Investigating the Evolutionary Adaptations that have Enabled Plants to Survive in a Diversity of Habitats
During this exercise students will explore plant diversity in a greenhouse facility to investigate the evolutionary adaptations that have allowed plants to survive in a diversity of habitats. Students will be introduced to the biotic and abiotic constraints organisms must overcome in order to survive in a desert and rainforest ecosystem. Students will observe and describe the similarities and differences in evolutionary features that have allowed populations of organisms to overcome environmental challenges. Throughout this exercise students will observe and reflect upon the different scales of diversity (i.e., genetic, species, habitat, and ecosystem).
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| Primary or BEN resource type | |
|---|---|
| Url | https://www.msu.edu/course/bs/110/lab/prelabs_postlabs.html |
| Format | |
| Core Concepts | |
| Drought & Water-Ecosystem Services Collection | Off |
| Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection | Off |
| Big Data Collection | Off |
| Editor's Choice | No |
| Audience | |
| Pedagogical Use Description | This active learning exercise uses a learning cycle approach, which is an instructional design used to engage students with a question or problem, explore the problem interactively, and then explain the ecological significance of the results. This design allows students to construct their own understanding during the investigation while participating in scientific inquiry. As a result of participating in this activity students will gain familiarity with a diversity of plants in a variety of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, identify plant adaptations required for living in a particular environment, and describe the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for the variety of adaptations and subsequent biodiversity of the plants we see today. This exercise will also introduce the concept of ecosystem services and reinforce the importance of biodiversity to economic and aesthetic values. |
| Keywords | Adaptation, Biodiversity, Desert, Ecophysiology, Ecosystem, Evolution, Greenhouse, Plant, Rainforest |
| Life science discipline (subject) | |
| Primary Author Controlled Name | |
| Primary Author Affiliation | Michigan State University |
| Primary Author email | roberall@msu.edu, phill394@msu.edu, kelzersa@msu.edu, elzingac@msu.edu, lawren48@msu.edu, longta@msu.edu, |
| Secondary Author Name(s) | Charles Elzinga, Colin Phillippo, Sonya Lawrence, Tammy Long and Sara Wyse |
| Rights | Authors retain copyright. |
| Date Of Record Submission | 2010-07-15 |
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