WEEKLY  SCHEDULES  AND  READINGS
WEEK 1 | WEEK2 | WEEK 3: Sat 2/23, Sun 2/24, Draft Reports Guidelines | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5 | RETURN TO SYLLABUS
(Schedules etc. subject to modification)

Note: 2Individual projects draft written reports due this Sunday 2/24 (Draft Reports Guidelines)
 
 

email re: "special note re gear for this weekend" Friday, 2/22/08  Hi all for this weekend, please be sure to bring extra gear for staying warm.  Specifically - On Saturday at Gold Lake - forecast is possibility of snow, moderate winds, mostly cloudy, & highs in the 30's.  In spite of these T's, we'll be out on the lake, with high exposure for a couple of hours and dealing with cold water (will it be clear or full of aquatic life? we'll see).  Insulated boots if you have them, and good layers including wind pants & wind-proof jacket will be a good idea. On Sunday, we'll be starting early for birding in Allenspark and Wild Basin.  In Allenspark we'll be standing quietly in a cold drainage with little sun (with luck looking at neat overwintering birds).  So here too, bring warm layers, good hat - a thermos with hot liquids a nice addition.   Forecast is for 'breezy' meaning relatively strong winds (20-25 mph), highs warmer than Sat but we'll be back from the field before those are reached. Please bring *binoculars and a bird book if you have them.  As before, check the website for readings and additional info. See you tomorrow, Tim

Saturday – 23 Feb 08
FORECAST

8:30a – Weather briefing · Review last weekend's 'Lessons'

• Key to Sheryn's Winter Mammal Worksheet KEY (pdf, 70k) - see last week for worksheet

• & Readings: LC Chapter 5

• Resources:
• Winter Limnology of 3 Colorado Mtn Lakes (pdf, 3M)
• The Ecology of Alpine Streams (pdf, 220k)

• Bring: @Field Journal, pack lunch. If you have: Sorels (or equivalent insulated boots), Hand lens
• 2 Handouts:
• Hydrolab profile datasheet (pdf, 90k) from Oklahoma Water Resources Board
• Map: Directions to Gold Lake (pdf, 40k) from <http://www.goldlake.com/info/lgmap.html>

• Links: Lake sampling equipment –
• CTD Profiler = Hydrolab, calibration protocol
• Universal Sediment Corer
• Other Resources:
• Human physiological response - Surviving cold shock in water... <http://www.exn.ca/video/?Video=exn20020325-icewater.asx>
• Related pages: Gold Lake info

• Results
• 2/23/08 Gold Lake - Winter Profiles (datasheet pdf, 390k), Blackboard image - sonde profiles and biota notes (jpg, 800k, c/o David Rosengarten), Phytoplankton Filters (jpg, 580k)
• Previous years' results -
• 2/26/06 Gold Lake - Winter Profiles (xls, 20k, c/o Jyh Huang), Phytoplankton Filters (jpg, 300k)
• Spring '05 Gold Lake - Winter Profiles (data: xls, 35k - plots: pdf, 190k), Phytoplankton Filters (jpg, 300k)

6:00p – Group Dinner

7:30p–Evening program with Guest lecture: (theme: Ecology of Other Cold Biomes):

Stream Ecosystems of the McMurdo Dry Valleys:  Surviving the dry years and the big floods – Josh Koch, INSTAAR, CU

• Related Links:
• McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER [Project Overview]
• Dry Valley Stream Hydrology and Ecology (Research Summary)
• Other Research Summaries
• More:
• Soil Biodiversity in Antarctica's Dry Valleys
• Antarctic Geography [see Landforms]
• Dry Valleys GIS project (VALMAP)
• Dry Valleys Map (pdf, 500k)

• Resources:
• Diane McKnight's Presentation (2/25/06) (ppt, 26M)
• McMurdo Dry Valley Diatom Diversity and Streamflow (pdf, 200k) - Esposito et al.  2006.  Antarctic climate cooling and response of diatoms in glacial meltwater streams.  Geophysical Research Letters, submitted

& Readings:

• LC Chapter 4: p93-125 (on mammals & birds),
• LC Chapter 7: p231-238 (=section on gallinaceous birds)

 
• Other Resources:
• No Room at the Top, by Paul Tolmé. National Wildlife, 44(1): 22-30 (Dec-Jan 2006) –  High mountain species and global warming.  Also listed for Winter Mammal Ecology (Week IV)
• Online article <from: http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=79&articleID=1147>
• Print article: (pdf, 8M)
• Song of the Alpine:  The Rocky Mountain Tundra Through the Seasons, by Joyce Gellhorn (2002, Johnson Books, Boulder).  Chapters 7, 10, 12 provide an description of animal responses to winter. - also listed for Winter Mammal Ecology (Week IV)
• Made for Each Other. A Symbiosis of Birds and Pines, by R.M. Lanner (1996, Oxford Univ Press).  This book nicely lays out the details of the coevolved interaction between Clark's Nutcracker (and related Corvids) and the 'Soft pines' (Limber Pine, Pinyon, and related spp.).  Chapter 6 discusses their ability to find pinenut caches in winter.

6:45a-12:00p – T Field: Birds of the Front Range montane forest and their winter ecology – Guest field instructor: Arvind Panjabi, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory

• Bring: @Field Journal, pack lunch. If you have: Binoculars, Field guide to birds
• 2 Handouts (Maps):
• MRS to Allenspark (pdf, 160k)
• Wild Basin Winter Trails (pdf, 120 k) [from http://www.rockymountainnp.com/Maps/RMNP-WildBasinWinter-Trails.PDF]
• Resources:
• The Birder's Handbook, by Paul Ehrlich, David Dodson, & Darryl Wheye (1988, Simon & Schuster, NY).
• See essays on: Temperature regulation and behavior, p 149ff. / Metabolism, p 325ff. / Irruptions, p 639 /  Winter feeding by redpolls and crossbills, p 641ff.
• Mammal and bird species lists for Niwot Ridge (alpine areas):
• <http://www.colorado.edu/mrs/spplists.html>
• <http://culter.colorado.edu/NWT/site_info/flora_and_fauna.html>
• <http://culter.colorado.edu/Field_trip/animals.html>
• More:
• Recent Colorado bird sitings: http://lists.cfo-link.org:8080/read/?forum=cobirds
• Xcel Energy's Bird Cams: variety of raptors in nests <http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/BirdCam.asp>
• For more info see Hawkquest: <http://www.hawkquest.org/>
• Bill Schmoker's bird photography site
• Other Links: RMNP, Park Maps [Simple Map (gif, 38k)]

• Results
• Winter Ecology Bird List from 2005, 2006, 2008 (xls, 24k)
• 2008 bird field observations for Allenspark & Wild Basin - Blackboard image (jpg, 1.8M, c/o David Rosengarten)

1:30-4:00 – T Lab: Overwintering birds of Front Range montane forest and alpine tundra: Winter adaptations

2 Handout: Winter Ornithology Study Guide by Arvind Panjabi (pdf, 70k)

• Resources:
• Colorado Birds. A Reference to Their Distribution and Habitat, by R. Andrews & R. Righter (1992, Denver Museum of Natural History.  ISBN 0-916278-68-9, $25).
• Atlas of Wintering North American Birds.  An Analysis of Christmas Bird Count Data, by Terry Root (1988, Univ of Chicago Press.  ISBN 0-226-72540-5)
• The Birder's Handbook, by Paul Ehrlich, David Dodson, & Darryl Wheye (1988, Simon & Schuster, NY).

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, by D.A. Sibley (2003, Knopf)

• 2Individual projects: Draft written reports due (by email)

Draft Written Reports Guidelines – The draft written reports are to reflect where you are currently in your project research.   The farther along you are, the more material on which I will be able to give you feedback. Format: text file (Word .doc, preferably).  PowerPoint is ok if the draft's file size is <2 M (to ease emailing), larger if delivered via memory stick. in outline form or more fully composed text w/ bullets think about what will be the easiest to later transfer into a PowerPoint structure. be sure to give citations of papers you're using ("Literature Cited"). see Guidelines for Final Presentations

Course CD and website including all internal links © 2008 T. Kittel.  All rights reserved.  All copyrighted material on this CD and website is made available for limited educational use only (commerical use strictly prohibited).

rev.  27 Feb 08