Global change ecology and fluvial ecosystems

Communication of science is another valuable skill for any professional. Effective communication requires a deep understanding of the material and a committed effort to explain the material to the target audience. For this assignment, you will give a ~15 minute presentation as a group of 3, covering the assigned paper and similar scientific articles. Presentations should utilize the scientific literature, particularly through the use of figures and images preferentially over text. In general, grading will assess the clarity of the main idea presented, how well that message is supported in the presentation, and slide design. Presentations should rely more heavily on images and figures than text, where presenters interpret the figures and provide explanation. Please see the rubric for details on how the presentations will be scored in detail.

Ideally, students will approach a topic from physical, hydrological, biogeochemical, or ecological perspectives to broaden the discussion.  

Additionally, as the presentation is limited to ~15 minutes, the depth is quite limited. Students should thus focus on broad ideas. Summary is the key here. The presentation should provide a broad scale understanding of how the focus of your paper affects rivers, and why the reader should care. Given the title of this course, the role of global change is also relevant.

In general, the most important ideas within a paper can be found in the Abstract, Figures, and Tables. If after reviews these portions more understanding is needed, the Introduction and Discussion can be read. Reading and understanding every word of these papers is almost never a necessity.