Guidelines for proposals
Proposals should be 1 to 2 pages, double-spaced (if you need to include figures or tables, you can utilize an extra page).
Explain your chosen topic and its relevance to community ecology.
Cite at least two published peer-reviewed works. You will cite more (>10) in your final paper on this topic, so ensure there is enough literature out there to support your paper.
We will elaborate on more specific details about your final paper and presentation, but the final paper will span an important topic in community ecology, giving background on:
Major relevant theories/hypotheses
Leading scientists working or who have worked on this topic
Important studies contributing to our current knowledge of that topic
What is still unknown or future directions concerning that topic
Challenges to our understanding of this topic
How scientists normally study this topic (examples of study designs)
Your opinions on the topic – why is it important? Have scientists focused on the right questions or studies? Have studies on the topic been ethical?
Examples of potential topics:
Mutualist-predator role-switching
Large herbivores in prairie systems
Seed dispersal in prairie systems
Frugivory in tropical forests
Climate change impacts on aquatic food webs
Climate change impacts on predatory megafauna
Inducible defenses in plants
Landscape of fear
Trophic cascades due to invasive species
Traditional ecological knowledge
Post-disturbance succession
“Inverted food webs” – systems with high predator biomass
Janzen-Connell effects
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis
“Invasional meltdown”
Novel ecosystems and non-native species