Assessment 5 – Trophic Interactions
Use Web of Science, the literature cited section of your texts, and/or other literature search engines to find 6 primary literature papers related to the effects of disease on trophic interactions (e.g. predator-prey, food webs, trophic cascades, competition, mutualism). For each paper, write a paragraph to explain the main points and how the paper fits into the topic of “Effects of Disease on Trophic Interactions”.
At the end, write a summary paragraph to explain any major trends you see across the literature regarding the effects of disease on trophic interactions. For example, is one type of interaction more studied than another?, does most or very little of the research seem to have applications for management?, do most of the studies focus on diseases of dominants or keystones?, do most of the papers focus on interactions between two trophic levels or interactions between multiple trophic levels?.
See grading criteria.
Note – Once you find a few papers, you may find others by looking in the literature cited sections of the papers you have.
Grading Criteria
Spelling and Grammar 3 pts
Use complete sentences with appropriate punctuation. Use the spelling and grammar checker on your computer. If you have trouble with writing in general, go to the Writing Center or have a friend/classmate read over your paper and point out errors.
Relevance 4 pts
All selected papers are relevant to the topic of “Effects of Disease on Community Ecology and/or Trophic Interactions”.
Paper Synopses 12 pts
The synopsis of each paper is accurate, complete, and comprehensible. The statement about how the paper relates to the topic is thoughtful and logical.
Conclusion/Synthesis 6 pts
The student makes astute and clear observations about the similarities and differences among the papers and how those similarities and differences might be used to make inferences about the current state of the field (i.e. what we know now and what the hot topics are) and about future directions needed in the field of “effects of disease on community ecology and trophic interactions”.