Discussion Assignment Instructions 

Discussion assignments will be in lieu of discussion sections  
  • We will be updating your assignment prompts in each of these folders every Monday at the latest
  • Assignments are due to Sakai the following Monday, a week from when it was assigned
  • For each assignment (4 left), you have the option to EITHER:
    • Read an article and respond to a couple questions
    • Do an outdoor/ecological observational activity and respond to a couple questions
  • Each week, the questions and direct assignments will be different and will correspond to topics in your SimUText readings
  • Point breakdowns for the assignments are in the updated syllabus
  • Copy and paste your assignments DIRECTLY INTO THE TEXT BOX rather than attaching a document
  • Make the first line of your submission either ARTICLE or OBSERVATION so we know what track you chose
  • We are NO LONGER meeting during our assigned discussion sections 
Discussion Assignment for Week of 3/23
​The due date for the assignment is Monday (3/30) 
Please do one of the following:
1) ARTICLE: Summarize in tweet format (120 characters) the most informative and useful article they have read on COVID-19 in the last two weeks
  • Please include a link to the article at the bottom of your submission text box
2) OBSERVATION: Describe your home ecosystem in a series of no more than 3 tweet length statements each with an image answering:
  • what is the climate?
  • what is the dominant vegetation?
  • Then, spend 30 minutes outside and make note / take a picture / make a sketch of one interesting observation you make about the natural world
    • **here natural world means living things interacting with one another or their environment, regardless of how 'wild' or 'managed' that environment may be
Discussion Assignment for Week of 3/30
Please type (or copy and paste) your response to this week's discussion section indirectly into the response box. (Only upload/attach your figure, if you made one.) Title the first line of your submission as ARTICLE or OBSERVATION so we know which track you chose.
Assignment is due by 11:59 pm on 4/6 - if you are unable to make this deadline, please let the TAs know.
Please read EITHER an article or complete an observation.
  1. ARTICLE: Read this article that was cited in the Community Ecology SimUtext reading (section 2): Forensic Entomology in Criminal Investigations. In a four sentence newspaper article summary OR in a conceptual cartoon, explain how community ecology can inform forensic investigations.
  2. OBSERVATION: Walk around an ecosystem near you for 30 minutes. In a six sentence newspaper article summary OR in a conceptual cartoon, address:
    1. What is a recent disturbance that this ecosystem has experienced?
    2. What does the plant community look like now?
    3. How does this plant community compare to what it looked like before the disturbance or in a nearby area that was not distrubed?
    4. How do you think this plant community will change in 1 year? 10 years?
Discussion Assignment for Week of 4/6
Please type (or copy and paste) your response to this week's discussion section indirectly into the response box. (Only upload/attach your figure, if you made one.)  Title the first line of your submission as ARTICLE or OBSERVATION so we know which track you chose. The assignment is due by 11:59 pm on 4/13 - if you are unable to make this deadline, please let the TAs know. Please read EITHER an article or complete an observation.
  1. ARTICLE: Read one of the following articles cited by/inspired from your SimUText readings on Ecosystem Ecology
    1. Ecosystem Ecology: Linking the brown and the green: Nutrient transformation and fake in the Sarracenia (pitcher plant) microsystem
    2. Primary Productivity: Whole-lake fertilization effects on distribution of primary production between benthic and pelagic habitats
    3. Secondary Productivity: Food-web dynamics in a large river discontinuum
EITHER: (a) pick a figure in the paper and explain the results in a tweet (280 total characters) OR (b) summarize the findings of the paper in a four-sentence newspaper summary
  1. OBSERVATION: Return to the ecosystem near you for 30 minutes. Observe the organisms that exist and their interactions and complete the following:
    1. First take note of what organisms/ abiotic componets make up ecosystem. Take note of where you set your ecosystem boundaries (e.g. the front yard or a single pitcher plant).
    2. Think about how you would arrange these organisms in a food web. From this, draw a draft Senkey diagram of your ecosystem.
    3. Submit your Senkey diagram as an attachment (a photo of your drawing is fine) along with a brief one or two sentence summary of your ecosystem boundary and Sankey diagram.   
Discussion Assignment for Week of 4/13
Please type (or copy and paste) your response to this week's discussion section indirectly into the response box. (Only upload/attach your figure, if you made one.)  Title the first line of your submission as ARTICLE, OBSERVATION or DATA so we know which track you chose. The assignment is due by 11:59 pm on 4/20 - if you are unable to make this deadline, please let the TAs know. Please do EITHER an article, an observation, OR look at data.
​
  1. ARTICLE: Read one of the following articles cited by/inspired from your SimUText readings on Ecosystem Ecology
    1. Energy and nutrients and the history of life:  The energy expansions of evolution
    2. Nutrient cycling:  Beyond carbon and nitrogen: how the microbial energy economy couples elemental cycles in diverse ecosystems
    3. Urban/suburban landscapes:  Contrasting nitrogen and phosphorus budgets in urban watersheds and implications for managing urban water pollution
    4. Choose your own adventure: Select any of the articles in the SimUText reading that you were interested in (be sure to cite the article in your response).

      EITHER: (a) pick a figure in the paper and explain the results in a tweet (280 total characters) OR (b) summarize the findings of the paper in a four-sentence newspaper summary

  2. OBSERVATION: Return to the ecosystem near you for 30 minutes. Think critically about the components of your ecosystem (Take note of where you set your ecosystem boundaries).
    1. Draw a pool and flux diagram that describes the nutrient cycle(s) of you organism. You may do this for any nutrient.
    2. Think of a “change” that could happen in your ecosystem (e.g. fallen tree, disturbance, seasonal changes). In a second pool and flux diagram, draw how the nutrient cycle would change.
    3. Submit your diagrams as an attachment (a photo of your drawings is fine) along with a brief one or two sentence summary of your ecosystem boundary and two nutrient cycle diagrams.
  3. DATA: A Data+ team at Duke created a web-based interface for exploring the nutrient cycles at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (referenced in your SimUText readings). Visit this webpage (http://www.hbwater.org/) and navigate to the “deforestation” tab.
    1. Read the deforestation introduction on the first page, then navigate to the chemistry and hydrology tabs (on the left).
    2. Under the chemistry tab, explore the data by changing the views (years or months) and solutes (cations, anions, etc.). Do the same thing for the hydrology tab.
    3. In a 280-character tweet, describe something that you learned about the deforestation experiment by looking at the raw data.