Ecology

Assignment 4 General Guidelines

Overall Structure:
All PowerPoint slides must be emailed to your TA by the first day of presentations — regardless of presentation date.
Presentations must be 10 minutes in length.
Approximately 5 minutes will be given for questions following each presentation.
Assignment 4 is worth 25 points.

Background:
Describe your study species:
Provide the natural history and ecology (e.g. feeding behaviors, any predators, trophic positioning, and time the species is active).
Describe mating patterns, distribution, and conservation status, if applicable.
Outline any fun facts that relate to your study species.

Study 1:
Discuss one study from Assignment 2 that examines the ecology of your species
Introduction: Introduce the main topic along with the central questions and/or hypotheses.
Methods: Be able to describe the overall experimental design and general statistical analyses.
Results: Present the results using tables and figures that were presented in the paper. Do not feel the need to present every result, but enough to get the main point of the results section.
Discussion: Provide the overall takeaway from the study. Make sure to include both your own interpretation, as well as the author’s interpretation of the results.

Bibliography:
Provide a bibliography or references cited on your last PowerPoint slide. Make sure it follows the Ecology journal format.

Quick tips for a good presentation:
Refrain from using overly wordy slides; your slides should be readable from any location in the class.
Your figures should also be clear. The text in each figure should be readable. Try to limit the amount of figures on one slide. Figures are generally better than tables.
Take your time when giving a presentation. Do not rush through your slides.
Limit the amount of reading you do from your slides. Give as much eye contact as possible. You want to engage with your audience.
Make sure to speak with volume and practice your talk ahead of time.

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