Did you catch Dr. Jimenez-Soto's talk on coffee plantations? She was very recently given a prestigious award for a journal article that came from her research on ants in coffee plantations (Yay, Esteli!). If you'd like to, you can read more about her awardhere(Links to an external site.). But here's the low down on what this all means (She won the Peter Ashton Prize):

Denslow & Ashton Prizes

Since 2000theEditorial Board(Links to an external site.)has selected the recipient of theJulie S. Denslow Prize(Links to an external site.)(formerly the Award for Excellence in Tropical Biology and Conservation), which recognizes the outstanding paper published inBiotropicain the previous calendar year. In recognition of the passion and creativity of early career scholars, in 2015 the Board also began recognizing theoutstanding article by a student with thePeter Ashton Prize(Links to an external site.). Criteria for selecting the papers to receive these awards include clarity of presentation, a strong basis in natural history, well-planned experimental or sampling design, and the novel insights gained into critical processes that influence the structure, functioning, or conservation of tropical systems

Extra Credit Assignment

1. Please read thearticle
   
   
   that Dr. Jimenez-Soto won the award for. You may skip reading the Methods section if you prefer to do so. I'd like you to give it a crack if you're up for the challenge though. In that case, feel free to skip over the part about her mathematical analysis.


2. In your own words, write up a 1-2 page response on your understanding of the research she discusses. Please be sure to apply the knowledge you've acquired from this class to your discussion. In other words, convince me that you learned something about ecology from the recent modules. :)


3. Submit it to me here. It's worth up to 10 points to you.