Announcements

1
Announcements -- For lecture next week, read
Chapters 8 (Now read 1-9) -- For lab this week,
also read Chapter 13 No Colloquium this week (we
have boring faculty meetings) January 30 Joseph
Pfaller, Department of Biological Science,
FSU Scaling of morphology and bite-force
generation in the durophagous turtle
Sternotherus minor implications for ecological
performance throughout Development Loggerhead
musk turtles
2

• I. Purpose of this Course
• II. The Scientific Method
• What are Foragers?
• Decision Making by Foragers
• A. Types of decisions
• B. Balancing Costs and Benefits in Decisions
• C. Optimal Diet Model
• D. Spatial Distribution of Resources
• 1. The Ideal Free Distribution (IDF)
• 2. Marginal Value Theorem in Patches
• E. Lots of other models
• V. Dynamics of Forager-Resource Numbers
• A. Dynamics of predator and prey are tied
• B. Behaviors Associated with changes in
• numbers.

3
Marginal Value Theorem and Optimal Give-up time.
Can also make predictions about patch productivity
4
Marginal Value Theorem and Optimal Give-up time.
Can make predictions about search or travel times
5
Marginal Value Theorem and Optimal Give-up time.
Cowie, R. J. 1977. Optimal foraging in great
tits Parus major. Nature 268 137-139.
Cowie had birds search for mealworms in sawdust
filled pots in an aviary
6

• I. Purpose of this Course
• II. The Scientific Method
• What are Foragers?
• Decision Making by Foragers
• V. Dynamics of Forager-Resource Numbers
• Experimental Design and Analyses
• A simple how to primer on doing experiments.
• We will be very concerned about experimental
  design for your proposals.

7

• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses -- remember
  that Science progresses by rejecting among
  alternative hypotheses.
• Two general types of tests
• 1. Observational studies - two or more
• groups differ naturally in some aspect.
• 2. Experimental studies - two or more groups
• have been manipulated by the experimenter
• to be different in some aspect.
• -- often a treatment and control
• -- may just be 2 or more treatments

8
What is the difference between observational and
experimental studies? In general, experimental
tests provide more conclusive results than
observational tests. Groups that differ
naturally in one respect may also differ in
other, possibly unknown, respects making it
impossible to conclude that results observed are
due to one particular difference. WE WANT YOU TO
CONDUCT AN EXPERIMENTAL, NOT OBSERVATIONAL, TEST
FOR THIS CLASS.
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Example Mean SAT scores in Alabama and Florida.
Alabama has significantly higher scores

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Example Mean SAT scores in Alabama and Florida.

11

• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• 1. Number of replicates -- increasing number
  of replicates gives more confidence in average
  value.

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Height converter ALWAYS use metric in this
class
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• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• 1. Number of replicates -- increasing number
  of replicates gives more confidence in average
  value.

14

• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• 1. Number of replicates
• 2. Distribution of replicates
• -- segregated
• -- random
• -- systematic
• -- randomized block

15

• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• 1. Number of replicates
• 2. Distribution of replicates
• C. Types of Data collected
• Two broad categories
• 1. Discrete categorical data, e.g.
• colors of flowers, gender,
• -- hard to get average
• 2. Continuous pts. along a continuum,
• for example
• time, weight, temperature
• -- can get mean, falls on scale

16

• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• C. Types of Data collected
• 1. Discrete
• 2. Continuous
• Example of different Universities.
• -- how many students do they have?
• -- to what conference do they belong?
• -- do they have a football team?
• -- how many Rhodes Scholars do the have?
• -- what is the average temperature in December?

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• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• C. Types of Data collected
• 1. Discrete
• 2. Continuous
• D. Sampling units
• Variable class or category of data
• Observation individual measure of a single
  variable
• Population group of a similar kind, arbitrarily
  defined
• Sample set of observations from a population
• Important distinction we use a sample from a
  population, but can only assume that the results
  apply to the entire population.

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• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• C. Types of Data collected
• D. Sampling units
• E. Summarizing data using numbers or graphs
• Discrete data numbers or percent per category
• bar graphs of frequencies or numbers most useful

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• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• C. Types of Data collected
• D. Sampling units
• E. Summarizing data using numbers or graphs
• Discrete data numbers or percent per category
• bar graphs of frequencies or numbers most useful

20

• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• C. Types of Data collected
• D. Sampling units
• E. Summarizing data using numbers or graphs
• Continuous data means, variances, range
  frequency distribution or bar graphs with
  variance indicated.

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• VI. Experimental Design and Analyses
• A. Types of Tests of Hypotheses
• B. Replication
• C. Types of Data collected
• D. Sampling units
• E. Summarizing data using numbers or graphs
• Continuous data
• Mathematical descriptions of how variable a set
  of observations
• are include variance
• s2
• Also could use standard deviation, confidence
  intervals, standard
• error of the mean. We will use variance, which
  assumes a normal
• distribution.

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• Experimental Design and Analyses
• Class data
• 1. facebook checks per day
• 2. facebook friends
• 3. Have you been to the third floor (upstairs) of
  the Dirac Science library
• 4. Who should Kate end up with Jack, Sawyer or
  you have no idea what I am talking about.
• How do you get to FSU most days?
• Are you female or male?

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Past Student Projects Squirrel reactions to
humans during foraging in rural vs. urban
environments Effect of patch quality and density
on the foraging habits of the fire ant,
Solanopsis invicta The effect of resource
availability on ant lion pit formation The
effect of color on the foraging behavior in fire
ants Inter- and intraspecific competition
influences on height as a function of plant
densities in field mustard and raddish The
effect of perceived predation risk on foraging
behavior in red-winged blackbirds
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Past Student Projects (cont.) The effect of
Littoraria irrorata density on Spartina stalk
preference during tidal vertical migrations The
relationship between cricket chirp rate and
survival The effect of atmospheric oxygen levels
on the growth rate of seedlings of a parasitic
angiosperm The amount of preference domestic
horses demonstrate for peat moss when compared to
Bermuda grass and peanut hay Variation in food
size and patch replenishment rate A test of the
Ideal Free Distribution Theory on gulls. The
effect of environmental enrichment on the
foraging behaviors of the common goldfish