Soil 437 Soil Biology Fall 2008 home page
Assignments and Class Information
9/3/08 Textbook: the bookstore apparently didn't order enough textbooks (Sylvia et al, 4th edition), and/or they were unavailable. I'm asking them to track down some more copies. I've loaned copies of the 3rd edition to a couple of you, please let me know if I missed anybody and we can work on it. I'll make sure that I post reading assignments that are applicable to both books. Thanks for your patience!
9/4/08 Reading (in textbook): Chapters 1, 2, 5, 6
9/4/08 Please also take a look at Chapters 3 & 4 in the textbook, don't worry about detailed reading at this time because we will revisit much of this material later. But look for concepts and terms that parallel what we have talked about in class.
9/11/08 We've touched on the topic of primary nutritional groups (autotrophs vs. heterotrophs; chemotrophs vs phototrophs; organotrophs vs. lithotrophs). Although an information source like Wikipedia needs to be used with caution, here is about as succinct a definition of those groups as I've found. Please check it out and become comfortable with these terms!
9/11/08 TK just found a typo in the review article I handed out to you. How embarrassing. Look on page 5, under 'Prokaryote contributions to carbon cycling', about halfway down the page. It says "....most significantly the nitrate- and nitrite-oxidizing nitrifiers..." That's wrong, it's supposed to say "...ammonium- and nitrite-oxidizing..." Please fix it on your copy, you will be the only people in the world with the correct version (until the next edition of the book anyway).
9/15/08 Sorry I've been slow in getting a take-home quiz posted, it should be up by tomorrow and won't be due until a week after it's posted (i.e. not this Thursday!)
9/16/08 As promised, here is the take-home quiz. Due in class next Tuesday (9/23). I decided not to include a dilution problem, I think we've spent enough time on that technique in lab and again in class. Look over your notes etc. about that, and if anything remains confusing then ask me or TK during lab, or during our exam review session which will be in the not-too-distant future.
9/16/08 Check the syllabus page, I've now added the specific dates for the first two exams. Review sessions will be during the class session preceding each exam.
9/16/08 new reading assignment: Chapters 7 & 8 in the textbook (corresponding chapters on Cyanobacteria & Algae, and Fauna, for those with the older edition)
9/18/08 additional reading: http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/nematode/
9/30/08 Here are review questions for Exam 1 (which will be on Thursday, 10/9, in class!) Assignment: please cut & paste these into your word processor, answer the questions, and bring 2 (!) copies of the questions and your answers to our exam review session on Tuesday 10/7. One copy to turn in for 10 points (out of 100) on the exam, and one copy to keep for your own study. You will get the 10 points for turning in your answers, even if they are incorrect (but do your best!)
9/30/08 Field trip to the UI Experimental Forest today! Please meet the vans in the parking lot across from Ag Science building (Law School parking lot) at 2:00 p.m. Expect hot weather, some brushy thickets, logging slash, and slightly swampy areas to walk through. Proably a few wasps although they weren't too bad out there yesterday. Might be a good idea to bring some water. We'll try to get you back by 4:20-4:30, let me know if being a few minutes late would cause hardship for you.
10/14/08 Reading assignment: Chapter 13 (carbon cycling)
10/20/08 Regarding lichen question on last exam (question #27), you may have answered either "green algae" or "cyanobacteria" (or sometimes both!) for the autotrophic component of a lichen. Lichens with cyanobacterial symbionts have the ability to fix nitrogen, unlike those with algal symbionts, so they have a special place in my heart :-) However, there are more actual named species of lichens having algal symbionts (lichens are actually named for the fungal partner, making it more confusing, plus some older texts will call cyanobacteria "algae"...) Relative abundance/biomass of cyanobacterial vs algal lichens varies geographically and with climate, hard to get a handle on. Bottom line: either answer should have been ok, so if you lost a point for saying "algae" and not "cyanobacteria", let me know and I will restore it!
10/21/08 Please read this article on soil organic carbon and the global carbon cycle: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/crpsl2/MF2548.pdf
11/6/08 Here are review questions for Exam 2 (which will be on Thursday, 11/13, in class!) Assignment: please cut & paste these into your word processor, answer the questions, and bring 2 (!) copies of the questions and your answers to our exam review session on Tuesday 11/11. One copy to turn in for 10 points (out of 100) on the exam, and one copy to keep for your own study. You will get the 10 points for turning in your answers, even if they are incorrect (but do your best!)
11/12/08 FOR THURSDAY'S EXAM: Please make sure to study and understand the "Farmer Jane" nitrogen graphs, and their implications, that were on the review handout! This material will be on the exam in some form, and will be worth mucho points!
11/17/08 Exams will be graded and ready to hand back on Thursday 11/20 (not tomorrow!) Meanwhile, I've posted the questions but the answers are taken down for now; see the following entry...
11/20/08 Exam Rehab: details in class today, exam questions are HERE
11/21/08 Here's the grading information I gave you in class yesterday
Exam 1 worth 20% of course grade
Exam 2 worth 20% of course grade
Exam 3 worth 20% of course grade (this is the "final" exam, it will be a regular 1-hr exam)
Quizzes and assignments: 40% of course grade, pick any 4 of the following 6 items to include (so 10% each):
-Takehome Quiz 1
- Lab writeup 1 (everyone got a score of 90% on this)
-Exam rehabilitation (worth 2 items, details below)
-Quiz 2 (Thursday 12/4 in class, details below)
-Biocontrol/damping-off Lab writeup (details to follow)
11/21/08 Exam rehab: worth up to 20% of your course grade (i.e., potentially worth as much as one exam). If you'd rather go with the two quiz grades plus the two lab writeup grades, you can opt out of doing this. Requirements: Due Tuesday 10/2, typed not handwritten, answer every exam question (even those you got right) since I will grade the whole thing. Open book, use any resources you want, working together is ok (but turn in your own copy). Don't be tempted to write essays, I'm looking for concise but correct answers. If you had a marginal answer for any question on the test but I gave you the points, please make sure it's an improved answer for this exercise (since it's open book, I'll grade it more rigorously). Don't forget processes that increase nitrogen pools for questions concerning those pools (e.g., mineralization of organic nitrogen in plant debris increases the ammonium pool). Remember that processes can be adding to a pool even while overall that pool is decreasing. I will consider "assimilation of ammonium and nitrate by microbes" to be the same as "immobilization of ammonium and nitrate", you can use either expression. Same for "mineralization" and "ammonification" of organic nitrogen. As requested, do NOT discuss dinitrogen fixation for this exam. Cellulose and lignin are not nitrogen-containing compounds, please don't try and tell me that they are! That's all I can think of for now, feel free to email me over break with concerns and I will get back to you asap.
11/21/08 The quiz on Thursday 12/4 will be short and in class, probably all short answer and multiple choice. It will cover (only) aspects of dinitrogen fixation and soilborne plant pathogens and biocontrol. I will have some review questions posted by Tuesday 12/2 that emphasize the salient points. Don't forget the relevant reading in the textbook (chapters 11, 15, 16, 22).
12/2/08 Here are review questions for Thursday's in-class quiz. You don't need to turn in answers to these, just be able to answer them on Thursday!
12/8/08 Here are review questions for Exam 3. Worth 10 points (out of 100) on Exam 3, turn in typed answers on Thursday 12/11). Don't forget to review previous exams in preparation for the upcoming one! Some material will reappear!
12/8/08 Final lab writeup (biocontrol experiment): Please write the lab up in a mini-journal article format (short introduction with rationale for the experiment, methods, results including graph(s)/table(s) as appropriate, short discussion). Probably about 3 pages typed would be appropriate. Nothing handwritten including graphs. Please get it to me (hardcopy, no email attachments) sometime before the final exam, either in class or put in my mailbox (in room Ag Science 241).