biology

John Marzluff

John Marzluff is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Marzluff rather than just read about it. In short: John Marzluff (born 1958) is a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington and an author. In the Company of Crows and Ravens was written with and illustrated by Tony Angell.

Key takeaways

John Marzluff belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John Marzluff to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John Marzluff from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Marzluff (born 1958) is a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington and an author. In the Company of Crows and Ravens was written with and illustrated by Tony Angell. They discuss the ways that crows are like humans, and the many different ways that humans have treated crows. In Gifts of the Crow, Marzluff and Angell documented how intelligent crows are, with both anecdotes and research. In Subirdia, Marzluff shows how seven "exploiter" birds have enlarged their territories by taking advantage of human-made changes to the environment, and discusses how we could make our back yards better for birds. His work combines science, anecdotes, and humor. His lab once banded American crows while wearing various masks, which demonstrated that crows identify and remember people's faces. After the people wearing the mask left, even crows that did not witness the tagging scolded the mask, showing an example of cultural transmission in crows. He and his fellow researchers found that this transmission was both from one generation to the next and from peer to peer. His work is featured on the PBS documentary TV show Nature in the episode "A Murder of Crows". His work with crows includes some of the first behavioral brain-imaging studies in wild birds. In 1989, he won the H.R. Painton Award for an outstanding paper published in The Condor.

References

External links SEFS Faculty Profile PsychologyToday blog "Crows, smarter than you think" TEDxSeattle

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Marzluff

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Marzluff claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Marzluff before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Marzluff ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Marzluff

In research: John Marzluff appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John Marzluff in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John Marzluff is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 births, 21st-century American biologists, American biologist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Marzluff outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John Marzluff in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Marzluff means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John Marzluff out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Marzluff in simple terms?

John Marzluff (born 1958) is a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington and an author. In the Company of Crows and Ravens was written with and illustrated by Tony Angell.

Why does John Marzluff matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Marzluff?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Marzluff.