THE ECOLOGICAL QUESTION:

Do fish predators experience feast and famine?

ECOLOGICAL CONTENT:

animal energetics, energy balance, trophic status, feeding strategies, predator prey relations

WHAT STUDENTS DO:

Students use a spreadsheet to examine the relationship between fish with empty stomachs and their food sources.

SKILLS:

Using a spreadsheet to make a simple figure (less advanced students); sorting data and calculating simple statistics, such as mean and standard deviation (more advanced students).

ASSESSABLE OUTCOMES:

Written interpretation of a figure, and/or written explanation of the analysis results for explaining the relationship between fish with empty stomachs and their food sources, figure from spreadsheet data, written explanation of mean/standard deviation, written analysis of the published paper.

SOURCE:

Arrington, D. A., K. O. Winemiller, W. F. Loftus, and S. Akin. 2002. How often do fishes "run on empty"? Ecology 83(8): 2145:2151. Ecological Archives E083-038-A1 www.esapubs.org/archive/ecol/E083/038/default.htm

AUTHOR:

Charlene D'Avanzo, School of Natural Sciences, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, 01002, cdavanzo@hampshire.edu