To investigate how species, communities, and habitats change over the rural-urban (or pristine to human-dominated) gradient students conduct a series of biological inventories, field measurements, taxonomic keying out, natural history classifications, landscape classifications, statistical analyses, and a literature review. Each laboratory session will be geared towards one or several of these...
The article by John Banks [attached] outlines innovative programs worldwide that integrate the seemingly opposed goals of agriculture and conservation biology to produce mutually beneficial outcomes. This ecological conflict and subsequent movement towards integration provides an opportunity for students to actively learn science by structuring arguments for both sides of an issue, then...
Understanding the complexity of ecosystems at all scales, macro to micro, is challenging for students (and scientists!) to unravel. Sklar and colleagues present the engaging problem of the restoration of the Florida Everglades [attached], including history, biology, hydrology, modeling, and regulatory morasses. Students need to learn how to derive and interconnect biological concepts from the...
Extinction has been a fact of life since long before humans arrived on Earth. Now that humans have contributed to the issues of scale and novel causes of endangered species, questions addressing how many species there are in the US, and which ones are at risk, are increasingly relevant. Wilcove and Master [attached] provide an estimate of the number of described species in the US that may be...
We use the Kappel article [attached] to model ways to engage students in active homework to advance learning both inside and outside the classroom.
Kappel’s article provides an overview of threats to marine environments, pointing out that overharvest, habitat loss, and invasive species have major effects on marine communities. The following activities are examples designed to enable students t...
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