Biology 360L: General Botany

Minimum of 10 references total. At least 5 of these must be primary/original research articles published in the last 5 years. The other 5 references may be additional primary research articles, review articles, or specialized books published in any year. Text books, encyclopedias, and articles written for non-scientific audiences are not acceptable sources for this project.

Specific Topical Requirements:

• At least 2 articles that address the general importance of herbivory
• At least 2 articles that address the importance to plant fitness of the trait you are addressing
• At least 1 article that explains why your plant is an interesting one to study
• 5 or more articles that describe other studies testing the response of your traits (in a variety of species) to natural or artificial defoliation. These could also include articles that use methods or patterns of artificial defoliation similar to those in your study.

1. Summarize your topic concisely: For example, How might climate change influence the distribution of Valley Oak?
2. Develop your keywords or key concepts by breaking out the major concepts inside your search topic: climate change, distribution, Valley Oak.
3. Think of synonyms or related terms you should search. Remember that most library databases interpret your search literally. They will search only for the terms you type into the search boxes - even if the words you've chosen have more commonly used synonyms. So, for a concept like Valley Oak, search also related words: white oak, bottom oak, roble; also consider the taxonomic reference Quercus lobata.
4. Consider how you combine terms. OR should be used between synonyms, AND should be used between major concepts. Use parenthesis or separate search boxes like you would to communicate order of operations (as in math).
   
   With synonyms, your search might look like:
   
   ("climate change" OR "global warming") AND (distribution OR region OR habitat OR ecosystem) AND ("valley oak" OR "white oak" OR "bottom oak" OR "Quercus lobata")