you detect a problem with
it, inform your demonstrator immediately so it may be repaired.

Safety Instructions
What should you do if:

1. You break some glassware (beakers, pipettes, etc.) or a thermometer.

Notify your demonstrator, who will place the broken glassware in the broken glass container. If
a mercury thermometer is broken, a technician (trained in hazardous waste cleanup) will come
and deal with the situation.

2. You cut yourself or have any other medical problem.

Notify your demonstrator, who will use the contents of a small First Aid Kit located in the
labeled drawer in BSC 335 to deal with your problem (a more complete First Aid Kit is available
in BSC 331 and BSC 141). Emergency telephones at the front of each lab room are available for
medical emergencies (5411). In addition, in the hallway outside each lab room, you will find an
emergency eyewash station, safety shower and a red button on the wall that will trigger an alarm
to campus security.
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3. Your clothes catch fire while in the lab.

Notify your demonstrator, who will bring you to the safety shower located in the hallway outside
each room to extinguish the flames. Fire extinguishers located in each lab room beside the
doors, may also be used for this purpose.

4. You hear the fire alarm.

Do not panic. You should leave your lab, in an orderly manner to the primary fire exit for your
room. The primary and secondary fire exits for labs on the 3rd floor of the Biosciences centre are
indicated on the evacuation plan posted on the corridor wall and are as follows:
Lab Primary Fire Exit Secondary Fire Exit
BSC 312 Stairwell A Stairwell B
BSC 330 Stairwell A Stairwell B
BSC 310 Stairwell B Stairwell A
BSC 335 Stairwell B Stairwell A
BSC 302 Stairwell B Stairwell A

Dr. Heinermann will also announce the primary and secondary fire exits for your room. If the
primary exit is not available, proceed to the secondary fire exit. Once you have descended to the
main floor, exit the building, moving about 30 meters away from the door and await further
instructions.

5. You accidentally spray some toxic liquid into your eyes.

Notify your demonstrator, who will bring you to one of the two emergency eye wash stations
located at the back of your lab room. Pull down on the water pipe and rinse your eyes in the two
water fountains for at least fifteen minutes. An additional emergency eye wash station is found in
the corridor. Thereafter, your demonstrator will take you to Health Services.

Evaluation
Reports, Plagiarism and Lab Skills
Reports will consist of tables, graphs, statistical analyses, interpretations and/or answers to
questions. These will be due one week after the beginning of your analysis lab. One experiment
will be written as a formal lab report.

Reports must: be printed on 8.5 x 11 inch white paper (double spaced, 12 point), begin
with a title page (see page 12), be stapled in the top left hand corner and NOT be placed in a
binder or other plastic cover.
***** Only computer-generated graphs are acceptable.*****

The work must be your own and not a copy of someone else's. If you are unable to attend the lab
because of illness or serious personal reasons (accompanied by appropriate certificates or written
documentation), you may with Dr. Heinermann’s permission, obtain data or results from
someone else in your lab. You must however clearly indicate the name of that person in your
report.
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****Even though you may share lab results with your lab partner or collaborate with other
students, your lab report must be written individually.****

Plagiarism from books, friends' work, etc., is considered to be academic fraud

and will be dealt with severely
(http://web5.uottawa.ca/mcs-smc/academicintegrity/home.php ). Also see Academic
Regulation 14.2 – Academic fraud
https://www.uottawa.ca/administration-and-governance/sites/www.uottawa.ca.administration-
and-governance/files/web_reglements_modifies_en20-01-2016_rev.pdf ,
http://web5.uottawa.ca/mcs-smc/academicintegrity/tools.php ,
https://www.uottawa.ca/about/sites/www.uottawa.ca.about/files/plagiarism.pdf
and http://sass.uottawa.ca/en/writing/plagiarism
for what is acceptable and how to avoid plagiarism.

Late reports will be penalised at the rate of 10% per day for a maximum of two days, after
which a zero will be given (Saturday and Sunday count as one day). See example below.

Example: Assigned mark=12, Total mark=20, 2 days late

Final mark = (assigned mark)-(# of days late X 0.1 X total mark)

Total mark
 
=  12  2  0.1 20 
 20 
Final mark = 8/20

The laboratory skills mark is assigned by your demonstrator based on the following criteria: Do
you attend and stay for the duration of all laboratory sessions? Do you come prepared and
organized to each laboratory session? Do you work well with a partner? Have you mastered the
experimental procedures, specimen handling and specialised equipment usage? Do you follow
appropriate safety procedures?

Quizzes
Short prelab quizzes will be given this term. These will test your preparation for the lab being
done that day.

Lab Evaluation
Prelab quizzes 5%
Lab skills evaluation 10%
Lab 4 report 20%
Formal lab report (Lab 5) 50%
Lab 6 worksheet 5%
Lab 6 report 10%
100%
Overall Evaluation
Laboratory portion 25%
Lecture portion 75%
100%
No supplemental exam is offered for the laboratory portion of Bio 2129.
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Extra Study
Your demonstrators will tell you where and when they will be available to you for extra help.
Please do not disturb them outside of these hours, as they have classes of their own to prepare.

Watch the bulletin board outside the Document Drop-off room in the Bioscience Complex for
interesting articles and announcements. Email me or bring in any interesting articles you find. I
will make a copy to post and give back your original.

Absence
If you are sick and cannot attend your lab, you must provide Dr. Heinermann with a medical
certificate for the date you missed within five working days of your absence. Otherwise it
will be considered an unjustified absence. If you miss the lab because of a serious personal
reason, you must provide Dr. Heinermann with a letter explaining your absence, written by
someone involved but not yourself (again within five working days). Ask Dr. Heinermann for
permission to do the lab during another lab section. When it is not possible to make up the
lab later, if you have a doctor's certificate, you will not be penalized for the absence. Without
it, you will be a given a zero for any report originating from the missed lab.

Please be aware of the academic regulations concerning absences from final examinations,
other tests and assignments submitted late, as described in Academic Regulation 9.5 at
http://www.uottawa.ca/about/academic-regulation-9-evaluation-of-student-learning and
on pages 15-16 of the 2003-2005 Faculty of Science Undergraduate Calendar
(http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/info/regist/crs/0305/scienEN/SCIEN_6.htm ). It is the
policy of the Department of Biology that these regulations will be enforced.

I hope you will enjoy this term. Dr. Peter Heinermann

Guide to writing a formal lab report

It is important for all students to learn how to present experimental data in an acceptable way - to
organise and intelligently discuss experimental results. Before writing such a report, you should
look at a scientific article within the journal “Ecological Applications”
http://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/issue/10.1002/eap.2017.27.issue-1/, to see how the
articles are organised. The following outline shows the usual format of a scientific article and the
one you should use for your formal lab reports. Ask your demonstrators to show you an
example of a scientific article.

General Format
The report should be printed on 8.5 X 11 inch white paper (double-spaced, 12 point). A title
page should begin the report (see example on page 11).*****No plastic cover/Duo-tang
/binder, etc. should be included. Simply staple the top left hand corner of your pages and
hand them in****.

Title
Do not repeat the lab manual title. Please put together a more meaningful and specific title using
your own words. For example, "Effects of sulfate and sulfide on the life cycle of Zizania palustris
in hydroponic and mesocosm experiments". A good title should reflect the report's content and be
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usually less than fifteen words in length. It should be clear and use keywords that experts in the
field would recognise. Include the particular independent and dependent variables studied. What
organisms or community of organisms were involved? Where did the study take place?

Abstract
The primary purpose of the abstract is to provide enough information so that the reader can decide
whether it is worth reading the entire report. A good abstract is a concise summary between 100-
150 words. It states the purpose or objective of the study (usually one sentence), the methodology
(one sentence), significant results found (one to two sentences) and the major conclusions of the
work (one to two sentences). Consult a few scientific articles for examples of good abstracts. Only
write the abstract after having completed all other parts of your report.

Introduction
This section will define what the report is about. It should answer several questions:

1. Why was this study done?

2. What do we already know about this subject?
3. What is the purpose or objective of this work?
4. What are the hypotheses and predictions of this study?

One should be careful to limit the background information provided to that, which is specifically
relevant to the study. In addition, key terms or concepts should be defined. With regard to the
purpose, specific hypotheses and a very brief overview of the experimental design should be
stated. The maximum length for this section is one page.

Materials and Methods

Please do not recopy the lab manual. If the procedure has been carried out verbatim, state the
name of the method and on which page it may be found in the manual. If changes to the method
have been made, you should still cite the specific lab manual page but in addition, the
modifications should be written out in full. Therefore, your methods section should include the
name of the particular procedure, its corresponding page number and specific changes to the
protocol or materials used. If this section is well written, another researcher should be able, in
conjunction with your lab manual, to repeat your experiment without any difficulty.

Results
Experimental data should be summarised and presented without any interpretation or discussion
of their implications. The results section should begin with a written portion, leading the reader
through the trends (briefly without interpretation) seen in each of the tables and graphs. Following
this text, you should place the figures (graphs, photographs, line drawings) and tables. These items
must be numbered sequentially (Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1, etc.), have a meaningful caption and
if needed, a symbol key (identifying symbols and/or abbreviations), so there is no doubt as to what
is being presented. A figure, table or graph should be a complete unit, such that all information
needed for its interpretation should be provided. Data included in a table should not be duplicated
in a graph. Raw data should not be found in this section. They should be included in an appendix.

Discussion
This section should be a clear interpretation of the results. What do they mean and why are they
important? How do the data compare to the stated hypothesis (were they expected)? How do they
relate to those in the literature? You should also include sources of error and any suggestions for
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revising the experiment (a critical assessment). The last few sentences should be concluding
statements and form the specific overall conclusion(s) resulting from the experiment. Maximum
length of this section is four pages.

References
Ideas, approaches and conclusions that are not your own must be cited in the body of your
text.

Citing references within the body of your text

Do not use footnotes! Please use the author's last name and the date. For example, Henke (1991)
predicted an earthquake in the San Andreas Fault for the year 2000 or an earthquake is predicted
... for the year 2000 (Henke 1991).

When references have two authors, both authors must be indicated, e.g. (Henke and Morris 1990).

If there are three or more authors, et al. (Latin for "and others") is used. For example, if Henke,
Morris and Winfield authored a paper in 1990, they would be properly cited as Henke et al. (1990).
Please note that these short forms are only used within the body of the text and not in the list
of references!

A list of references cited must be included at the end of the report in alphabetic order using
the last name of the authors. The format to be used is found below.

Format for your list of cited references

For articles:
Author. Date. Title of article. Journal Name Volume: Page numbers.

Rosensweig, R.E. and Nakatsuka, K. 1991. How to build an ark. Carpentry Digest 49:23-45

Paul, J.R., Pauling, L. and Nash, S. 2002. How to build a canoe. Carpentry Digest 62:15-31

For books:
Author. Date. Title of book. Page numbers. Publisher, Place of Publication

Ironman, P.E. 1985. Ferrohydrodynamics. pp.234-245. Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge

For chapters in books where the book is edited by another author

Keel, W.C. 1987. The big bang. In Starbursts and Galaxy Evolution. Eds. Thuan, T., Montmerle,
T. and Tran Thanh Van, J. pp. 307-312. Éditions Frontières, Paris

Citing information from electronic documents

The following summary of citation elements needed when citing electronic documents in your list
of references is adapted from the International Organization for Standardization (Report ISO 690-
2), the Citation Style Guides for Internet and Electronic Sources and the National Library of
Medicine Recommended Formats for Bibliographic Citation. Supplement: Internet Formats. You
may consult http://guides.library.ualberta.ca/citing and then click on “CSE Citation Style
QuickGuide”, http://biblio.uottawa.ca/en/research-help/biblioexpert/citation-styles or
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7277/ for further information.
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Whenever you cite electronic references, there are two basic principles to follow. First, provide
as much information as possible for the authorship and the availability of the sources. Second,
whenever there is no specific guideline for a particular electronic source, try to use a comparable
print source style.

For each electronic document in your reference list provide as many of the following citation
elements as possible.

Citation Element:
Primary responsibility (author or association) [Required]
Title [Required]
Type of medium (e.g. online, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, and disk) [Required]
Edition [Required]
Place of publication [Required]
Publisher [Required]
Date of publication [Required]
Date of update/revision [Required]
Date of citation (e.g. cited 3 September 1997) [Required for online documents]
Availability and access (e.g. Available from Internet: <URL:) [Required for online
documents]
Notes (physical description; accompanying material; system requirements; frequency of
publication; language; other notes)
Standard number (e.g. ISSN; ISBN) [Required if assigned]

SOME EXAMPLES
Carrol, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [online]. Texinfo ed.2.1. [Dortmund, Germany]:
WindSpiel, November 1994 [cited 10 February 1995]. Available from World Wide Web:
<http://www.germany.eu.net/books/carroll/alice.html>. Also available in PostScript and
ASCII versions from Internet: <ftp://ftp.Germany.EU.net/pub/books/carroll/>.

Meeting Agenda [online]. Gif-sur-Yvette (France): Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires, Saclay Service de
Documentation, March 1991- [cited 30 September 1992]. Updated bimonthly. ASCII
format. Available from QUESTEL.

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology [online]. 3rd edition. New York: John Wiley,
1984 [cited 3 January 1990]. Available from: DIALOG Information Services, Palo Alto
(Calif.).

Schrader, Alvin. 1999. "Internet Censorship: Issues for Teacher-Librarian." Teacher Librarian
26(5): 8-12. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/89556 (abstract accessed June 27, 2017).

Appendix
Only your personal raw data pertaining to the experiments should be included in the appendix. If
you have repetitive calculations, one completely worked out example of each of the different
calculations should also be found here.
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Fields of View – Olympus CX41 Compound Microscope

Objective Visual field of view Camera field of view
(width in mm) (width in mm)
4X 5.0 1.75
10X 2.0 0.70
40X 0.5 0.175
100X 0.2 0.070

Fields of View – Olympus SZ61TR Dissecting Microscope

Zoom Setting Visual field of view Camera field of view
(width in mm) (width in mm)
0.67X 32.8 21.2
0.8X 27.5 17.5
1X 22.0 14.0
2X 11.0 7.00
4X 5.50 3.50
4.5X 4.89 3.10

Introecole17.docx
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An example of a typical lab report title page

The effects of slope, percent bare rock, soil temperature and relative soil
moisture upon the growth, distribution and abundance of tree species at King
Mountain, Quebec.

By John P. Smith

Student no.: 1762847

Bio2129 Section A1

Demonstrators:
Tony Henry and
Cynthia Wyandot

September 25, 2017

Department of Biology

University of Ottawa