GEG5224 Ecosystem Science - Technical Report
Summary
[Guideline length: 150 words. About 5 or 6 sentences summarising your entire report. Use the structured format below. Use the past tense. Do not include citations or references to figures or tables. Write this section last!]
Objective: [What did you investigate? Why?]
Methods: [What did you do?]
Results: [What did you find out?]
Conclusions: [What do your results mean? So what?]
1. Introduction
[One or two paragraphs, guideline length: 200-300 words. Keep tightly focussed on your specific topic! What is the problem your study addresses? Why is it important? This text should lead the reader directly to your research question. State your research question clearly and concisely at the end of the Introduction. Cite your sources using Harvard referencing.]
2. Methods
[Guideline length for this entire section: 300-400 words. Cite your sources using Harvard referencing.]
2.1 Simple Terrestrial Ecosystem Model – Soil Moisture (STEM-SM)
[Text: Give a brief overview of how you used STEM-SM to answer your research question. Start with a very brief overview of STEM-SM in two or three sentences. Then briefly explain the stock-and-flow diagram of the model, Figure 2.1.1. Cite the model documentation for further detail.]
[insert stock-and-flow diagram here.]
Figure 2.1.1. Stock-and-flow diagram of STEM-SM. [Explain the symbols used. The figure caption is not included in the report word count.]
2.2 Modifications to STEM-SM
[Text: Briefly describe your chosen ecosystem and its environmental inputs. Refer to Figure 2.1.1 showing the ‘average year’ of environmental inputs.]
[Insert figure here.]
Figure 2.1.1. Environmental inputs for model scenarios. (a) Incoming short-wave radiation. (b) Maximum evapotranspiration. (c) Frequency of rainfall events. (d) Mean depth of rainfall events. [Insert a multi-panel figure, showing a behaviour-over-time graph for each of the four environmental inputs. Since you are using monthly averages for the inputs, show only one year on the x-axis. Be sure to show the variable name and units on both x- and y-axes!]
[Text: Explain any changes you have made to the model parameters, if relevant. Refer to Table 2.1.1, giving all parameter values used for your ecosystem.]
Table 2.1.1. Parameter values used in the simulations. [Hint: ‘parameters’ are fixed values and are represented in STEM-SM as ellipses.]
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Parameter
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Explanation
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Units
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Baseline value
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Source
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[parameter name]
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[brief description of what it is]
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[units]
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[value]
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[citation(s)]
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2.3 Scenarios
[Text: Explain the different scenarios used to answer your research question. If you explored changes in any of the soil or vegetation parameters, explain what you did here. State the simulation length, time step and algorithm (hint: check ‘Settings’).]
2.4 Quantitative analyses
[Text: Explain how you computed measures of resistance and resilience. Consider using a diagram (Figure 2.4.1 ….) to aid your explanation.)
3 Results and discussion
[Guideline length for this entire section: 700-800 words.]
3.1 Ecosystem dynamics for the baseline scenario
[Text: Verbally describe ecosystem dynamics for the baseline scenario(s). Refer to the behaviour-over-time graph(s), Figure 3.1.1. Report the main results, supported by selected data.]
[Insert figure here.]
Figure 3.1.1. Ecosystem dynamics for the baseline scenario. [You can use a multi-panel graph if needed. If so, label the parts (a), (b), (c), etc. and explain each part in the caption. E.g., ‘(a) Above-ground carbon. (b) ….]
[Text: Do the values of the stocks and flows produced by the model look reasonable compared with those for real ecosystems? Try to explain the pattern of behaviour-over-time. To help with this explanation, you may wish to consider the causal loops.]
3.2 [Sub-heading 2]
[Text: Describe results for the various scenarios.]
[Include additional figures and tables as needed. Be selective about what to include, e.g., representative results, best example of an interesting result.]
Figure 3.2.1. [Insert the title and caption for your figure. You can use a multi-panel graph if needed. If so, label the parts (a), (b), (c), etc. and explain each part in the caption. E.g., ‘(a) Above-ground carbon. (b) ….]
Table 3.2.1 Measures of resistance and resilience for each scenario. [Insert caption for the table.]
[Table goes here.]
[Text: Do your results agree or contradict the literature cited in your Introduction, or are they exceptions to the rule? Try to explain why. What additional research might resolve contradictions or explain exceptions?]
3.3 [Sub-heading 3] [Add or delete sub-headings as needed.]
[Text: What are the theoretical implications or practical applications of your results? Can the findings be extended to other situations or ecosystems? Do your findings help us to understand a broader topic?]
4. Conclusions
[Guideline length: 50-100 words. A short paragraph summarising the main outcomes of the study.]