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...
Reading and understanding primary research literature is a challenge for students as they can be intimidated by scientific jargon and the unfamiliar style of scientific prose (Epstein 1972; White 2001). It is, however, an important skill that should be developed well before they graduate. Students’ abilities to accomplish this are often underestimated, especially in the case of nonscience major...
Students use Google Earth and satellite imagery from the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Atlas of our Changing Environment to discover ways in which landscapes change over time due to human actions and natural forces. By analyzing patterns in current and historical satellite images from locations around the world, students explore various types of landscape change and predict potentia...
The Evolution of Sustainable Use is a flash-based game that allows multiple players to simultaneously exploit a model fishery. The game presents a fishery as a metaphor for any communally-exploited resource. This imaginary fishery is scaled down so that the actions of 2-8 players influence the sustainability of the system. In the game “boats” represent the unit of fishing effort, and ea...
Ecology and conservation biology contain numerous examples of
populations growing without bounds or shrinking towards extinction. For these
populations, the change in the number of individuals generally follows an
exponential curve. On the other hand, limited resources may keep population
numbers in check and help maintain the population at the environment's carrying
capacity. These...
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