SEMINAR: NEOTROPICAL RAINFOREST ECOLOGY

PBIO 405 (#04533), PBIO 693 (#04545)

Fall Quarter, 2001

Field course participants, follow this link for the current "Field Course Workshop Schedule" (in Word format).

Professors:	Dr. Harvey Ballard				Dr. Morgan Vis
Office:	406 Porter Hall				400 Porter Hall
Phone:	593-4659				593-1134
E-mail:	ballardh@ohio.edu				vis-chia@ohio.edu
Office Hours:	By appointment or immediately after class
Meeting Times:	W, 4:10-6:00 pm, Rm. 417 Porter Hall
Textbook:		Kricher, J. 1999.  A Neotropical Companion.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (ISBN 0-691-00974-0); $17.50 from Barnes & Noble; required
Grading:	15% 15%	Attendance Discussion
	50%	Presentation (45% for the presentation & 5% for the outline + bibliography)
	20% 100%	Exam Total
Grading Scale:	93-100%		A	90-92%		A-
	87-89%		B+	83-86%		B	80-82%	B-
	77-79%		C+	73-76%		C	70-72%	C-
	67-69%		D+	63-66%		D	60-62%	D-
	<60%		F
Final Exam Date:	Tuesday, 20 November, 2:30pm, Porter 417
Dishonesty:	University policy will be followed and violations will result in a lowered or failing grade.
Absences:	University policy will be followed. Students are expected to attend all class sessions. Missed work may not be made up without adequate proof of legitimate absence as defined by Ohio University.
Website:	http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~ballardh/globalstudies/

Expectations of Presentations:

• You should use the textbook as a starting point for your research into your topic and draw information from other books and primary literature (=journal articles). We expect that you describe and explain at least 2 studies from journal articles in your presentation. Do not rely on web sources for most or all of your information.
• You should present 4-6 questions at the beginning of your seminar for people to think about during your presentation. Remember that we know as much as we have read in the book about your topic. It is your job to educate us, making sure that we understand the major concepts you are presenting to us.
• Undergraduate presentations should be ca. 30 minutes in duration, whereas graduate presentations should be ca. 50 minutes--no shorter or longer in either case! You should practice your presentation before class, so that you know how long it will be. Excessively short or long presentations will be downgraded.
• Your presentation must be in Powerpoint format, but don't get lost in the "glitz" of the software; we need substance.
• By Thursday morning of the week preceding your presentation, you should give one of the instructors a half-page to page outline of your presentation with a finalized bibliography (with at least 6 references).
• No later than the morning (Thursday) following your seminar, you should place a copy of your Powerpoint seminar in the "Neotropical Rainforest Ecology" folder on the PBIO Student drive.

Peer Review:

• Each presentation will be peer-reviewed by fellow students in addition to the reviews by the instructors. Peer reviews will be taken into consideration for the final grade, but the ultimate grade decision will rest with the professors.
• Remember that a proper peer review should critically evaluate all aspects of the presentation, offering comments on both positive and negative aspects of the seminar and providing suggestions for improvement. Virtually no presentations are truly perfect and without room for improvement, thus we do not expect numerous peer reviews to reflect an "A" score awarded on every aspect of a presentation. The anonymity of the peer review process makes an honest evaluation "guilt-free".

Course Calendar
Powerpoint presentations can be accessed from the links associated with each topic below.

Date	Name	Topic
Week 1 (9/5)		Organizational meeting
Week 2 (9/12)		Training in PowerPoint presentations
Week 3 (9/19)		Discussion of Chapters 1-3
Week 4 (9/26)		Discussion at Brenen's
Week 5 (10/3)	Harvey Ballard	Savannahs and Dry Forests
Week 6 (10/10)	Sarah Bashore	Co-Evolution in the Tropics
Week 7 (10/17)	Morgan Vis	Rivers through Rainforests
Week 8 (10/24)	Sara Mason	The Neotropical Pharmacy
Week 9 (10/31)	Cary Miller Marcus Nagle	Deforestation and Conservation Living off the Land
Week 10 (11/7)	Courtney Grimm Jeremy McKinney Jennifer DeMuria	Evolutionary Trends in the Tropics (Plants) Pollination and Seed Dispersal Mechanisms Evolutionary Trends in the Tropics (Animals)

Prepared by Morgan Vis on 8 April, 2001; revised by H. Ballard on 25 November, 2001

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