Design an ecology experiment

Overview

In nearly all fields of science, research is conducted in a standardized fashion that is designed to develop questions, then turn questions into answers. This exercise is an opportunity to combine multiple skills developed during the course: to choose a topic of interest relevant to this ecology course and develop a research question about that topic, conduct background research using relevant journal articles, and develop a hypothetical experiment with theoretical methods and expected outcomes. You will get the opportunity to share your proposed experiment with the class in the form of an oral presentation.

Background Reading

• https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/us101contents_01

Objectives

Students should be able to:

• Utilize scientific journal articles and ecological principles covered in this course to develop an ecological research question of interest

• Design/propose a hypothetical experiment that addresses how that research question might be answered 

Background

 The Scientific Method is a series of steps followed by scientists when undertaking any empirical (experiment-based) research project. These steps provide a framework that standardizes the research process and allow for quality control at multiple levels. Slight variations may be taken depending on the experiment, but generally the  steps in the Scientific Method follow a pattern like this:

• Make an observation.

• Ask a research question.

• Form a testable hypothesis. This usually begins as a null hypothesis, or H0 (pronounced "H-naught"), which initially assumes no relationship between the variables of study until statistics can show otherwise .

• Make a prediction based on the hypothesis.

• Test the prediction through experimentation (this may involve controls vs. treatments, different treatment levels, etc.)

• Analyze results. If they suit the hypothesis and prediction, the project can continue towards the research-sharing/publication phase. If not, science is an iterative process, so it's perfectly acceptable to return to previous steps, make modifications, and try again. Because so little is still known about the natural world, scientists are constantly having to revise research strategies and try new things--it's all part of the research process.

However, very few experiments can be done without some form of financial support. In order to fund a project, researchers must create proposals that pitch their project ideas in a knowledgeable, convincing way. Resources are often limited, so a funding source (whether that is a governmental body, a non-profit with interest in the project, an institution, or a private funder) has to be persuaded that their investment in an experiment will not be wasted. Often a researcher must share anticipated outcomes or predicted results, and should demonstrate that his or her idea is feasible. 

Researchers usually have the opportunity to be creative in developing projects, but up to a point. All research is done in the context of existing knowledge, using published, peer-reviewed information as a stepping-stone to advance what is known. This is necessary to establish the boundary between science and science fiction, and to ensure credibility in an idea.  

Methods

This project is designed to allow you to explore some of the fundamental concepts of ecology we have covered in this class in more depth, and to design your own ecological experiment that you will pitch in the form of a twelve-minute PowerPoint presentation (ten minutes to present, and two minutes for Q&A afterwards).

With your group, choose a Subject Area in bold text that you wish to study further. Note that you are limited to the topics in bold, but you are not restricted to just the example topics under each heading. You can decide either to use one of these or come up with your own within that subject area, and then research it further using peer-reviewed published scientific literature.

Then using that research, you will design a hypothetical experiment that could provide insight into the topic of your choice.  Suggestions for more detailed areas you could potentially explore are included under each topic to help guide your research and give you some ideas about experiments you could create, but are not necessarily limited to these. Feel free to be creative in your thinking: the experiment you come up with does not have to be one that actually could take place, but has to seem at least somewhat believable, as it must stay rooted in these real ecological/evolutionary concepts and use existing research as background (so not TOO deep into sci-fi territory!)

Subject Areas to Choose From:

• Evolution

  • Example topics: 

-What is a way that evolutionary concepts can help with conservation efforts? 

-How might evolution be harnessed to save a species from extinction? 

• Biodiversity

  • Example topic:

-Invent a hypothetical method to assess biodiversity

• Genetics

  • Example topics:

-Design a creative way that the concepts we covered on genetics can be used to improve human or environmental health

-Develop a way in which genetics can be used to make a certain species more resilient to climate change

• Disease Dynamics

  • Example topics:

-What other species are susceptible to Covid-19? 

-How might you test for the role of an environmental factor you choose in a disease of your choice?

• Climate Change and Phenology

  • Example topic: 

-Design a novel way of studying the impact of climate change on a species on your choice

Your presentations must follow the same format as a typical scientific paper, but in the form of PowerPoint slides:

1.      Introduction (2-3 slides): An overview of the concept you have chosen, and the experiment you have created that fits into it. Give us some background about the concept and how your experiment relates to it. Describe your goals for your hypothetical research and what questions you aim to have it answer. Include precedents for your experiment, using at least two published sources in the scientific literature that conducted studies that were either similar to yours, or served as an inspiration. Properly cite these.

Citation guidelines are as follows: Each time you make reference in your introduction to a fact that was published in a journal you researched, include a parenthetical citation. This means to include the author's last name and the year published, e.g. (Hadid 1993) or (Jackson and Summers 1995). If there are more than two authors, you should include the first author's last name followed by the words "et al.", meaning "and others", and then the year, e.g. (Jagger et al. 2016). 

2.     Methods (1-2 slides): Describe the methods you would use in your hypothetical experiment.

3.     Expected Results(1-2 slides): What outcome(s) do you predict with your proposal?

4.     Discussion (2-3 slides): This would be a place to justify why your experiment matters. Describe potential implications and applications for your research. You can also defend why your experiment would work, and why it may be feasible to actually do.

5.     Conclusion (1 slide): Summarize your main points from your presentation.

6.     References: Include a list of the full citations for journal articles you cited in your Introduction. This can be on its own slide if you so choose; these can also be added to the bottom of your Conclusion slide instead. These do not need to be presented, but they should be there for proper academic integrity.