BIOL 4100

Great class! Professor Shugart is very kind and really tries to connect with his students. The jokes he makes are actually funny too!

Lecture and lab course. Lecture is 75% of the grade based on 3 non-cumulative exams. Lab is 25% of the grade based on 7 labs and you have 2 weeks to do each one (besides the first), and several weeks with no lab. You might be overwhelmed initially if you take 4100 as it's allll about trees, starting at the micro scale to the macro scale. There's no chemistry though so don't worry about photosynthesis. It's all ecology and forestry concepts. Lecture is fairly dry and boring, although Shugart spices it up with his own style of humor. He's a very nice guy, but his lectures are hard to follow due to the dryness. You also have to sift through the side stories and tangents that he goes on that seem related but would not be on the exam, and there are many. Lecture portion has no textbook and is all about the slides and notes. If you REALLY wanted a hard copy of something to read, You might find it useful to order a few of his books, "Terrestrial Ecosystems in Changing Environments" and "How the Earthquake Bird Got Its Name and Other Tales of an Imbalanced Nature" and read through them before taking this class (This would be an extreme act of preparation). Shugart's exams are fairly leniently graded, which make this class much less stressful. As long as you half-get a concept, he gives you a lot of points. Lab portion is very lax. Atticus was chill and a lenient grader as long as you put in a decent effort into your lab report. You get a good idea of what you need to put into your report based on the rubrics/guides that come with each lab so no sweat. Overall I would say this class is okay, but if you're looking for a cruise course through upper 4000 level courses take something else. (i.e. Animal Behavior or Developmental Biology Labs)

lectures are dry. FORM A STUDY GROUP FOR THE THREE TESTS otherwise it is easy to lose points here and there when you blank on some vocabulary/main points. visit shugart in office hours--he is extremely helpful & will love your company. lab is easy, but reports can be annoying. with stovall,all of it is tolerable.