Winona State University
BIOL 406/506 - ORNITHOLOGY
Lab Synopses
____________________________________________


Eight lab "synopses" (25 points each) will be produced by students in Ornithology. These "synopses" will serve as summaries of the results of exercises we will conduct as a class. No dates have been assigned to these exercises, as they are highly weather-dependent. Each synopsis will be the equivalent of a "Results" section from a scientific paper, consisting of a written description of the results of the exercise as well as the data collected, summarized in either table or figure form. It will not include any introduction, methods, discussion, or literature citations. Please refer to the sample synopsis shown below for general format and expectations. Synopses will be due one week after completion of each exercise.

_______________________________________


The following exercises will be conducted during lab periods, and data gathered will form the basis for each synopsis:

-
Screech-owl winter diet analysis - pellet examination

- Winter bird census - City of Winona

- Nest box selection by Eastern Bluebirds - wood vs. PVC

-
Wood Duck use of wood and metal nest boxes

-
Waterfowl community comparison - Lake Winona vs. Mississippi River

-
Red-winged Blackbird territorial behavior - purple loosestrife wetland

-
Woodland bird habitat use - upland forest

-
Woodland bird habitat use - floodplain forest

- Territory Defense and Energy Conservation

_________________________________

Sample Synopsis

Results

            During a 4-week period in April-May 2011, I observed 215 territorial behaviors by American Robins and 777 territorial behaviors by Chipping Sparrows. (Please note that the preceding sentence is a TOPIC SENTENCE.  It begins the paragraph, and all other material within the paragraph relates to it.) Observations spanned 26 days, averaging 8 territorial behaviors/day for Robins and 30/day for Sparrows.  Behaviors included singing by territorial males (usually from a prominent perch such as a tree branch, house roof, or fence post), flying or running toward an intruder but stopping short (charge or threatening posture), chasing an intruder (usually in flight), and one-on-one fights (both birds pecking at and beating their wings against the other bird, usually with considerable vocalization).  (In this paragraph, I have presented introductory information to begin the Results.  This information summarizes the data collected into convenient pieces that are easy for the reader to comprehend.  It explains some simple things and gets the reader thinking in the direction that you want them to think.  Please note that I did not dive right in to the “hard data” in this paragraph, saving that for later.)
            Territorial activities of both species were dominated by singing, with this behavior accounting for 89 and 95% of all territorial behaviors by Robins and Sparrows, respectively (Figure 1).  (Again note the topic sentence to start the paragraph.  Also notice that I have drawn the reader’s attention to the figure where this information is depicted graphically, but I did so parenthetically.  I did not waste words by using a separate sentence to point out the figure [e.g., “This pattern is shown in Figure 1.”])  All other territorial behaviors each represented <5% of all observations in both species, with these other behaviors typically observed only once or twice per day per species.  (Here I got the point across that all other behaviors were used less frequently, without having to mention all specific numbers.)  Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests demonstrated that both American Robins (Chi-square = 466, df = 3, P <<0.001) and Chipping Sparrows (Chi-square = 2033, df = 3, P <<0.001) used singing more frequently than other behaviors while defending their territories.  In addition, a Chi-square contingency table test (Chi-square = 23.4, df = 3, P << 0.001) indicated that Chipping Sparrows used singing more frequently and other behaviors (especially charges) less frequently than American Robins when defending their territories.  (The previous two sentences presented the results of 3 statistical tests without wasting words unnecessarily.  The significance of the tests was explained within the two sentences, and all test details were included parenthetically, not distracting from the sentences.)
           


Figure 1.  Territorial behaviors observed in American Robins and Chipping Sparrows in suburban Winona, MN, during April-May 2011.  Sample sizes: American Robin = 215; Chipping Sparrow = 777.  (This description clearly explains what the graph depicts, and includes all details such as location and time period.  Note that the first “sentence” really isn’t a sentence, just a sentence fragment.  Anything depicted in a graph and not explained by the graph would need to be explained here.  For example, if I had used abbreviations to stand for the behaviors or the species, I would need to explain those abbreviations here.)


________________________________________________________



Return to
WSU Ornithology Home Page