Lab

Lab Resources

Useful Information for First Write-up

Examples of useful papers:

Hint if you go to Google Scholar or the other library data bases and insert the following key terms you should fine some newer ones “seed size wind dispersal distance”

HERE is a copy of the “First Research Write-up Reminders” handout that I shared in lab.

A reminder about appropriate use of species names:

Names of species we may work with for First Write-up-note that they are in italics and that the Genus is capitalized but the species is NOT.

  • Acer saccharinum=silver maple-big ones
  • Acer ginnala =Amur maple-small ones
  • Acer saccharum=Sugar maple-ones with fat seeds at end-smaller than silver

Expectations for Figure Making:

When you stepped through and ran the code we shared in lab in the R (the Rmd file), you compared the Amur vs Silver subsets of data.

Since that is what the Rmd file instructions came with, you will not use those analyses for your write-up. Instead you may choose to compare either Amur Maple Samaras vs Sugar Maple Samaras OR Sugar Maple Samaras vs Silver Maple Samaras. So your research write up will focus on one or the other-not both!

You might remind yourself of all our variable names. Remember the Species column is basically a categorical variable (you wrote in there either Amur Maple, Silver Maple or Sugar Maple). If you look over the other column names, you will notice that they are continuous variables. In those columns you put a measurement (Distance, Time, Mass and then you calculated Loading and SeedPercent).

Given that you calculated Loading and SeedPercent you might remind yourself what these variables tell you? (What are the units for wing loading? Honestly, wing loading is a handy calculation because it does combine two of our variables)

Remember that there are two figure types you all made in R: boxplots (which demonstrate the spread of a single continuous variable against a categorical variable), and point plots or scatter plots (which compare two different continuous variables).

Specific expectations…

  • Your first graph will be a box plot of Distance comparing the two species you chose to compare.
  • Your second graph will be a point plot or scatter plot with trend lines. Choose any two continuous variables to compare in your two selected species. The data for both species should be on the same graph, just like we did for the Amur Maple and Silver Maple comparison (see about line 293). Remember, a scatter plot shows you the relationship between two continuous variables (think height and weight of people-if height goes up do you expect weight to also increase?).
  • Your third graph will also be a point plot or scatter plot with trend lines. Choose a separate set of continuous variables to compare and once again you will have both of your species on a single graph.

Remember: Look over later “chunks” in the Rmd file (highlighted in gray boxes) that show you how to change your labels to add units…I’m going to have you NOT INCLUDE A TITLE ABOVE YOUR GRAPH, because we will add really awesome Figure legends in lab next week!

Remember: We generally put the Independent variable on the x axis..in this case the independent variables are sort of the variables we “started with” or that were “given to us” by the samara. So these would be…Mass and Wing loading! The other variables are the variables we measured like Distance and Time. Since these will “depend” on the Independent variables they are referred to as Dependent variables.

Citation Reminders

Always, always proofread your citations!!!! The GIGO rule applies here (Garbage in, Garbage out). Sometimes citations are not imported correctly and so you will need to change them manually, especially scientific names. Those species names need to be in italics like this- Homo sapiens. Remember you can edit your citations in Zotero itself. To get scientific names in italics you need to correct the code so that it looks like this <i> Acer saccharinum <i>.

Also note that the title of a journal each word starts with a capital but in the title we use “sentence punctuation,” do you know what that means?

One author:

Last name, First initial. Second initial.  Date.  Title.  Journal title volume number:pages.

Example:  Gonzalez, J. A.  (1987).  The functional responses of adaptive consumers of two resources.  Theoretical Population Biology, 32(3), 262-288. DOI

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), pages. DOI

Two or more authors

Last name, First initial. Second initial., Last name, First initial. Second initial. & Last name, First initial. Second initial. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), pages. DOI

Example:  Hjalten, J., Danell, K, & Lundberg, P.  (2023).  Herbivore avoidance by association: vole and hare utilization of woody plants.  Oikos, 10(68), 125-131. DOI (I did not paste the DOI in here)

My Collection of Writing Resources! (Helpful? Not Helpful?)

(Do also pay attention during lab for when we outline specifics!)

  • StandardResearchWrite-upInstructions (Good old fashioned advice from a previous faculty member-the only thing here is maybe some comments about giving directions for methods. You will actually simply describe what you did. Do not write as if you are giving directions.)
  • Sarah Deel Writing a Scientific Paper (Detailed Instructions shared from another institution-that may or may not be across the river)
  • Trump 2016  (This is for when you need a bit of a break.)

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Useful Information for Second Write-up

Do consider reviewing some of the basic write-up expectations/suggestions posted above. Actually HERE is a copy of the “First Research Write-up Reminders.” This focuses on where students sometimes go wrong, rather than a strict set of instructions. Also consider reviewing the links just above under “My Collection of Writing Instructions.” There is also an abundance of instructions online-ask about any details you are not sure about!

A reminder about results… For this write-up please make 3-4 graphs of the type most appropriate for the data set you are using. Remember that there are two figure types you all made in R: boxplots (which demonstrate the spread of a single continuous variable against a categorical variable), and point plots or scatter plots (which compare two different continuous variables).

As we discussed in lab, consider writing your results “through” these graphs. You do not need to address any other results, just the results presented in your 3-4 graphs. Then also describe the patterns you see in your graphs (figures) in words, but this time also add stats results at end of any claims about “significant differences” and refer to your graphs (figures). Any questions about this structure?

Do you remember what goes in the Discussion? (we talked about it in lab).

For your figures (which many of us prefer pasted at the very end of your write up (since that is what you do when submitting to a journal for publication) remember that we generally do not have a title above-just add a figure legend below describing what is in your figure. (Fig. 1. A comparison between……..)

I suggest you have a total of 3-4 citations. Research papers should be easy to find-there is a lot out there as long as you choose your keywords strategically. Google Scholar can work well as can the links that Audrey provided through the library research resources (linked at the bottom of the page on this website where all the data links are). I have typed out examples of citation style above so do proofread your output!! The GIGO (garbage in garbage out) rule applies here. This citation format is APA and basically identical to “Ecology” style which is standard in Biology because it is one of the most simple and straight foward styles.

Here are some resources that related to antibiotic resistance to get your started (actually we read the first one in lab).

Here are some resources that related to selection for bristle number in Drosophila to get your started.

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Links for Population Genetics Simulation

Population Genetic simulation web site

Links for wolves handout

1. Go browse this article from 2014…https://www.science.org/content/article/us-park-service-nixes-immediate-genetic-rescue-isle-royale-wolves

How many wolves does this article say were left on Isle Royale in 2014?  Main take away message was…?

2. Now go browse this article from 2016….http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/extreme-inbreeding-likely-spells-doom-isle-royale-wolves

How many wolves were left at this point in time? Main take away message was?

3. Now go browse this article from Sept 2018…https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/inbred-isle-royale-wolves-get-company-rebooting-world-s-longest-running-ecological

Main take-away message was?

4. And this: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/02/06/isle-royale-wolf-mainland-bridge

5. And this: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/04/06/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-wild-minnesota-wolf

And finally…a bit of research from last summer….

Wolves reintroduced to Isle Royale temporarily affect other carnivores, humans have influence as well

Look up the latest on your own!

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END OF SEMESTER POSTER MAKING INFO

Here is the template you will use to make your poster-Google Drive Poster Template

  • Template is posted here! (Please make your own copy and save it elsewhere to work on with your group!!! Then be prepared to share it in a folder after saving it as a pdf!
  • (link coming)

Please follow the font size and length suggestions in the template!

DO check out this site that my grad school office mate (Colin) made regarding poster best practices!

https://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design/