Need extra help with studying and exam prep?

Need help reviewing?

• Attend Thursday's review session - bring questions to ask the professors.   
• Peruse some of the links listed in my website footer, such as "Evolution 101", the two textbook sites with interactive content (Essentials of Ecology; Economy of Nature), and the optional textbook's  glossary.
• Visit any of the Principles of Ecology TA office hours for extra help.  TA office hours schedule is posted on the course Sakai calendar, and as a Google calendar at the top of this blog ("Laura's Ecology Calendar").
• Try reviewing the "Studying & exam taking tips" page on my blog for advice on how to approach test taking.
• Rutgers Academic Coaching - My previous students have found these one-on-one study sessions very helpful when preparing for an exam!  You can usually schedule an appointment with a AC within 24-48 hours of contacting the office.

Quizlet

I have set up a study group for Principles of Ecology students on Quizlet.   If you join the group, you can add flash card terms and definitions to the Midterm study sets that I started for you all.  The group has other neat games to help you learn the vocabulary, such as the one below, but it is the responsibilities of you, the student, to build the study resource. (This is part of our expectations agreement.)

A word of Quizlet warning: If you do add terms to the set you are presented with the option of having the website "auto-define" for you - please make sure the definition you choose matches the one in your packet!  Same thing goes for those of you using them to study, check the definitions against your glossary the first time through.  While you all are studying this weekend, I will be grading your reports.  Therefore, I need you all to "self-police" on Quizlet, but feel free to email me if a major problem arises.

Know your learning style to study efficiently.

Try taking this Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire by NC State to learn more about how you best learn so that you may maximize your studying time and methods to suit your needs.   

The image, right, is of my learning style quiz results.  As highlighted by the yellow box, I am a very visual learner, hence I show a lot of figures in recitation.

Enjoy tutoring friends?

Did you do well in Physics or Orgo and enjoy peer teaching/tutoring?  Check out the Learning Assistant Program, which pays eligible undergraduates to tutor.

Thermoregulation supplemental resources

Below is a list of website links that focus on ecological energetic terms and concepts.  Remember to review Dr. John-Alder's lecture supplements (lecture slides, optional reading) posted on SAKAI.

(www.nature.com/scitable)

A more in depth look at allometry & scaling.

Homeostatic Processes for Thermoregulation - This article is enabled with a click-and-define feature to help you learn vocabulary, while providing a good overview of thermoregulation.

(www.nature.com/scitable)

Body Temperature Regulation 

• Ecototherm vs. Endotherm
• Homeothermy vs. Heterothermy 

Metabolic rate and body size discussion 

Is it a model or a mimic?

This week we talked a bit about mechanisms used by prey to deceive predators.  Here are a couple of neat examples: 

Batesian Mimicry & Müllerian Mimicry

I found a website that has interesting photographs comparing models to their mimics (Batesian)!  Click the link to find out if the butterfly (left) is a model or a mimic.




To the right, is an example of Müllerian mimicry, demonstrated by a group of unpalatable butterflies.


Visit this website (see "Protective Coloration" section) for a general review.

Gottcha! Flesh-eating pitcher plants...

The publishers of one of this week's assigned readings made a neat short video to accompany the article written by Stephanie Pain.

Eusociality learning resources

How Does Social Behavior Evolve?  
This is a good overview of altruism, and social behavior as an adaptation that improves fitness.

(www.nature.com/scitable)

Eusociality

A comprehensive review eusociality is discussed in Cooperation, Conflict, and the Evolution of Complex Animal Societies by Rubenstein & Kealey (2010).

Really interested in the topic of eusociality?  Check out this advance article by N. Powers (2010).

Some of the vocabulary words in the above articles are enabled with a click-and-define feature that should help with reading comprehension.

Figure 4: Solitary and primitively 
eusocial wasps. (Nowak et al., 2010).

An article written by Nowak et al. (2010) entitled The Evolution of Eusociality  explains the role that haploidy and diploidy are hypothesized to play in the inclusive fitness theory.   (Access the article through Rutgers.)

Figure 3: Patterns of relatedness in 
a) diploid and b) haplodiploid species.  
(Rubenstein & Kealey, 2010)

Recitation Quiz 1!

Congrats, to all of you for getting your field reports finished this week!

Next week in recitation, you have your first recitation quiz.  Content that may be on this quiz includes lectures 1-4, and ALL assigned readings due on Jan. 28. and Feb. 4, as outlined in the course schedule.

Need help reviewing?

• Review your notes and the autecology/evolution lecture outlines in the Packet and practice on some of the sample exam questions in the Packet from last year's first midterm.  
• Peruse some of the links listed in my website footer, such as "Evolution 101", the two textbook sites with interactive content (Essentials of Ecology; Economy of Nature), and the optional textbook's  glossary.
• Visit any of the Principles of Ecology TA office hours for extra help.  TA office hours schedule is posted on the course Sakai calendar, and as a Google calendar at the top of this blog ("Laura's Ecology Calendar").

Quizlet

At this point, nearly all of the terms in the Packet's autecology glossary have been discussed.  I have set up a study group for Principles of Ecology students on Quizlet.   If you join the group, you can add flash card terms and definitions to the "Quiz 1" study set that I started for you all.  The group has other neat games to help you learn the vocabulary, such as the one below, but it is the responsibilities of you, the student, to build the study resource. (This is part of our expectations agreement.)

A word of Quizlet warning: If you do add terms to the set you are presented with the option of having the website "auto-define" for you - please make sure the definition you choose matches the one in your packet!  Same thing goes for those of you using them to study, check the definitions against your glossary the first time through.  While you all are studying this weekend, I will be grading your reports.  Therefore, I need you all to "self-police" on Quizlet, but feel free to email me if a major problem arises.

Recitation readings (week 4)

Remember to take a study "break" and read the assigned packet readings for recitation discussion next week. 

Note: in addition to the packet articles by Tobler and Bradshaw, a third required paper by Powledge* about epigenetics has been added to the Sakai site (Autecology and Evolution Resources > Week 4 recitation).  For more learning resources about epigenetics, check out "Interesting science-related links" (right side panel).

The following game is an example of one of the study resources offered through our Quizlet group.