HOW TO WRITE A

LAB REPORT

Week 4
Today’s Agenda
1. PowerPoint What’s due?
2. Lab Report Work • WS4, & WS5 (due today)
3. Questions? • Work on lab report
 Intro

Title
Methods
Results

• Keep CONCISE
• Brief but descriptive
Discussion
Abstract
• “Back of the book”
• Summarizes the main sections of
your lab report
What was our main question?
What did we do?
What did we find?
What ecological conclusions
can we draw from this?
• Should be ONE paragraph
Introduction

• Funnel down: Start with broad ecological concepts then zoom into what
we’re actually doing.
• Literature review
• background on ecological concepts
• Use your sources- back up your hypothesis with peer review literature (Google
scholar, Databases, etc.)
• Don’t directly quote- summarize the main idea

• Make sure to clearly state hypothesis- it’s ok to say “It was

hypothesized...”
• Why what we’re doing matters (1-2 sentences)
• Identifies gap in existing knowledge
Experimental Design
• Experiments impose a treatment
on a subject
Experiment = deliberate
manipulation that can be measured

• Don’t confuse an experiment

with a survey
Survey = an area is studied and/or
quantified, but NOT manipulated
What is your Question?
• Develop a hypothesis
Explain a phenomenon
Formulate a specific, observable prediction
• Must be based on some knowledge about the subject: primary resources
• WHY is this going to happen?
Must provide a process for your prediction
• Describe a mechanism
• HOW is this going to happen?
Study Design
• Measurement/quantification
How can you collect quantitative data
that will lend itself to meaningful
interpretation?
• Must provide direct support for
your hypothesis
• If you can’t provide direct support,
you must adjust the focus of your
hypothesis.
How do you compare the measured
results to eliminate background
effects?
Study Design
• Predictions/Results
Part of hypothesis should include
specific, quantitative predictions of
what you expect to see in collected data
• Explain/predict treatment effects in
numerical results
• Consider how you can show this on a
graph
May be useful do produce a graph that depicts
predicted results in generic terms
Competition
• Species interactions influence
community dynamics
• Limited resources lead to
specialization
Increases differences between
populations
Competition: Definitions
• Emlen (1973)
Interspecific competition occurs when two or more species experience
a depressed growth rate or a depressed equilibrium-population level
attributed to their mutual presence in an area.
Competition: Definitions
• Generally speaking:
competition can be defined as an
interaction between organisms or
species, in which the fitness of one
is lowered by the presence of
another
Competition
• biological process that occurs
between organisms that compete for
some limited resource (nutrients,
light, food, water, etc.)
• The ability of an individual to
interfere with/inhibit the survival
and/or growth of other individuals
 Types of Competition

Intraspecific competition Interspecific competition

between members of the same species between members of different species

Individuals of the same species should have individuals of different species should have
similar resource requirements relatively different resource requirements
Competition: Mechanisms
• Interference competition
occurs directly between individuals via aggression when the
individuals interfere with foraging, survival, reproduction of others,
or by directly preventing their physical establishment in a portion of
the habitat. (typical in animal populations)
A form of competition that involves a fight or other active interaction
among organisms.
Male-male competition in red deer during “rut” (breeding season) is
an example of interference competition.
In plants, allelopathy is a form of interference competition
Competition: Mechanisms
• Exploitation competition
occurs indirectly through a common limiting resource
which acts as an intermediate. For example the use of
the resource(s) depletes the amount available to others,
or they compete for space.
A form of competition that revolves around the superior
ability to gather resources rather than an active
interaction among organisms for these resources.
In some cases, species compete by capturing resources
faster than their competitors (exploitation competition).
Some plant species, for example, can extract water and
nutrients from the soil faster than surrounding species
Competition: Niche
Formation
• Habitat – where you live
• Niche – what you do (role in the
environment)
• Two types of niches
Fundamental: the overall potential
conditions under which a viable population
can be maintained.
Realized: the precise nature of an
organisms niche as dictated by competing
species and predators.
• Species can coexist by occupying different
niches in a habitat.
Materials and Methods
• Keep the voice consistent
• If you say “The temperature was recorded” stick with that
voice- don’t switch to “We took the temperature.”

• What did we do? What was the date? Was it cloudy?

Note any details that may affect our results.
• REPLICABLE
• Do not use bullet points
• Do not state results
Materials and Methods
• Be precise in all measurements! Know what your
units are!
• How did you perform your analysis? What statistics
were involved? What program did you use to make
calculations?
• Write as if you were submitting to a journal
Results
• Tables and figures go here!
• Make sure to write a narrative- don’t just
attach your graphs/tables- describe the
general trends and state your p-values.
• Detailed captions- make sure to state p-
values
• Refer to your figures/tables in the narrative
(Figure 1)
• Make sure to have all key components of
graph (axes labels, legend, etc.)
Results
• Write as if you had to describe the
trends and statistics without
showing the figure. What are the
important relationships? What are
the overall trends? Are any of them
statistically significant?
Discussion
• The BEEF of your paper

• Return to your work cited

• Should connect with the introduction: What’s the

answer to the question we posed?

• Is our hypothesis supported or not?

• Why is this relevant ?

• How does this relate to the wider field of biology? How

might we apply our findings?

• Revisit your answer, is there more data needed

anywhere to support your claims? How might you
obtain it?

• Future research plans? How may we improve on our

materials/methods?
WHEN IN DOUBT CONSULT
THE RUBRIC OR ME!