SEE-UBlack Rock Forest

General Methadology for Instructors and TAs

Exercise 13: Risk of Egg Predation and Edge Effects
Module 13: Habitat Fragmentation and Deforestation

This activity lends itself nicely to the students designing and executing a field experiment. It will require them to review the literature and determine the experimental variables they would like to manipulate. After a lecture on fragmentation effects and basic information regarding experimental design, the students will consult the literature for specific information regarding egg predation. Equipment and site constraints should be discussed. The students will present their proposed design to the class and each design will be reviewed and modified. The students are then responsible for setting out the artificial nests and collecting the data. This activity should provide some guidelines for the independent projects.

Activities in the experiment

  1. Hypotheses to test
  2. Independent variable in the experiment
  3. Dependent variables that they could use in their experimental design.
  4. Student evaluation