Instructor information

Instructor

Dr. Inna Sokolova

Email

isokolov@uncc.edu

Office location

WOOD 381c

Office hours

By appointment

Phone

(704) 687 8532

Biography

1991 M.S. St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1997 Ph.D. Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999-2001 Post-doctoral, Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, 2001-2002 Post-doctoral, University of Guelph, Canada, 2002- Assistant Professor, UNC Charlotte 

Research interests

Ecological physiology and toxicology of marine invertebrates

Course Goals

Course Goals

The goals of this course are to introduce you to selected theoretical and practical approaches in ecology as well as to give you a sampler of modern ecological research techniques, to reinforce main ecological concepts you’ve learned in Ecology lecture class with experimental studies and to provide hands-on experience in ecological research. This class will allow you to undertake all the major steps of scientific inquiry in a small-scale setting; you will learn how to formulate a hypothesis, to develop an experimental design, to conduct experiments and observations, to critically analyze your data, to compare them to the state-of-the-art published research, and to present your research in a professionally acceptable format. This is a writing intensive course; therefore, one of its goals is to teach you the basics of professional writing, which would be useful for those of you who plan to write project reports, summaries or research papers in the future professional life.

For more details about the course structure, exercises and written reports, see "Course outline".

Course Information

Course title

Ecology Laboratory

Course number

BIOL3144L

Course dates

August 21 through December 11, 2006

Location

WOOD (STECH) 272

Meeting day(s)

Wednesday

Meeting time(s)

2:00-4:50 pm

Prerequisite(s)

BIOL 3144 (Ecology)

Policies

Course schedule: Check calendar often for changes in lab topics and upcoming assignments. Please note that the dates of quizzes and deadlines for assignments will not change unless by consent of the instructor and ALL students in the class.  

In class regulations: This is a practical field-oriented course. Therefore, come dressed for 3 hours of fieldwork, including appropriate shoes and raingear, unless instructed otherwise. Be prepared for long walks, for getting your hands dirty and possibly for getting wet.

Attendance of this class is mandatory, and you are expected to actively participate in all exercises. A significant amount of class exercises involves teamwork. Anticipate diversity in your project team and respect it. Make sure your team members are not excluded from lab activities or discussions.  UNC Charlotte strives to create an academic climate in which the dignity of all individuals is respected and maintained. Therefore, we celebrate diversity that includes, but is not limited to ability/disability, age, culture, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.

Walking in and out of class during the class period distracts most students in the class. Please come to the class in time and do not walk out during the class, especially during the lecture, except for an emergency such as diarrhea. Cell phones should be turned off during the whole duration of the class. If I find your behavior distractive for other students, I will ask you to leave the class and take points from your final grade (up to 10%).

If you have a disability that qualifies you for academic accommodations, please provide a “letter of accommodation” from Disabilities Services within the first two weeks of the course. All such notifications shall be confidential between the student and the instructor.

Policy on assignments and missed deadlines: Attendance of all classes and participation in all exercises is mandatory. Should you have a legitimate excuse for missing a class (hospitalization, court appearances, a death in the family, etc.), you should let me know by providing a written proof in support of the absence. I will then arrange a time for your make up exercise or extend an assignment deadline as appropriate.

All take-home assignments must be turned in during the class period. There will be a 5% penalty for assignments turned after the class period but on the due date before 6 pm; after 6 pm on the due date no assignments will be accepted and a zero grade will be given for them.

Academic misconduct: Your integrity is a starting assumption of mine. You are responsible for understanding of and abiding by the Policy on Academic Integrity at UNCC. Violations of the Code of Student Academic Integrity, including plagiarism, will result in disciplinary action as provided in the Code. Definitions and examples of plagiarism are set forth in the Code. The Code is available from the Dean of Students Office or online at: http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-105.html.  Anyone caught copying on exams or assignments will receive an "F" for a semester grade in the course.

As a condition of taking this course, all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin software for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. No student papers will be submitted to Turnitin.com without a student’s written consent and permission. If a student does not provide such written consent and permission, the instructor may: (i) require a short reflection paper on research methodology; (ii) require a draft bibliography prior to submission of the final paper; or (iii) require the cover page and first cited page of each reference source to be photocopied and submitted with the final paper.

Check out these site for explanations and definitions of plagiarism:
http://www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_what_is_plagiarism.html
http://www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_faqs.html

Contact policies: If you have any questions or issues to discuss, you are welcome to contact me by e-mail, phone or personally to arrange for an appointment.  Feel free to call me but please do not leave voice mail if I am not in my office; I will not return calls. I prefer e-mail for setting up appointments, and will also be using e-mail to distribute important information, including answers to FAQs. For maximum advantage, check your UNCC 49er email account and the course Web page often. All students’ e-mails will be answered within 24 h.

Grading

Grading scale: 100-91% (A), 90-81% (B), 80-71% (C), 70-61% (D), 60% and below (F).

No curve is given in this course, and there is no extra credit work except for a few small bonuses adding up to no more than 3% of the total grade. So if you have 90% anyways, bonuses can get you an A, but they will not fix your grade. Every exercise and assignment is an important part of your overall grade, so please start working seriously from the first day of the class!

Grade break-up:

Total number of points: 1000 (100%)

Assignments:   

                        Biome write-up                                                         50 pts (5%)
                        Interim write-up for the stream module                        25 pts (2.5%)
                        Final write-up for the stream module                         100 pts (10%)
                        Stream module quiz                                                  50 pts (5%)
                        Interim write-up for the forest module                          50 pts (5%)
                        Final write-up for the forest module                            150 pts (15%)
                        Forest module quizzes (2), 50 pts each                     100 pts (10%)
                        GIS module maps                                                      25 pts (2.5%)
                        Interim write-up for the pond module                          100 pts (10%)
                        Final write-up for the pond module                             150 pts (15%)
                        Pond module quiz                                                      50 pts (5%)
                        Final presentation                                                      150 pts (15%)

Total:                                                                                                    1000 pts