BIOL 123: Ecology Virtual Lab 

Objectives: Following this lab you should be able to…​

1. Determine how experience influences success in the wild
2. Understand the impact of competition and niche selection 
3. Experience what it is like to be a predator and its prey
4. Learn the trade-offs of group living vs. solitary living
5. Review a general history of ecology

Overview: You can select to do Exercise I or Exercise II. Everyone must do Exercise III.

• Exercise I. Community Ecology/Virtual Barnacles: If you decide to do Exercise I, you must at least read the ecology lab background from our original paper manual. You will still have to answer questions about foraging and predator/prey relationships on the final.

• Exercise II. Test Foraging Strategies. If you decide to do Exercise II, You MUST read Exercise I and the background notes in the virtual lab. You will still have to answer questions about Connell's experiments, niches and competition on the final. 
• ​Exercise III. The History of Ecology (in brief)

​Before you begin! Open the Post-Lab.
​Please delete the post-lab questions that correspond with the exercise you have chosen not to complete.
Follow the directions closely so you know what to put in your Post-Lab to receive full credit for this online activity.​

• Exercise I
• Exercise II
• Exercise III

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Exercise I. Community Ecology/Virtual BarnAcles

No single species exists alone. Each is dependent on, and in competition with, others. The diverse species interacting in a specific area are referred to as a biological community. The study of the complex web of relationships among those different species is referred to as community ecology, which focuses on things like competition, predator-prey relationships and succession.

Joseph H. Connell is a renowned community ecologist and has had a profound impact on the entire discipline of ecology. His work and its implications have become so broadly known it is difficult to imagine what the field would have been like had he pursued a different career. Connell's early research on competition between barnacle species in Scotland was seminal for two reasons. First, this classic body of work, published in Ecology and Ecological Monographs in 1961, remains one of the finest studies of the effects of interspecific competition. But, perhaps more important, it became the cornerstone of an entire school in ecology, one that advocates manipulative field experimentation whenever possible. -Written by Sally J. Holbrook ​

In this virtual ecology lab Connell’s 1961 classic competition experiment is modeled. You will explore the fundamental and realized niches of two species of barnacles, Chthamalus and Balanus. One species can grow at a wider range in depth but can be out-competed, while the other species is limited to deeper rock. You can also cause sea level to change simulating global warming.

1. Read the background information carefully, you will be tested on it on the final exam.
2. The tutorial is important! Don't pass it over or you will find the experimental portion extremely frustration!
3. Run four experiments over 14 days each. Be ready to take a selfie with your data-screen at the end of each experiment. Use this data table in excel to record your data. You will copy/paste it into your Post-Lab. 
   1. ​The first is your "control." Do not change the standard settings.
   2. Increase or decrease the population of Balanus OR Thais
   3. Increase or decrease the population of Chthamalus OR Thais
   4. Increase sea level
4. Complete your post-lab. Include your selfies and data table and answer the questions provided

Click here to open the virtual lab.

Exercise II. test foraging strategies

Complete the lab below. It is very similar to lab in your original manual with some important changes and built in flexibility. 

1. Recruit at least two other participants. Up to 5 is best! BUT, be sure to only work with individuals in your germ "family" (i.e., only those individuals with whom you are in regular contact during social distancing).
2. Find items to forage! You can use "beans" as directed in the lab or: seeds, coins, candy, anything small and varied. These "forage items" are referred to as prey items in the directions below.
3. You will need a place to forage. A 4x4 meter square outside is best (1m ~ 5-6 steps). But you can make it smaller as needed and move it inside if needed as well. Just make sure you have space around the sides. 
4. You will need a way to "mark" the 4 corners of you square or the entire parameter (e.g., stakes, flags, rocks, ribbon, rope, etc.).
5. Complete each of the four tasks below.

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Task 1: Foraging on your own

• ​Have someone disperse 50-100 prey items randomly throughout your square.
• Each member of your group will see how many days they can survive foraging alone.
  • One minute = one day...set your timer on your phone
  • Survival = you MUST find 6 prey items
  • Repeat until you "starve"
  • Record the number of days each group member survives.
• YOU DECIDE: Before the next forager steps into the square you can replenish your resource parch with prey items OR play the rule of diminishing resources, which will make it harder to survive! Up to you! 

Task 2: Foraging as a member of a group

• Someone should redistribute your found prey items back into your patch.
  • This time, see how many days you can each survive while foraging together.
  • Same rules apply. One minute = one day...set your timer on your phone. Survival = you MUST find 6 prey items. Repeat until you "starve."
  • Record how many days each individual survives and how long your group survives.
• YOU DECIDE: How cooperative or competitive will your species be? You can help each other by sharing, or compete with each other to find the easiest prey. Think about how this choice will impact the survival of YOU and YOUR GROUP.

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Task 3: Foraging alone with a predator lurking

• Designate one of your group members as the ‘predator’ that will hunt you while you forage.​
  • Designate one of your corners as a "refuge" or "safe base."
  • Predators are to lightly tag the prey for a "kill."
  • After an unsuccessful attack, the predator must return and lurk at least 2 meters from the parameter of the patch. 
  • Same rules apply. One minute = one day...set your timer on your phone. Survival = you MUST find 6 prey items. Repeat until you "starve" or are "killed."
  • Record how many days each group member survives on their own, foraging, with a predator.
• YOU DECIDE: Does the predator have to wait between "strikes?" 

Task 4: Foraging as a group with a predator lurking

• Using the same foraging area, predator perimeter, and refuge as in Task 3, have other group members join you in your patch as a group.
  • Remember: Predators are to lightly tag the prey for a "kill" and, after an unsuccessful attack, the predator must return and lurk at least 2 meters from the parameter of the patch. 
  • Same rules apply. One minute = one day...set your timer on your phone. Survival = you MUST find 6 prey items. Repeat until you "starve" or are "killed."
  • Record how many days each group member survives and how many days your groups survives, foraging as a group with a predator.
• YOU DECIDE: How will you alert your group mates of a predator? Which type of alarm call will you employ?

The history of ecology

1. Download the article from the sidebar.
2. Read over it carefully.
3. Answer the accompanying questions in the post-lab.

Click here for the article.