The ratio of flowers/butterfly (Erigeron speciosus to Speyeria mormonia) in year t is a good predictor of the change in the size of the Mormon fritillary butterfly population from year t to the next year (measured here by number of males). Years having few flowers per butterfly result in a population decline the following year. In contrast, population growth is higher when many flowers are...
Students bring prior knowledge about science to our courses, yet sometimes their information is inaccurate.The Beedlow et al. article [attached] provides a foundation for addressing several incomplete, naïve, or erroneous ideas that have been identified in students’ thinking about the carbon cycle (Carlsson 2002; Ebert-May et al. 2003), what scientists know about the relationship between plant ...
This activity uses the jigsaw method to encourage students, in groups, to become experts on different types of evidence as a means of understanding climate change. Each group focuses on a topic, highlights at least one data set within that topic, and researches the data collection process along with the potential consequences of the evidence. Students are asked to critique the evidence they...
A view of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, a high-altitude field research station at 9,500 feet in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. RMBL has supported field work since it was founded in 1928, and is the location of the research described in this slide show.
Date of winter snowpack melt during the past 36 years at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. A trend toward earlier snowmelt was noted during the study period, though the correlation was not statistically significant due to large year-to-year variability.