How does grazing by bison affect plant community diversity? This TIEE Data Set introduces students to biodiversity and the concepts of richness, evenness, and diversity indices. It contains three computer-based activities in which students use Excel to explore three concepts in detail (species richness, the importance of sample size, and diversity indices) using plant species composition data from...
This Experiment, students collect soil samples to test hypotheses about the diversity of invertebrates in soil in different places or under different conditions. Students generate their own hypotheses, and the activity is adaptable to available local conditions, such as different forest types, different stages of succession, or areas with and without impacts such as logging or wind damage....
This game introduces students to the concept of succession and plant community dynamics. Students learn that plant communities are dynamic (they change over time and space), and that these changes result from interactions between plants and biotic and abiotic aspects of their environments, as well as random events. Students play a board game in which each student represents an imaginary plant...
In this Experiment, students investigate the inhibitory effects of Eastern Hemlock trees on establishment of neighboring woody plants. Some years ago, one of the faculty in the Biology Department at Hope College noticed that fewer seedlings and saplings of broadleaved woody species seemed to grow beneath the canopies of eastern hemlock trees than beneath the canopies of other species on the Hope...
This Data Set focuses on the question: How does plant biodiversity in a grassland savannah community affect ecosystem productivity? To investigate this question, students use create graphs using seven years of data collected at Cedar Creek during an experiment set up to examine the effects of manipulating species richness on plant productivity and biomass. Cedar Creek Natural History Area is an...
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