Species diversity generally increases in the tropics but testing theories that explain this phenomenon is challenging. Here we use body size to quantify niches in ecological communities and explore how species diversify towards the equator.
This exercise develops critical thinking and reading comprehension in an undergraduate ecology course. Students read and discuss an ecologically-based fictional narrative A Natural Process that promotes a critical analysis of the societal context of decision-making and interpretation of observations. The exercise aligns with Vision and Change’s Core Competency #5 Ability to Communicate and...
This brochure describes how to evaluate courses for ecology and biology majors in alignment with the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) framework and provides guidelines for transforming majors’ courses into the comprehensive, real world problem-solving approach needed to train current and future environmental professionals.
In this lesson, we explore the inequity that exists in environmental health and nature because of changes we, humans, have made in our environment. Typically, people who have access to nature are generally healthier and have reduced incidences of respiratory illnesses (e.g., asthma), decreased blood pressure, and decreased chance of depression. Unfortunately, highly urbanized areas have higher...
This module presents a science-based story to demonstrate how climate determines the global, long-term, large-scale distribution of living organisms; whereas, weather determines the local, short-term, small-scale ecology of living organisms. Life thrives within specific, often narrow ranges of temperature and precipitation – two main players in climate and weather. Using a systems-based approach,...
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