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Vision & Change (for higher education) -- Use quantitative reasoning

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View Resource Geographic Gradients in Community Patterns of Forest Trees

This exercise, intended as homework or an in-class exercise, provides a guided inquiry approach to understanding continental scale patterns of species richness and patterns of relative abundance within community species assemblages. Students are introduced to the concept of latitudinal gradients in species richness. They are also introduced to the concept of evenness of relative abundances within...

 

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library
View Resource Leaves as Thermometers

Plant morphology reflects evolutionary solutions to environmental constraints. In this experiment, students use this principle to predict the climate at their site. They collect and measure a set of traits on local tree leaf samples during the first meeting. At the following meeting(s), they pool their data and are introduced to a global database of climate and leaf morphology. In groups, they...

 

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library
View Resource Using Owl Pellet Analysis to Explore Space Use and Productivity

Laboratory exercise to teach undergraduates about factors determining territory size. It begins with dissecting owl pellets and leads students through a series of calculations. A key theme is the ability to make and defend valid estimations.

 

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library
View Resource Investigating the footprint of climate change on phenology and ecological interactions in north-central North America

The ecological questions in this exercise are: 1) Have long-term temperatures changed throughout Ohio? 2) How will these temperature changes impact plant and animal phenology, ecological interactions, and, as a result, species diversity? This exercise is designed to give students experience working with large datasets and to allow them to use real ecological data to evaluate long-term...

 

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library
View Resource Performing a population viability analysis from data students collect on a local plant

During two lab periods, students collect demographic data on perennial plants and then use these data in a matrix model to perform population viability analyses. During the first lab, students tag and record data on individual plants in the field. During the second lab, students compile these data to build transition matrices and then use R to run simulations. In the first year that instructors...

 

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library
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