Freeman, D.C., Miglia, K. and Wang, H. 1996. Laboratory Exercises
for General Ecology and Evolution. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co. Dubuque,
IA.
This laboratory manual is a fairly informal collection of exercises, with
no standard format from exercise to exercise. The labs range from straight
ecological field trips to molecular phylogeny practicals. The instructions
to teachers and students are thin and many of the labs need a little more
explanation than are typically given in the manual. Given the format of this
manual, I think it is of limited value for instructors.
Labs with evolutionary applications:
2. Competition - plant lab using spinach and bean plants to demonstrate
concepts of resource limitation.
6. Computer Simulation – Population Growth. Exercise using Populus.
8a & 8b. Population Genetics. Demonstrate genetic drift and selection
using beads.
9. Mutation – Hands on lab using E.coli to observe spontaneous mutation.
10. Predator-prey coevolution – Students play the part of predator and examine
hunting adaptations on different types of prey (beans).
14. Phylogenetics: A phenetic approach. Reconstruct phylogeny using plant
specimens.
15. Molecular phylogeny. Reconstruct phylogeny of existing molecular data
using MEGA software (Molecular Evolutionary Genetic Analysis). No information
on the specifics of MEGA are given, although the instruction manual for MEGA
is cited.