help with general ecology labs

[Mary Ritke]

Hello bionet-ters

I am posting this query for a colleague at another institution who is not  
yet able to access this great source of information.  Does anyone out  
there have any ideas for outdoor labs for introductory ecology.    
Currently, the labs that he mentioned he has previously been  doing  
include: 

Analyzing the galls on goldenrod to determine if the larvae that form  
these galls can live on the same plant

Another experiment analyzes the schooling behaviour of zebra-dania fish  
and its dependence on food abundance.  

A life table (?) using data collected from a cemetary.

Plant competitition using corn, buckwheat, soybeans, and sunflowers.

I realize these are not very descriptive (I am a cell biologist, so I hope  
I am writing this in a way that is coherent to ecologists), but he told me  
that these labs are "classical." He would like try one or two "newer"  
labs.  The students that are enrolled in this course are primarily first  
semester sophomores.  

Thanks for any help you can provide.  
 
MRITKE at alleg.edu