Questions for BIO2082 lectures by Rod Wilson by Isabel Dinnis

Equations

2023-10-04 19:30:21 UTC

Do we need to know and understand all of the equations from the textbooks? And will they be required in any of our assessments?

Referencing the textbook

2023-10-10 18:31:14 UTC

When doing reading from the textbook, how would we reference anything when it comes to our assessment essay. The online page number for the same paragraph appears to keep changing on different devices. Would referencing the chapter in the book be sufficient.

Do we need to do reading on blood buffers in relation to co2?

2023-10-13 09:48:50 UTC

Equations - Answer from Rod

2023-10-17 13:36:38 UTC

You do not need to know all the questions from the textbook. The assessments are all online open book anyway (lab reports and essay exam in January), so any equations you use would not have to be memorised.

Referencing from textbook - Answer from Rod

2023-10-17 13:57:31 UTC

Good question. If referencing any textbooks in your writing, you simply cite the author(s) and year as per usual (e.g. Hill et al., 2021) within the text of your writing, then provide full reference details in the reference list at the end of your report/essay etc. There is no need to give details of the specific pages you are citing information from, as long as you cite the relevant chapter title and the chapter page numbers.

Reading on blood buffers - Answer from Rod

2023-10-17 13:59:09 UTC

Good question, and you have presumably picked up on blood buffers playing a role in CO2 transport in blood. Given that blood buffers do influence the ability of blood to transport CO2, it would be relevant and useful to include such information if you wrote an essay that was about blood gas transport.

Reading in general for module

2023-10-23 09:21:16 UTC

for additional reading, would just reading the textbook be sufficient or do we need to be referencing other papers in our january exams. Could you still pass the exam well with just lectures and textbook notes.

Reading in General - Answer from Rod

2023-10-23 09:55:40 UTC

You could certainly pass the January exam (40-49 %) if your essay only included content from the lectures and textbook. However, whether you could achieve higher than that would depend on the question itself, and whether it asked for content for which scientific papers (e.g. those available on ELE from the lecturers) provided important additional content and context.

2023-10-26 13:05:55 UTC

What's the difference between the absolute and relative difference between the mean values, and how do you calculate the absolute difference

Absolute v. Relative Difference - ANSWER

2023-10-27 08:31:59 UTC

The absolute difference between two values is simply the arithmetic difference, i.e. one minus the other. So for two values, 30 and 10, the absolute difference would be = 30-10 = 20. The relative difference is the ratio of the two values. So for two values, 30 and 10, the relative difference would be = 30 divided by 10 = 3. In other words one of the values is 3-times larger (or 3-fold larger) than the other.

2023-10-30 14:20:29 UTC

What does N mean in the context of the lab report?

for the 10 mark question will outside reading be credited as it is not mentioned in the question as it is for the 15 mark

2023-10-30 16:06:40 UTC

Structure

2023-11-01 19:32:23 UTC

Should we structure the longer questions as we would a short essay? i.e. should we include and introduction and conclusion?

What does "N" mean? - Answer

2023-11-02 20:12:30 UTC

In statistics N (or sometimes n) refers to the number of replicates in a dataset. In Practical 1 this means the number of individual crabs within each treatment (i.e. within the red colour morph and green colour morph data). They both have the same N value in this particular case.

Outside reading query - Answer

2023-11-02 20:14:42 UTC

Question 3, worth 10 marks, does not require outside reading to support your answer. However, if you did include citation of relevant outside to support this answer that would be an excellent first class attribute.

Structure - Answer

2023-11-02 20:16:39 UTC

Yes, your longer answers should use full English prose, i.e. not just bullet point answers or list, and provide a logical flow of ideas in your text. Structure, such as paragraphs for different concepts, would be sensible for these long answers, especially question 4 (450 words max).

Is the word count +/- 10%?

2023-11-04 17:01:11 UTC

Should we use the same reference list for both Q3 and Q4?

2023-11-04 17:04:56 UTC

Word Count - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-04 23:20:27 UTC

No. The word count limit for each section of the practical write up is a maximum.

Reference List - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-04 23:22:14 UTC

If you look at the Word document template for Lab Report #1A, it shows you only need one reference list at the end of the whole lab report, and specifically states:

"Reference List (in alphabetical order by author surname for any scientific papers cited in any of your answers to the above questions)"

2023-11-07 12:42:59 UTC

How does the reoxygenation of water work once crabs are in air and the holes at base of legs have closed? We've said the gill ventilation is reversed, but are they able to pull oxygen from the external air? and how long could they undergo this before they change to anaerobic respiration instead?

Gill chamber reoxygenation - Answer

2023-11-07 13:10:27 UTC

When the scaphognathite reverses when the crab is in air, the external air is bubbled through water in the gill chamber. This equilibrates this water with atmospheric gases, so the dissolved oxgen in this gill chamber water becomes close to atmospheric levels. This allows the crabs to continue to uptake oxygen via their gills, at a rate that allows them to continue aerobic respiration. In theory this can happen indefinitely in Carcinus. However, ultimately they will become limited by the availability to maintain osmoregulation, as the water in the gill chamber will gradually become more concentrated (as water evaporates leaving salts behind).

So oxygen is obtained from the air, but not directly into the gills. It has to first dissolve in the water in the gill chamber, then it diffuses via the gills into the haemolymph.

2023-11-07 13:39:18 UTC

Is crabs emerging into air an acute or chronic behavioural response to hypoxia?

2023-11-09 17:16:25 UTC

how are question 3 and 4 marked. is it marked using OREL or is it point based?

Crab emergence - Answer

2023-11-09 17:22:49 UTC

See the slides from the data handling sesion for this practical. Initially crabs will try to move somewhere else whilst still submerged to avoid hypoxic conditions. Actually moving out of water and into air (i.e. emergence) is typically the next step but often quite soon, so also counts as acute response if hypoxic water is encountered suddenly.

Marking of lab report answers

2023-11-09 17:24:43 UTC

See the Lab Report Instructions on ELE2. Specifically:

"Marks will be awarded based on factual accuracy as well as quality of the answer (i.e. how well it is explained/discussed/described) as well as merit being given for inclusion of knowledge from outside reading"

So it is not a points based marking system, its more like a mini essay.

Information in practical PowerPoint

2023-11-09 17:45:57 UTC

Can we use the points given in the PowerPoint about the practical, such as the increased environmental variability in the intertidal regions, and the answers to the questions about acute responses to hypoxia without citing them? Or do we have to find this information within papers and cite it that way?

2023-11-09 17:52:02 UTC

is increased cardiac output only an acute response and decreased cardiac output a chronic response? Why are they opposite?

rephrased :

Why does cardiac output increase as an acute response but decrease as a chronic respone?

Why does cardiac output not increase for both acute and chronic responses?

Citing Powerpoints - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-09 23:42:35 UTC

You never need to cite lecture material or practical material in Powerpoint slides from within the same module. If you were getting information from another module, that might be useful to mention which module it was from.

Changing Cardiac Output - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-09 23:43:43 UTC

I am not sure I understand your question about why they are opposite?

REPHRASED QUESTION - I covered this in the Data Analysis Session for this practical.

referencing

2023-11-12 03:31:38 UTC

is it acceptable to use secondary referencing e.g. (Brown 2015 cited in White 2020) or is it frowned upon / reduce your mark.

2023-11-12 18:00:57 UTC

Is there a specific name for the holes in the bottom of crabs legs where the water enters?

Secondary Referencing - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-12 19:47:54 UTC

It is frowned upon. You should not really rely on someone else's interpretation of another paper. You should read it yourself and cite that original source if you are using that concept in your own writing.

Crab branchial chamber anatomy

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-12 19:50:15 UTC

Good question. I have seen these holes called "branchial chamber inhalant apertures".

2023-11-13 23:42:06 UTC

Are the in-text references included in the word count for question 3 and 4?

alice17bex — 2023-11-14 16:08:30 UTC

Are we allowed to use figures in questions 3 and 4 to aid explanations?

In-text references & word count - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-14 17:24:19 UTC

Yes, citations within the text are included in the word count.

Use of figures - Answer

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-14 17:24:59 UTC

Yes, you are allowed to use figures if they help answer the question.

Feedback

2023-11-20 21:16:53 UTC

will we receive feedback on the first practical report we handed in (hypoxia or osmoregulation) BEFORE we need to submit our second report?

It would be useful in order to improve our second.

Feedback on Lab Report #1

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-20 23:21:20 UTC

Yes. These should be marked and feedback returned to students before the Lab Report 2 submission.

2023-11-29 10:10:31 UTC

I’ve looked at the exam archive to find practise essay questions, and there appears to only be 1 past paper from 2015/2016. Would it be possible to see some more recent papers so we’ll be able to have more practise before the exam?

Past Exam papers - Response

2023-11-29 12:56:16 UTC

The Exeter Uni electronic library should have past papers from all years. I will enquire about this and get back to you.

Past Exam Papers Archive

rwwilson1 — 2023-11-29 16:45:11 UTC

I checked the online archive for past exam papers, and when I do this I see all years from 2015/16 to 2022/23 available (see above screenshot). When I click on the link for each year I then see the relevant exam paper. So not sure where you were looking but it does appear to be working.

alice17bex — 2023-11-29 21:10:27 UTC

alice17bex — 2023-11-29 21:12:40 UTC

Actually don't worry I've found them. They don't all show up when you view them with all the other bioscience modules, but do when you directly search for them. Sorry about that

2023-12-03 18:23:25 UTC

is it alright to just reference a whole textbook and not give a chapter or page number in the reference list if we use the same textbook multiple times but for different chapters or if we cannot remembr what chapter?

alice17bex — 2023-12-06 13:44:11 UTC

When will we receive feedback from our first lab report? Ele said midday today but I've not revived any yet

exam questions

2023-12-12 09:28:31 UTC

I remember you said that the questions have been changed slightly because of AI. But I assume it's still the same format where we get 3 essay questions that we can pick from?

ANSWER - Yes, this was covered in yesterday's Q&A session. Same format for exams as previous years, 3 questions to choose one from.