BU Multi Trophic Species Interactions Shape Seascape Scale Coral Summary – Description
Construct an Extended Summary of the paper attached by following the instructions indicated here. (View below)
An example of an extended summary will be provided below:
Divide your summary in seven (7) sections, and provide each heading:
1. Importance/Introduction:
Write one to two sentences of how the topic relates to a bigger field and/or why it is important to talk about it. The sentences should be comprehensible to a general scientific audience. Do not include jargon.
Example: If my topic is development of bird duets (it would be very specific and not attractive to a broad audience if I jump right to talk about bird duets), I could start with:
Importance: Vocal communication is vital in many animal species, including humans.
With this sentence, I am bringing in people interested in communication (not just duetting) AND I am saying that it might be of importance to our own species.
I will avoid mentioning concepts like “duet codes” in these sentences, because few people know what they are. Even other biologists might not know what I am talking about (duetting jargon). You need to find a balance between providing enough detail without using obscure language. For example, saying in this introduction that this paper is about birds or explaining to your audience that birds are vertebrates, would be too broad. Your audience are your fellow biology classmates, they already know that birds are vertebrates. You are safe to assume that any concepts covered in General Biology will be well known by your audience and you shouldn’t include those in your introduction.
2. Background:
Write one or two facts that are known about your research topic. You must make sure the information presented is accurate, comprehensible to scientists in related disciplines and are key for the reader to understand the rationale and motivation of your study.
Example: (remember I just said that vocal communication is very important)
Background: For instance, birds use vocal communication, in the form of calls and songs to defend territories and attract mates (FACT 1: include original reference*). There are some bird species, especially in tropical regions, in which both the male and females sing coordinately to form duets (FACT 2: include original reference*).
I am still avoiding jargon, because non-bird people should understand what I am saying without searching obscure words. I am not saying anything that could be an opinion or that is inaccurate.
*These facts that are the foundation of the paper you are summarizing came from previous studies. You will have to find those studies, read them and cite them. They may come from different authors, or it may be a previous study from the same authors.
3. Problem statement:
Describe in one or two sentences the current gap(s) in our understanding of this field. The problem should be connected with the facts you just stated.
Example:
Problem statement: Ample research has been done about the ontogeny of songs in species in which only the male sings, finding that songbirds learn to sing during early development in a similar way that humans learn to speak. However, it is still unknown if duetting birds learn the additional skills required to duet during the early stages of their lives (Rivera-Cáceres et al., 2019).
Rivera-Cáceres, K. D., & Templeton, C. N. (2019). A duetting perspective on avian song learning. Behavioural processes, 163, 71-80.
In the first sentence, I connect my two facts with the problem, in the second I state the problem that I will address in the study.
4. Objective:
Identify the main objective of the research/project. The main objective should be to FILL the gap you stated there is. It should also be directly related to the main results If you have multiple secondary objectives, state them all. Your objective(s) should also contain the appropriate action verb(s).
You can find an extensive list of possible action verbs in this website:
Action Verbs List (Links to an external site.)
Example: remember gap = development of duetting skills in songbirds.
Objective: In this study, Rivera-Caceres and collaborators (2019) propose to determine (action verb) if the canebrake wren, a duetting songbird species, has an innate ability to produce temporally coordinated duets that follow specific song type pairing rules (duet codes).
Rivera-Cáceres, K. D., & Templeton, C. N. (2019). A duetting perspective on avian song learning. Behavioural processes, 163, 71-80.
Important note (applies to instructions 2-4)- if you struggle to figure out what statements to use to explain the facts, problem and solution proposed, use the following resource:
“And, But, Therefore” Statement | SESYNC (Links to an external site.)
The post explains the ABT (And, But, Then) method as a compelling way to tell a story, The main structure is:
[This is true and observable] and [this is true and observable OR this data exists], but [problem statement], therefore [this is how we are addressing the problem]
Example:
[birds sing to attract mates and defend territories] and [some birds perform duets] but [not a lot is known about how duets develop] then [I will compare what we can learn from development studies in non-duetting birds and propose new research avenues]
5. Hypotheses
State the hypotheses from the paper. The variables tested must be explicitly stated in the hypotheses and you must use the correct action verb to describe the relationship between the study variables.
Example:
Hypothesis: Rivera-Caceres and collaborators (2019) hypothesize that juvenile wrens obtain the ability to duet with proper coordination and follow specific duet codes while they sing duets with adults during their first two months of life.
The variables: temporal coordination, duet code adherence compared to adults and time.
6. Methods
Write 3-5 sentences explaining and summarizing your overall study design including: the data that was collected, how was the data collected and did they analyze the data. It must be clear which variables were measured and what those variables mean in terms of the hypotheses. The methods for a study that is already published are usually written in past tense, since the study already took place.
Example:
Methods: To test this hypothesis, Rivera-Caceres and collaborators (2019) followed juvenile canebrake wrens for 2 months during the breeding season and recorded them while they sing with adults everyday for 1 hr. They then used a song analysis software to look at the spectrograms of the duets recorded and measure the proportion of adult songs of one sex that the juveniles of the opposite sex overlap with their own songs and compare them with the proportion of adult songs of one sex that other adults of the opposite sex overlap with their own songs. Furthermore, the researchers determined the song types that the juveniles use to answer each song type of the adult of the opposite sex and compared it to the song types that adults use to answer each other.
Variables measured:
Proportion of songs overlapped by juveniles, proportion of songs overlapped by adults (this is a proxy of song coordination which is stated in the hypothesis)
Song type that juveniles use to answer the adult of the opposite sex, song type that adults use to answer the adult of the opposite sex (this is a proxy of duet code adherence, which is stated in the hypothesis)
7. Results
Write 2-3 sentences summarizing the main results of the paper. Each result must include a relationship between the variables measured. Each variable must be related to the variables proposed in the hypothesis.
Example:
Results: Rivera-Caceres and collaborators (2019) found that juvenile canebrake wrens overlap with a higher proportion of the adult’s songs than adults and that juveniles are less consistent on the song types they use to answer the adults songs, than other adults. Furthermore, they showed that juveniles overlap less with songs of adults and they are more consistent in their song type use to answer adults as time progresses.
Remember hypothesis: the main hypothesis was that juvenile wrens obtain the ability to duet with proper coordination and follow specific duet codes while they sing duets with adults during their first two months of life.
Obtain means that it is not innate, but that they will improve with time means: a) they should not be able to coordinate well at first and b) they should get better with time. How did the researchers measure it? By looking at how much juveniles’ songs overlap with adult songs compared to adults overlap with other adults’ songs over time. Regarding duet codes: juveniles are expected to use random song types at first while adults should be consistent with the code they use, but again, juveniles should improve with time. How was it measured? By looking at the song types that juveniles use to answer compared to adults across time.
8. Broader impacts
Provide 1-3 sentences of how the results contribute to the field and society, how the research provides a foundation for future research and why your research is novel.
Example:
Broader impacts: This was be the first study to show whether the ontogeny of vocal interaction rules of humans and songbirds are also analogous. They demonstrated that duetting interactions require learning, it would be very interesting to determine if other vocal interactions, like song type matching in songbirds develop in a similar fashion. Understanding how vocal interaction rules occur in duetting birds significantly advances our understanding of vocal learning in birds and further cement the importance of avian species as models for understanding human conversations and the processes of vocal learning more broadly.
Rivera-Cáceres, K. D., Quirós-Guerrero, E., Araya-Salas, M., Templeton, C. N., & Searcy, W. A. (2018). Early development of vocal interaction rules in a duetting songbird. Royal Society open science, 5(2), 171791.
Make sure every sentence in you summary is paraphrased.
Full example of extended summary:
Word count: 458 (not counting headings, in-text citations or references)
Importance: Vocal communication is vital in many animal species, including humans. For instance, birds use vocal communication, in the form of calls and songs to defend territories and attract mates. Background: There are some bird species, especially in tropical regions, in which both the male and females sing coordinately to form duets (Hall 2009). Ample research has been done about the ontogeny of songs in species in which only the male sings, finding that songbirds learn to sing during early development in a similar way that humans learn to speak (Rivera-Cáceres et al., 2018). Problem statement: However, it is still unknown if duetting birds learn the additional skills required to duet during the early stages of their lives. Objective: In this study, Rivera-Cáceres and collaborators (2019) propose to determine if a duetting songbird species, the canebrake wren, has an innate ability to produce temporally coordinated duets that follow specific song type pairing rules (duet codes). Hypothesis: They hypothesize that juvenile wrens obtain the ability to duet with proper coordination and follow specific duet codes while they sing duets with adults during their first two months of life. Methods: To test this hypothesis, the researchers followed juvenile canebrake wrens for 2 months during the breeding season and record them while they sing with adults everyday for 1 hr. Then, they used a song analysis software to look at the spectrograms of the duets recorded and measure the proportion of adult songs of one sex that the juveniles of the opposite sex overlap with their own songs and compare them with the proportion of adult songs of one sex that other adults of the opposite sex overlap with their own songs. Furthermore, they determined the song types that the juveniles use to answer each song type of the adult of the opposite sex and compare it to the song types that adults use to answer each other. Results: The study found that juvenile canebrake wrens overlap a higher proportion of the adult’s songs than adults and that juveniles are less consistent on the song types they use to answer the adults songs, than other adults (Rivera-Cáceres et al., 2019). Furthermore, they showed that juveniles overlap less songs of adults and they are more consistent in their song type use to answer adults as time progresses. Broader impacts: This was the first study to show whether the ontogeny of vocal interaction rules of humans and songbirds are also analogous. Since duetting interactions require learning, it would be very interesting to determine if other vocal interactions, like song type matching in songbirds develop in a similar fashion. Understanding how vocal interaction rules occur in duetting birds could significantly advance our understanding of vocal learning in birds and further cement the importance of avian species as models for understanding human conversations and the processes of vocal learning more broadly.
*Note: notice that as long as it’s obvious that you are still referring to the same study, you don’t have to include an in-text citation for every sentence. But when you change the subject and then come back to the same study, you need to reference it again.
References:
Hall ML. (2009). A review of vocal duetting in birds. Advances in Studies of Behavior 40, 67–121.
Rivera-Cáceres, K. D., Quirós-Guerrero, E., Araya-Salas, M., Templeton, C. N., & Searcy, W. A. (2018). Early development of vocal interaction rules in a duetting songbird. Royal Society open science, 5(2), 171791.
Rivera-Cáceres, K. D., & Templeton, C. N. (2019). A duetting perspective on avian song learning. Behavioural processes, 163, 71-80.
The post BU Multi Trophic Species Interactions Shape Seascape Scale Coral Summary first appeared on .
