Thread: Thesis Paper

Hello there, I have written this thesis paper on Alaskan wolves and their interactions with the local environment, in particular Caribou. It is a bit light, would you guys care to proofread and offer comments please?

According to the original hypothesis, the wolves were the problem for the decline in the carabou population. Time in the wolves habitat has brought to light, if not the reason of the missing carabou, the disproof that the wolves are the cause. Finding that there are no carabou around for the wolves to eat, yet, they are living off a keystone spieces, the mice. The mice are sharing a niche with the wolves, allowing the overabundance of the biotic resource that these herbivores provide, to sustain the wolves niche.
Wolves, being carnivores, require to eat other animals to get nuetrents from primary producers. Mice, being primary consumers, happen to fill this role quite nicely. The climate of the tundra biome, puts grate strain on the predator/prey relationship and the herbivory/plant relationship but it seems to be working. Though it any tamporing with it would send it in a downard spirel that it may never recover from.
When I learned that the carabou would be moving soon, I jumped on the opportunity to watch the wolves in action. Observing that the wolves are only hunting the week and small of the carabou, this keeps the population in healthy, working order.

Hi there,

Yes, I would be glad to proof-read it if you send a copy

Thanks,

Tri

If what you have written here is the totality of the thesis paper, then yes, it is a bit light.

You seem to be saying that since the wolves are eating mice, then they are not affecting the caribou population. That does not follow, as they could have wiped out the caribou first, then had to eat mice by necessity.

You say that the wolves are only hunting the weak and small caribou. How do you know that? Certainly they would take the weak and the small first, but after that, might they not go after bigger prey? And if they eat enough of the small, i.e., the calves, that could certainly impact the caribou population.

@Trimidity - Yes please this is it

@Harold14370 - No you are in complete wrong here, the caraboo population have dwindled due to impact on mice in the area with the wolves eating them all. That is the main part of my thesis is about. Read again please.

Hi,

Firstly, I have no prior knowledge of interactions between wolves, Caribou and mice. I am therefore going to assume that the observations you have related are 'true' (insofar as you believe them to be true) and accurate.

Secondly, this is a very brief commentary on thesis work, are you planning to write it up in greater detail later? In the UK, theses are typically hundreds of pages in length, so as to accommodate all of the important information. I do not know what the practice is in other countries. Good scientific work deserves a proper report.

Thirdly, on the content of the thesis itself:

1. According to the original hypothesis, the wolves were the problem for the decline in the carabou population

How and why did you arrive at the original hypothesis? Cite previous literature here.

2. Time in the wolves habitat has brought to light, if not the reason of the missing carabou, the disproof that the wolves are the cause.

This sounds like an interesting finding. However, there is no explanation as to how this conclusion was reached upon. In order to convince your reader that the wolves are not the cause of the missing Carabou, it would be useful to outline your experimental method, plus the resulting data and analysis. I am a bit sceptical as to how anything may be disproven. For the same reason that it is impossible to categorically disprove the existence of fairies, it seems equally impossible to disprove the hypothesis that the wolves are the problem for the decline in the Carabou population. Absolute truth should not be claimed. However, it is possible to present negative data and indicate degrees of confidence or certainty.

3. Finding that there are no carabou around for the wolves to eat, yet, they are living off a keystone spieces, the mice.

Is this intended as a piece of evidence in favour of rejecting the original hypothesis? Or is it a different finding? Or both rolled into one? How was the conclusion reached that there are no Carabou around for the wolves to eat (in terms of investigative methods used and data analysis)? How can you qualify the statement that the wolves are eating mice (again, methods and data)?

4. The mice are sharing a niche with the wolves, allowing the overabundance of the biotic resource that these herbivores provide, to sustain the wolves niche.
Wolves, being carnivores, require to eat other animals to get nuetrents from primary producers. Mice, being primary consumers, happen to fill this role quite nicely. The climate of the tundra biome, puts grate strain on the predator/prey relationship and the herbivory/plant relationship but it seems to be working. Though it any tamporing with it would send it in a downard spirel that it may never recover from.

How can any of this be qualified? Cite the literature and your own data were applicable.

5. Observing that the wolves are only hunting the week and small of the carabou, this keeps the population in healthy, working order.

How do you know that the wolves are only eating the most vulnerable Carabou? How do you know that this keeps the population in healthy, working order?

Finally, spelling: nutrients, great, tampering, spiral, weak.

Best wishes,

Tridimity

*skeptical
**where applicable

Originally Posted by Alaskanwerewolf

@Trimidity - Yes please this is it

@Harold14370 - No you are in complete wrong here, the caraboo population have dwindled due to impact on mice in the area with the wolves eating them all. That is the main part of my thesis is about. Read again please.

You say the wolves are eating all the mice, and that causes the caribou to dwindle? I don't think that's what the thesis says, and if it does say that, it needs a whole lot more explanation than you have given.

Would be a decent effort for a high school student..not someone writing a thesis paper. I can't even get past the spelling and grammar errors. English must be your third or fourth language. Please provide more detail as well.

Alright guys, I gotta tell you that this was just a joke from me and my buddies. The paper was a high school assignment, and my buddy is terrible at writing and that was what he was gonna turn in before I intervened. We put it up here as a prank and have been laughing about it for a couple days

Originally Posted by Alaskanwerewolf

Alright guys, I gotta tell you that this was just a joke from me and my buddies. The paper was a high school assignment, and my buddy is terrible at writing and that was what he was gonna turn in before I intervened. We put it up here as a prank and have been laughing about it for a couple days

You laughed- for a couple of days- at this? That's some real gentle comedy right there. Congrats on possibly the dullest, most utterly boring prank ever pulled.

I'm going to recommend you for suspension. If you're stuck for entertainment in the meantime, I'm sure there's a freshly-painted wall somewhere that you can OMGLOL at for a couple of weeks.