Update

Hello Everyone,

I have returned from Malaysia and Big Bend so I guess that it is time to get back to work. Visiting Malaysia was an incredible experience. I spent about a week at Krau Wildlife Reserve working with researchers studying bat ecology. I have never seen a true rainforest before and I have to admit that after a week I still couldn't see the trees for the forest. We would to out every night and morning to check the trap for bats. The bats were really cool (some of them had bodies that was smaller than my thumb). I spent a day in Kuala Lumpur meeting with folks at the University of Malaya which was interesting. Canoeing down the Rio Grande through Big Bend was an ideal way to spend my spring break. Taking a group of interested students out in the field is obviously the best way to learn so I was a little embarassed this morning when I needed to meet with them in a room using Powerpoint.

Obviously, I am extremely far behind. I will try to take a serious look at all of your midterms by the end of the weekend and get back to you with feedback. After I take a look at the midterms I will have a better idea exactly what I would like you to do as a final project. I will have more info for you next week.

Invasive Species

Our understanding of most of the current environmental issues facing us would probably be improved with a stronger understanding of basic ecology. Environmental issues, such as invasive species, provide opportunities to apply what we have learned in an applied context.

Invasive species can have profound effects on an environment. Because the resident species have had no evolutionary history with the invader it is possible that the resident species are highly susceptible to the negative effects of an invader (e.g., they have no defenses agaist a predator or a disease). Last summer I saw first hand how evolutionary history can influence interactions bewteen species. The Galapagos Islands are so isolated from continental South America that no large predators have been able to colonize the archipelago. Thus, when we would go hiking on the Galapagos Islands, the birds and animals living there literally showed no fear so that we were able to approach them very closely (I used to be impressed at all of the amazing photos I have seen of birds on the Galapagos Islands, but now I know that the photographer was only two feet away). Imagine what would have happened had a predator been introduced; the fearless animals would have been easy prey to an exotic predator.

Further Info

1) Here is a link to a presentation that I made for my seminar on the Rio Grande River. It provides general information about invasive species, how species can harm communities, and efforts that people have used to try to control invasive species. It also discusses some examples of species that have invaded Texas.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/bL1TCLiLtoH5Np

2) Here is a link to a presentation that I made for my seminar on the Rio Grande River discussing the invasive tree, tamarisk (Salt Cedar). Tamarisk is an important invasive species in riparian areas of the western US and has become an important environmental issue in the region. There is a lot more detail in this presentation than you need to worry about.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/CxG30GwOj6yRr7


Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- discuss the variety of mechanism through which novel species are introduced into a community (TEKS 112.43. 12B & 12E and TEKS 112.44. 4C, 4D, & 4E)

- identity examples of introduced species in your own area

- identify examples where introduced species have caused economic and environmental damage to an ecosystem (TEKS 112.43. 12B & 12E and TEKS 112.44. 4C, 4D, & 4E)

- explain why introduced species might often have large negative effects in communities (TEKS 112.43. 12B & 12E and TEKS 112.44. 4C, 4D, & 4E)

- discuss potential ways to limit invasions or to remove novel species (TEKS 112.43. 12B & 12E and TEKS 112.44. 4C, 4D, & 4E)

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a complicated concept because it can apply at so many different levels.

Further Viewing

I have been working to develop curricular materials to teach elementary students, their teachers, and college students about biodiversity, so I have presentations aimed at a variety of different levels. Hopefully, there will be elements in some of these presentations that will help you to better understand biodiversity and maybe use in your courses.

1) Here is a slideshow that I prepared for an ecology class that I taught last spring that introduces the concept of diversity in general before introducing biodiversity. In addition to a brief discussion of diversity at the genetic level, thus presentation focuses in diversity at the community level and introduces such important concepts as species richness, species diversity, and evenness.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/4GyUbOQ0pXY5uC

2)Here is a slideshow that my ecology students and I developed to try to introduce biodiversity to elementary students. This presentation includes species definitions, classification, and a discussion of the value of diversity.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/4wHpDC3GnCZ61c

3) Here is a slideshow that I prepared for students in my ecology class that focuses on the mathematical indices that we use to measure species diversity and evenness. I don't know if this is at the appropriate level for your students, but it is an excellant topic to integrate biology and math.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/wDiDEN5QiEQV8V

4) Here is an exercise that I developed to teach my ecology class about biodiversity. My plan was to develop an activity that would mimic how we might try to teach this concept to younger kids. I thought that I was very clever coming up with an activity using candy, but then I learned that the Lubbock ISD doesn't allow candy in the classroom (that just left more candy for me). This is a fairly high level, but parts of it might be useful for your students.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/JshtMR5gndzPEU

5) Here is an exercise that I developed to introduce the topic of biodiversity to elementary students using the characters from Finding Nemo. It is fairly basic, but it would be great if all middle school and high school students were able to do this work.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/3S2mU4jlcVjsoc

Species Diversity

Ecologists are often interested in the species diversity. Diversity is a fairly complex concept because diversity in a system can be influenced by more than one factor.

Species diversity if influenced by species richness and by species evenness. Biologists have developed equations that allow them to quantify species diversity and evenness (these are known as diversity indices). I introduce two of these diversity indices, the Shannon Index and the Simpson's Index, in the slideshows I have included here.

Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- define biodiversity and explain the various components of diversity including genetic diversity, species diversity, and functional diversity (TEKS 112.43. 7B)

- distinguish between species richness, species diversity, and evenness and be able to use indices to quantify these components of diversity.

- discuss the factors that influence diversity in an ecological community (TEKS 112.43. 7B, 12A, & 12E and TEKS 112.44 6C)

- explain why biodiversity is important (TEKS 112.44 4E)

- compare threats to biodiversity in their local region with those in a distant region (TEKS 112.44 4E)

Assignment for Midterm Exam

So far in this class I have tried to cover some of the main topics in ecology. Often we choose examples from different environments to discuss each of these topics. However, I think that our students would benefit more from seeing how these topics can be applied to the same environment.

Choose an "area" (I suggest that the more specific the better- e.g. don't just choose "the desert" choose a particular location in a particular desert)that either you are particularly interested in or that you think that your students will be interested in learning more about. Your area can be terrestrial, marine or aquatic or tropical, temperate or polar. The discussions of biomes and ecoregions found in the EoE may help you to choose an area.

Think about how the following topics relate to your "area".


1) Physical Environment
- discuss the causes of climate in your area

2) Adaptations of Plants and Animals to the Physical Environment
- discuss morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to the physical environment of your area

3) Population Regulation
- discuss the factors that regulate population sizes in your area

4) Species Interactions
- discuss some important interactions between species in your area

5) Adaptations to Biotic Interactions
- discuss examples of morphological and behavioral adaptations that help organisms in their interactions with other species

6) Food Webs, Indirect Interactions, Keystone Species
- discuss the food web of your area- discuss important indirect interactions and keystone species

7) Energy Flow
- discuss pattern of energy flow in a chosen environment

8) Nutrient Cycling
- discuss either nutrient cycling or the hydrologic cycle in your area

9) Ecosystem Services
- discuss ecosystem services provided by species in your area

Assignment
You assignment for this exam is to write a paper discussing 5 of the 9 topics listed above. Not all topics will be equally interesting or accessible in different areas (and you may be more interested in teaching about some of these topics than others). Your audience for this paper is the parents of your students. Imagine that you are trying to stimulate them to be more involved in their children's educations by providing them with enough background information about biology that they can understand what their children are learning.

All exam papers must include
(i)a discussion of topic 1 (physical environment)
(ii) a discussion of at least one section studying adapations (topics 2 or 5, you may discuss both)
(iii)at least one section discussing factors at the ecosystem level (topics 7, 8, or 9)

Feel free to incoude Figures, Graphs, or whatever materials you think would be useful.

DUE DATE

All assignments should be emailed to me and should arrive at in my mailbox no later than 10:00 PM on Monday February 23rd, 2009.

Note

This assignment makes perfect sense to me, but I imagine that I might not have explained perfectly well what I would like you to do. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Course Update and Midterm Exam

Hello Everyone,

I realized, with horror, how long it has been since I have last posted. I have been focusing on getting through the test period for my large Introductory Biology class (we have a test and then the students have an option to take a "retest" on the same materials the following), I have definitely learned that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" and "out of sight, out of mind" have been running my life lately. Hopefully, I am nearly caught up with posts for this week's material. I am sorry for not posting for so long.

From the beginning, I have been a bit skeptical about being able to create an effective learning environment without seeing people face to face. I realize that I probably should have required a great deal more student involvement on a regular basis (e.g., requiring students to post weekly on the blog), but I hate requiring busy work. Hopefully, you have been able to read the material and are learning some things that will be useful in your classes. I encourage you all to give me feedback about how the course is going and suggestions about what I can do to make this course as useful possible.

Midterm Exam

When I looked at the syllabus it told me that your first midterm is due on February 21st. Because my intent was to allow you plenty of time to for you to work on the midterm exam, I would like to delay the due date for the First Midterm Monday February 23rd which will at least give you the weekent to work on the exam. I will post the exact form of the midterm exam sometime tomorrow (Monday) so that you will have a full week to work on the assignment.

Landscape Ecology

Landscape Ecology is a relatively new field (that was certainly not included in introductory level Ecology courses when I was in college or graduate school). However, as humans greatly alter and degrade the environment it has become critical that we understand how altering the spatial distribution of habitats affects ecology

Habitat Framentation

Factors such as deforesttation have reduced once uninterupted areas of habitats into smaller islands of native habitat surrounded by a sea of altered habitat. Habitat fragmentation is an issue that is especially important to conservation biologists who have to determine (1) what are the implications of habitat fragmentation to biodiversity and (2) how should we design conservation reserves? (i.e, if a government is willing to put so much land aside as reserves should we make several small reserves or one large reserve?).

Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Malaysian Bat Diversity

In about a week and a half I will be heading out to Malaysia to work with researchers studying the ecology of rainforest bats. Although I am involved in this project because of my interests in science education, by co-worker Tigga Kingston is interested in bat conservation. She has been trapping bats in Krau Wildlife Reserve, an area that has been protected from logging, to see what bat communities are like in undisturbed forests. Because Malaysia has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world (see photo at top of this post) undisturbed forests are boing cut (primarily for agriculture) which may have profound effects on the bat community.

Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- define the field of landscape ecology
- discuss how an understanding of landscape ecology can be useful for land-use planning and conservation biology

Free Learning

We are coming to the end of the basic ecology portion of the course and preparing to talk about biodiversity and environmental issues. Although deforestation is not an issue that I want to focus on in this course, it is an important issue that I think you, and your students should know about.

FYI here is a link to a slideshow on Deforestation that I have prepared as part of our Malaysian Bat Project. But don't think that deforestation is only an issue of concern in the tropics. Most people on the Southern High Plains would be surprised to know that this area once hosted the largest (in terms of area) oak forest in the United States which has not been almost completely removed.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/eJe8rHdu5JC0kb

Ecosystem Services

Ecologists recognize that the ecosystem naturally provides many services to humans that we take for granted.(for some more simple info on this topic look at http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/esa.html and for more detailed information check out http://www.eoearth.org/article/An_Introduction_to_Ecological_Economics:_Chapter_3)

Ecologists have begun to try putting a monetary value on the services that the ecosystem provides us. In 1997 a number of scientists valued ecosystem services at between 16 trillion to 5 trillion dollars each year (how many stimulus and bailout packages is that going to equal???). Obviously, this is a very difficult number to come up with and their methodology has been criticized.
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Value_of_the_world%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s_ecosystem_services%3A_the_influence_of_a_single_paper
However, it is important for us to be aware of many of the values that ecosystems provide to us and what services might be lost when we lose species and damage ecosystems.


Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- discuss ecosystem services provided by species in both terrestrial and marine environments (TEKS 112.44 5E)