Bio 111 Lab
Week 1
PART I
Please watch the short video, “Trophic Cascades in Salt Marsh Ecosystems”. In this film, research Brian
Silliman explains how he uses manipulative field experiments to study salt marsh ecosystems. Please
answer the questions below:
1. Please write the phenomena/organisms that Dr. Silliman observed in this particular ecosystem.
What was happening?
2. What question(s) came out of these observations?
3. How did Dr. Silliman set-up experiments to answer these questions?
4. What did he discover?
PART II
Please observe this Venn diagram that summarizes the aspects of questions that can and cannot be
addressed using the methods of science.
1. Please write three questions about salt marsh ecosystems that cannot be addressed using the
methods of science.
PART III
Nobody likes being told what to do. Indeed, the opposite of being told what to do is making your own
choices. It can sometimes feel like a lot of science learning comes from the top down. However, one
underappreciated aspect of doing science is that, with a little creativity, you can be free to pursue
questions that interest you. What do you want to figure out?
Asking questions and determining the cause for phenomena are at the heart of what many scientists do. In
this activity, you will learn how good scientific questions are constructed and engage in these exciting,
essential practices as you ask and answer your own scientific questions.
One class of questions that are especially valuable in science are comparative questions. Comparative
questions ask how some variable differs among a set of groups. For example, “Are male crickets longer
than females?” is a comparative question. The variable measured is length, and the groups that are
compared are males and females.
Comparative research questions are often useful when designing experiments. Counting the number of
deer that visit a field is a somewhat interesting observation. But comparing the number of deer in a field
with a large number of shrubs to the number of deer in a field with a small number of shrubs is more
interesting and useful.
It is valuable to describe and find patterns in nature. Many scientific questions are asked in order to find
patterns, develop models, or develop scientific tools or processes. Some of the most important, useful,
and exciting questions in science seek an understanding of the causes underlying patterns in nature.
1. Please examine the titles of journal articles below and decide if you think the goal of the research
is to:
a. Describe a cause-and-effect relationship
b. Describe a pattern, measurement, or observation in nature
c. Describe a scientific model
d. Describe a tool or process for scientific research
e. Something else
You may label each appropriately
Title 1- Impact of food and predation on the snowshoe hare cycle
Title 2- The competitive exclusion principle
Title 3- The influence of interspecific competition and other factors on the distribution of the barnacle
Chthamalus stellatus
Title 4- The interaction of drought and habitat explain space-time patterns of establishment in saguaro
(Carnegiea gigantea)
Title 5- Development of a multimetric index for integrated assessment of salt marsh ecosystem condition
