Guidelines for Discussing Papers

During the course of the semester, each student will be the primary discussion leader and prepare a short handout (1-2 pages) on either a research or review article. The following guidelines provide a general template for review, writeup and discussion (< 15 min/paper) of these assigned papers. (Bring 40 copies of your summary writeup for distribution on Friday /see also assignments below) 

I) Definitions: Write down words or terms that are new to you in the assigned paper. (Define these terms prior to arrival in class if possible; otherwise, define them during class discussion.)

II) Summary: Write a short, objective summary of the paper. Do not criticize the paper at this point, simply summarize in a few sentences its purpose, main findings and "take home" message.

III) Objectives: Explicitly state the objectives of the paper, as given by the author(s). What reasons are given to support the importance and/or relevance of the research objectives?

IV) Methods: Are the methods used appropriate and adequate for the questions or hypotheses being addressed? Identify any methods that are not clearly presented or that you do not understand.

V) Results: Outline the main results presented in the paper. How do the results relate to the questions (or test the hypotheses) set forth in the objectives? Identify any unclear results.

VI) Discussion: (Here is where you should offer your personal evaluation of the paper.) How well does the discussion reflect the results? Are interpretations of the data presented in the results section justified, or to what extent are the interpretations and discussion speculative? Does the paper adequately represent both the strengths/weaknesses of the research findings?

VII) Overall: What do you consider as the main strengths of the paper? What are the weaknesses? What is interesting about the paper? What did you learn? What relevance does this paper have to issues or topics that have been discussed in class? What additional topics in other areas of ecology can you relate this paper to, either in terms of basic or applied science?

VII) Class presentation:  Do not read your handout to the class.  Bring along overheads of key figures, photos of research area, etc., focus presentation on research highlights (methods, results, discussion) & research implications...let me know if you want to use ppt format...

Assigned Literature Review Papers

Week One: January 23

1/23 ~ Adenlof, L.A. and E.E. Wohl. 1994. Controls on bedload movement in a subalpine stream of the Colorado Rocky Mts.  Arctic and Alpine Research 26(1): 77-85. 

Week Four
9/17 ~ Berrett: Stanford, JA and JV Ward. 1993. An ecosystem perspective of alluvial rivers: connectivity and the hyporheic corridor.  J. of the North American Benthological Society 12: 48-60.  

9/19 ~ Blandford: Baxter, CV and FR Hauer. 2000.  Geomorphology, hyporheic exchange and selection of spawning habitat by bull trout.
Can. J. of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 57: 1470-1481. 

Week Five
9/24 ~ E. Chamberlain: Abee, TB and DR Montgomery. 1996.  Large woody debris jams, channel hydraulics and habitat formation in large rivers.  Regulated Rivers 12: 201-222. 

Week Six
10/1 ~ J. Clawson: Fetherston, KL, RJ Naiman & RE Bilby.  1995.  Large woody debris, physical process and riparian forest development in montane river networks of the Pacific Northwest . Geomorphology 13: 133-144.  

10/3 ~ Ryan Gerstenberger: Amlin, NM & SB Rood. 2002.  Comparative tolerances of riparian willows and cottonwoods to water-table decline. Wetlands 22: 338-346. 

Week Seven
10/8 ~ Ed Jolly: Merigliano, M. 1998. Cottonwood and willow demography on a young island, Salmon River, Idaho. Wetlands 18: 571-576. Readers: D. 

10/10 ~ Stacy Lytle: Patten, DT. 1998. Riparian ecosystems of semi-arid North America: diversity and human impacts. Wetlands 18: 498-512.

Week Eight
10/15 ~ Jason Mckenny: Gom , LA and SB Rood. 1999. The discrimination of cottonwood clones in a mature cottonwood grove along the Oldman River, Alberta.  Canadian Journal of Botany 77: 1084-1094.

10/15 ~ Shannon Miller : Scott, ML, JM Friedman, & GT Auble. 1996.  Fluvial process and the establishment of bottomland trees.  Geomorphology 14:327-29.  

10/15 ~ Brian Nierman: Shafroth, PB, GT Auble, JC Stromberg and DT Patten. 1998.  Establishment of woody riparian vegetation in relation to annual patterns of streamflow, Bill Williams River, Arizona.  Wetlands 18:577-590. 

10/17 ~ Morgan Pence: Hughes, F.M.R., T. Harris, et al. 1997. Woody riparian species response to different soil moisture conditions: laboratory experiments on Alnus incana. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 6: 247-256.  

Week Nine
10/22 ~ Kim Stout: Dixon, MD and W. Carter Johnson. 1999. Riparian vegetation along the middle Snake River, Idaho: zonation, geographical trends and historical changes.  Great Basin Naturalist: 59:18-34. 

10/24 ~ Brad Stumph: Pabst, RJ and TA Spies. 1998. Distribution of herbs and shrubs in relation to landform and canopy cover in riparian forests of coastal Oregon. Canadian Journal of Botany 76: 298-315. 

Week Ten
10/29 ~ Rebecca Beavers:  Ellis, BK, JA Stanford and JV Ward. 1998.  Microbial assemblages and production in alluvial aquifers of the Flathead River, MT.  Journal of the North American Benthological Society 17: 382-402.

Week 11
11/5 ~ Sheila Arias:  Hauer, FR, JA Stanford. 1982.  Ecology and life histories of three net-spinning caddisfly species in the Flathead River , Montana .  Freshwater Invertebrate Biology 1:18-29

11/5 ~ Michael Atchinson: Fry, B. 1991.  Stable isotope diagrams of freshwater food webs. Ecology 72:2293-2297.

11/5 ~ David Beatley: Hawkins, DP. 1984.  Substrate associations and longitudinal distributions in species of Ephemerellidae (Ephemeroptera:Insecta) from western Orgeon.  Freshwater Invertebrate Biology 3: 181-188.  

11/5 ~ Josh Berning: Forrester, GE, 1994.  Influences of predatory fish on the drift dispersal and local density of stream insects.  Ecology 75: 1208-1218.

Week 12
11/12 ~ Robert Borntraeger ~ Fausch, KD and TG Northcote. 1992.  Large woody debris and salmonid habitat in a small coastal BC stream. Can. J. Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences  49: 682-693.  

11/14 ~ Elizabeth Brackney ~ Manuel, S & ST Buckton & SJ Ormerod. 2000.  Testing large-scale hypotheses using surveys: the effects of land use on the habitats, invertebrates and birds of Himalayan rivers. Journal of Applied Ecology 37:756-770.

Week 13
11/19 ~ Mike Colvin  ~ Jenkins, RKB & SJ Ormerod. 1996. The influence of a river bird, the dipper, on the behaviour & drift of its invertebrate prey.  Freshwater Biology 35: 45-56.

11/21 ~ Justin Broglio  ~ Rushton, SP, D Hill & SP Carter. 1994.  The abundance of river corridor birds in relation to their habitats: a modeling approach.  Journal of Applied Ecology 31: 313-328. 

11/21 ~ Beth Colket  ~ Martin, DW & JC Chambers. 2001. Effects of water table, clipping, and species on Carex nebrascensis and Poa pratensis in riparian meadows.  Wetlands 21: 422-430.

Week 14 ~ Thanksgiving/Fall Break

Week 15
12/3 ~ Kate Hall ~ Jones, EBD, GS Helman, JO Harper & PV Bolstad. 1999. Effects of riparian forest removal on fish assemblages in Southern Appalachian Streams.  Conservation Biology 13: 1454-1465.

12/3 ~ Tiffany Lamb ~ Scrimgeour, GJ & S Kendall. 2002.  Consequences of livestock grazing on water quality and benthic algal biomass in a Canadian natural grassland plateau.  Environmental Management 29: 824-844.

12/3 ~ Doug Herzog ~ Hancock, PJ. 2002.  Human impacts on stream-groundwater exchange zone.  Environmental Management 29: 763-781.

12/3 ~ Chis Conklin ~  Stanford, JA, JV Ward et al. 1996.  A General Protocol for Restoration of Regulated Rivers.  Regulated Rivers: research and management 12: 391-413.  

12/5 ~ Matt McGregor ~ Friedman, JM, WR Osterkamp, ML Scott & GT Auble. 1998. Downstream effects of dams on channel geometry and bottomland vegetation: regional patterns in the Great Plains.  Wetlands 18: 619-633.  

12/5 ~ Mike Freeland ~ Mahoney, JM and SB Rood. 1998.  Streamflow requirements for cottonwood seedling recruitment ~ an integrative model. Wetlands 18: 634-645.

12/5 ~ Eric Larson ~ Richter, BD and HE Richter. 2002.  Prescribing flood regimes to sustain riparian ecosystems along meandering rivers.  Conservation Biology 14: 1467-1478.

12/5 ~ Eldon Oyadomari  ~ Baringa, M. 1996. A recipe for river recovery? Science 273: 1648-1650.

Week 16
12/10 ~ Amy Pinson ~ Graf, W.L. 1999.  Dam nation: a geographic census of American dams and their large-scale hydrologic impacts.  Water Resources Research 35: 1305-1311.

12/10 ~ Jason Pyron ~ Church, M. 1995.  Geomorphic response to river flow regulation: case studies and time-scales.  Regulated Rivers: research and management 11: 3-22.

12/10 ~ Rob Scheuermann ~ Ligon, FK, WE Dietrich and WJ Trush. 1995. Downstream ecological effects of dams.  BioScience 45: 183-192.

12/10 ~ John Quintela ~ Sparks , RE. 1995.Need for ecosystem management of large rivers and their floodplains.  BioScience 45: 168-182.

12/12 ~ Jesse Schaffer ~ Schmidt, JC, RH Webb, RA Valdez et al. 1998.  Science and values in river restoration in the Grand Canyon .  BioScience 48: 735-747.

12/12 ~ Cameron Sponseller ~ Toth , LA , SL Melvin, DA Arrington and J Chamberlain. 1998.  Hydrologic manipulations of the channelized Kissimmee River : implications for restoration. BioScience 48: 757-764.

12/12 ~ Kim Takeuchi ~ Collins, BD, and DR Montgomery. 2002. Forest development, wood jams and restoration of floodplain rivers in the Puget Lowland , Washington .  Restoration Ecology 10: 237-247

12/12 ~ Stefan Yauchzee ~ Bayley, PB. 1991. The flood-pulse advantage and the restoration of river-floodplain systems. Regulated Rivers: research and management 6: 75-86.