PRESENTATION GUIDELINES
PRESENTATION: Students will work in pairs to review a course topic from the list below.
For your chosen topic, review key terms and concepts using an example based on a fictional
universe’s ecology (e.g., the magical beasts of Harry Potter, Animal Crossing, Pokémon). Be
creative! The goal is for you to demonstrate that you explain and apply ecological concepts from
this lab to a new topic.
Submit the name of your topic idea by __TBD____
Students will work individually to create a PowerPoint to review a course topic that will be
presented to the class on April 8th. The presentation must be 8-12 minutes long and must
contain at least 10 slides. There will be a 2 to 5-minute question session at the end of your
presentation during which the class and the TA will ask questions. You are be required to present
live during the scheduled class time with your webcam on.
ALL students must submit the presentation to Canvas by 11:59 PM on Sunday April 7th. If
your file is too large to upload, go to: File > Compress Pictures. If you do not turn in the
presentation by the deadline, you will not be permitted to present, and you will receive a ZERO.
You will be graded on this assignment as follows:
• Slides (25%): How effectively the slides present the content
• Oral delivery (10%): How well the student communicates ideas (i.e., well-practiced, clear and
audible volume)?
• Content (55%): Are all the appropriate topics covered? How knowledgeable is the student
about the content? Did the example appropriately convey the concepts? How creative was the
example?
• Questions/Comments (10%): Your participation during the questions/comments session.
Specific details for each section are available in the Presentation Rubric.
Topic Guides for Presentation
Statistics 1
• Review experimental design (control & replicates)
• Review independent vs. dependent variables, categorical vs. numerical variables
• Review population, sample, statistic, and parameter
• Review statistical hypotheses
Statistics 2
• Review t-test
• Review ANOVA & post-hoc tests
• Review linear regression (including how to find equation of line, and R2 value)
• Review how P-values work (not just that it’s less than alpha=0.05)
Sampling Techniques
• What is representative sampling and why is it important?
• What are biases and how do you avoid them?
• Accuracy vs precision and associated errors (systematic vs reproducibility errors)
• Review the 4 different sampling techniques
• Find 2 new sampling techniques from scientific papers that you find interesting
Diversity
• Review communities (Clements vs Gleason)
• Review species richness and the different indices for diversity
• Review the problems with using species richness to measure diversity
• Review species-area curves and sampling effort
Life History
• What is life history? What affects it?
• What are life tables? Discuss different kinds and reasons for using each
• Discuss life history parameters with particular focus on Ro, G and r (how do you interpret
Ro and r?)
Competition 1
• Review intraspecific and interspecific competition
• Review character displacement and niche differentiation in terms of intraspecific and
interspecific competition
• Review density-dependent competition
Competition 2
• Review the different types of niches
• Review competitive exclusion principle
• Review character displacement and niche differentiation
Predation 1
• Review predator-prey dynamics
• Review consumptive effects of predation
• Tie in examples that touch on the key factors that affect predation frequency
Predation 2
• Review trade-offs and optimal foraging theory
• Review non-consumptive effects of predation
• Tie in examples that touch on the key factors that affect foraging trade-offs
Ecosystem 1
• Definition
• Discuss energy flow
• 3 macronutrients (cycles, importance)
• Liebig’s Law and Redfield Ratio
• Provide a brief example from a published paper on importance of nutrient cycling
Ecosystem 2
• Disturbance
• Ecosystem resilience & stability
• Intermediate Disturbance hypothesis
• Regime Shift
