Assignment 1: Direct impact of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity

Due January 26 at the beginning of class
Worth 10 points - see the breakdown.

The purpose of this assignment is to describe an observable effect of climate change on populations, communities or ecosystems. These effects would be similar to what Kolbert describes in Chapter 4 such as the shift in distribution of butterfly populations. What direct evidence can ecology contribute to understanding the overall impact of climate change.

Find a scientific article from a magazine (such as Discover, Scientific American, Audobon, that has advertisements) or journal (such as Nature, Science, or Trends in Ecology and Evolution.) This article needs to be a report of direct observations by ecologists. Do not use an article that focuses on general impacts that might cause disruption of ecosytem processes. Selecting a good article from several that you find is the key to being able to do this assignment easily and well.

Your paper should be short (1 to 2 pages). It should cover the following points:

2 points - summary of the context of the problem being studied

2 points - scientific approach, including methods and study area

2 points - explanation of the direct effect observed

2 points - implications and importance of their finding

2 points - spelling, grammar and clarity