There are many relevant ecological issues which depend on environmental factors. Information about some of these issues may be found by searching the web.

NOTE: Any search on the web has the potential for finding appropriate as well as inappropriate information. You can spend a lot of time following searches which are not directly related to the activities in this class. Learn to focus your searches along lines that are most likely to be productive so that you may use your time efficiently. Keep in mind that any site you visit may record your computer's unique internet address.

1. Open your browser and enter one of the following URL's: www.netscape.com, www.yahoo.com, www.infoseek.com, www.excite.com, www.altavista.com in the Location or Address window. A page will appear and there will be a box to fill in the item for which you want to search. Enter the term, salinization, and click to search.

The search engine should provide you with several summaries (usually the first 10), which briefly describe the full document and provide a link on which you can click to reach the full document. Pick two summaries that deal with soil problems associated with salinization.

Being careful not to click on the underlined link to the full document, select (by placing your mouse cursor just beyond the beginning or end of the summary (including the title, text, and URL), hold down the left mouse button, and drag the cursor to the other end of the summary), and release the left mouse button. The entire summary should be highlighted. Copy (go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click on Edit, then Copy), and paste (Edit, then Paste) each of the two summaries into the text box below. Also, type in the name of this search engine and the total number of results found.

Hint: To make the copy and paste easy, open a word processor (like Word or WordPerfect) and paste your answers there first. You can then go back to the web activity for BIO 326 and paste from the wordprocessor into the text boxes. If your computer can handle it, you could also open your browser twice. Use one for the search (from which to copy) and one for the class (into which to paste).

Notice that somewhere on the page of results, there is a place to click which will give you the next 10 summaries and links from this search. Select a summary, visit any of these links if you wish, but do not include the full documents in the textboxes.

2. Enter the URL for a different search engine and repeat your search for links to web pages dealing with salinization.

Which search engine did you use this time and how many results did it find? Using the same basis for judgement as you did in the first search, copy and paste two appropriate summaries into the box below. How did the results differ, if at all?

3. Refine your search. Using the back button, return to the initial page for this search engine. After salinization, add the additional term, asia. Be careful to examine the results to be sure you got what you need, as some search engines require certain ways to specify very exact searches. For example, a search engine may require +salinization +asia to indicate that the word salinization and the word asia must both be included in the result pages.

As in the second search above, type in the total number of results found in this search and copy and paste summaries for two different species.

For grading purposes, please provide the following information:

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Once you have filled in all of the areas above, click the assignment button below to send the assignment to the instructor.