In this report, biodiversity and its relevance to the ecosystems that support humanity is discussed. Ecosystem functioning is defined as the collective activities of all biota within an ecosystem and how they affect its chemical and physical factors; therefore, it can be negatively impacted by decreases in biodiversity-the wide variety of life forms inhabiting the planet. The ecological and...
Forests play an important role in the U.S. and global carbon cycle, and carbon sequestered by U.S. forest growth and harvested wood products currently offsets 12-19% of U.S. fossil fuel emissions. The cycle of forest growth, death, and regeneration and the use of wood removed from the forest complicate efforts to understand and measure forest carbon pools and flows. Our report explains these...
One way to help students develop critical thinking skills is to focus on problems or cases where they are challenged to deal with real data and experiences (Bransford et al. 2004). Both problem-based learning and case studies allow students to develop the intellectual capacity to deal with complex issues, build confidence and willingness to approach topics from multiple perspectives, and...
Ecologists attempt to establish general principles from a vast range of organizational, spatial, and temporal scales (Belovsky et al. 2004). The process of developing generalities in ecology involves two approaches often not addressed in introductory science courses – inductive and deductive. One way of thinking about this is to consider the inductive approach as examining particular cases an...
Ecological processes and patterns interact at various scales across landscapes. Spatially explicit consideration of pattern and process can better inform ecological questions. This Figure Set introduces students to the variability in scales of pattern and process and to the fundamentals of Landscape Ecology. TIEE
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