Extra Credit for Reporting on Ecology Seminars:
Here is a chance for you to broaden your ecological background and gain extra credit. Attend and summarize up to three of the seminars listed below, and turn in a short summary of each. Each summary is due by 10 days after the seminar.
Requirements of the Assignment:
- Date & Location
- Approximate Title (Or Topic)
- Speaker Name
- A paragraph that accurately reflects at least one major aspect of the seminar
- An explanation of how this seminar did or did not connect to information we have covered in class.
You may receive up to one percentage point for each seminar, for up to 3 seminars. Your score will primarily be determined by item 5. Not all of these seminars will be easy to connect to our course, and it is often difficult to predict whether such a connection will be obvious ahead of time. Do the best you can on item 5, and I will do my best to account for the difficulty of this connection. Please note that I have high standards for this extra credit, and you may well receive only a fraction of the possible points.
The seminars listed below are in one of several seminar series (mostly on campus):
- Biology Department Colloquium (Thursdays 4-5 in room ASEC 120; free coffee and cookies provided)
- Biology Department Brown Bag Ecology/Evolution Lunch (Wednesdays 12-1 in room G01 (near the greenhouse ( see me if you can’t find the room); pizza available at $1/slice)
- Geology Department seminar series (120 Crouse, coffee at 11:50, talk at 12:05).
See http://www.uakron.edu/colleges/artsci/depts/biology/Seminars_and_Lunches.php,
http://www.uakron.edu/colleges/artsci/depts/geology/colloquium.php, and our course webpage for updated times and titles, and for additional seminars as they are announced.
I also have some off campus seminars posted below the on-campus talks; they may cost money to attend.
If you find out about another seminar that you think would qualify, contact me!
Field experiences (hikes, restoration, assistance with research and management) can be substituted for seminar reports. And if you are unable to attend these seminars, a report on a research paper you read can also be substituted.
UA Seminars:
| Date | Where | Speaker | Topic |
| Jan 19 | G01 Noon | Marlo Perdicas, MetroParks serving Summit County | Coyote Ecology and Behavior in the Cuyahoga Valley |
| Jan 20 | 120 Crouse 12:05pm | Dr. John Senko, UA Geology | Microbially mediated iron transformations in acid mine drainage John Senko |
| Jan 20 | ASEC 120 4:00pm | Dr. Tim Cooper, University of Houston | Competition, interactions and evolvability in an experimental population of E. coli* |
| Jan 26 | G01 Noon | Dr. Liliana D’Alba , University of Akron | Antimicrobial defense mechanisms in birds |
| Feb 9 | G01 Noon | Dr. Chris Davis, Plant Ecologist, Cuyahoga Valley National Park | TBA |
| Feb 10 | ASEC 120 4:00pm | Various Graduate Students | Graduate student presentations: 5 minute overviews of research and an update on progress toward a degree.* |
| Feb 16 | G01 Noon | Karen Adair , The Nature Conservancy | The Nature Conservancy’s Work in Northeast Ohio Wetlands and Streams |
| Feb 23 | G01 Noon | Tom Pucci , Asst. Curator, Invertebrates, Cleveland Museum of Natural History | Parasitic Wasps: Diversity and Community Structure |
| Mar 2 | G01 Noon | Sam Evans, UA Grad student | TBA Spiders* |
| Mar 3 | ASEC 120 4:00pm | Dr. Lauren Chapman, Dept of Biology, McGill University | Tough Lives: Hypoxia and phenotypic divergence in East African fishes |
| Mar 9 | G01 Noon | John Mack , Director, Cleveland MetroParks | TBA |
| Mar 10 | ASEC 120 4:00pm | Various Graduate Students | Graduate student presentations: 5 minute overviews of research and an update on progress toward a degree.* |
| Mar 23 | G01 Noon | Dr. Jim Holda, UA Biology | And IN-FLEW-ENZA* |
| Apr 6 | G01 Noon | Mary Topa, Holden Arboretum | TBA |
| Apr 13 | G01 Noon | Kay Stefanik , Grad researcher OSU, Olentangy Wetland Research park | TBA-Wetlands |
| Apr 28 | ASEC 150 4:00pm | Various students | 5th Annual Biology Undergraduate Research Symposium. Details Forthcoming |
* Seminars that may be especially hard to connect to your ecology course (item 5 in the requirements)
Presentations outside UA that would qualify (Admission may be charged; ~$8-10, but CMNH may give free admission with student ID):
UA Seminars:
| Date | Where | Speaker | Topic |
| Jan 21, 7:30pm | CVNP | Dr. John R. “Jack” Horner, Montana State | Coyotes in your back yard |
| Jan 28, 7:00pm | CMNH | Dr. Stanley Gehrt. OSU | Dinosaurs: How to get rid of some old ones and make some new ones |
| Feb 25, Noon | KSU A108 | Dr. Ron Oldfield, Case Western Reserve University Biology | Integrating behavioral ecology and neuroendocrinology to study the evolution of, and to conserve, biodiversity. |
| Feb 25, 7:00pm | CMNH | Andrew Skurka, adventurer | 4,700 miles around Alaska and Yukon |
| Mar 4 Noon | KSU A108 | Sadie K. Reed Stimmell KSU/Akron, BSCI, PhD. Candidate | An Empirical Study of Metapopulation Dynamics and Mating System Theory in the Androdioecious Clam Shrimp, Eulimnadia dahlia. |
| Mar 18, 7:30pm | CMNH | Dr. Daniel C. Fisher, University of Michigan | Paleobiology and extinction of mammoths and mastodons |
| Mar 18 | KSU A108 | Dr. William Brown SUNY Fredonia, Department of Biology | Male risk taking in a sexually cannibalistic praying mantis. |
| Mar 23 | A108 | Dr. Michael Ryan, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology | Raiding the dragon’s tomb;: dinosaur taphonomy and reconstructing the dead |
| Mar 25 | CMNH | Dr. Jon Cole Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studie | Terrestrial subsidies of lake food webs: New insights from stable hydrogen isotopes. |
| Apr 1, 7:30pm | CMNH | Margo Zdravkovic, Director, Coastal Bird Conservation Program | Coastal Bird Conservation on the gulf in the wake of the 2010 BP deepwater horizon oil spill |
NOTE:
CVNP= Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Happy Days Visitor center (Peninsula) 7PM. Admission $8. lyceum series. For more, go to: http://www.dayinthevalley.com/search.php, search in the category <lectures>
CMNH = Cleveland Museum of Natural History; (admission $5-10). Go to http://www.cmnh.org/site/ClassesandPrograms_Lectures_ExplorerSeries.aspx and http://www.cmnh.org/site/ClassesandPrograms/Lectures/CuratorsForum.aspx
For More…
KSU: Cunningham Hall A108
Again, if you learn of a lecture you think might qualify, ask me!