BI 101 Online Lab Procedure

BI 101 Online Lab Procedure

Lab 3: Isle Royale

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lab you will be able to: ● Describe carrying capacity and how it relates to logistic growth. ● Discuss predator-prey cycles. ● Understand how changes to growing season can impact all organisms in a habitat.

Additional resources needed:

The following resources are located in the Week 3 “Research and Report” section of the Moodle course. ● Lab 3 Report: Use the report to answer some critical thinking questions and describe your

experience using the software. When complete, submit through the submission page in Moodle.

Introduction:

This lab requires you to have registered your SimUText software that you downloaded at the beginning of the term. Be sure to do this early in the week if you have not already done so. If you have trouble getting registered, it is imperative that you resolve any issues with the registration number provided in the ‘Technology Resources’ section of the course Moodle page before Friday afternoon since SimUText customer support may only available during normal business hours. ​Late submissions will not be accepted due to technical difficulties or lack of planning with the software registration​.

Procedure:

1. Log onto the SimUText software. Select “LAB: Isle Royale”.

2. There are 6 sections in the simulation. You will work through section 1 – 3 in order by using the “Next Page” navigation button at the bottom of the simulation screen. In order to receive full credit for this lab you must complete all the practice the first three sections.

3. Work through the assigned sections and answer questions in the Lab Report as you go. Don’t get too hung up on the math presented in the simulation, you are not required to have a detailed understanding of the logistic growth equation, just a strong understanding of logistical growth. You may find it helpful to review the practice module on population growth models if you are struggling with the concept.

4. Section 4, “An Extended Exploration: The t-Test” is beyond the scope of this class, and can be extremely challenging without prior knowledge of statistics. It is not required that you do this exercise.

5. Section 5, “Isle Royale Playground” does not have any specific questions or connection to questions in the lab report, but provides an opportunity to explore other questions you may have regarding this activity, so feel free to play around!

6. From the pulldown menu that lists all the sections in the simulation, select “Section 6: Graded Questions”. You must answer all of these questions and hit submit. Whereas the “correctness” of the practice questions in previous sections doesn’t impact your grade, these questions will, so be sure you have a strong understanding of the simulations before attempting this section. You can navigate back and forth between sections to view your previous answers if you need to review your responses.