Summary:
It’s time for my favorite unit – urban ecology! This is also the unit most relevant to the BioBlitz and your posters, which is why we’re going to focus on experimental design as the skill for this week.
Ecology is the study of the distribution of organisms in the environment and how these organisms interact with each other and their environment. Ecology can be studied in the city just like any other place that some may deem as “more natural.” We have species here that interact with each other and their environment, that’s all you need. It doesn’t make ecology any less relevant just because the environment is heavily human-altered.
Learning Objectives:
- understand the different levels and scales of ecology
- be able to ask a scientific question and design a proper experiment to test it
- make an estimate about ecosystem services
Unit 5 Class 08 [day/date] Required Readings/Videos:
- SF video: Urban Ecology
- Video: Bozeman Science: Biodiversity
- Video: TED talk: Sukhdev – What is the price of nature?
- Reading: Schwarz-2017. Understanding biodiversity-ecosystem service relationships in urban areas: A comprehensive literature review. Ecosystem Services. 27: 161-171.
Unit 5 Class 08 [day/date] OPTIONAL Reading
If you’re feeling a little lost with the ecology in this unit, there’s a good chapter here: Chapter 44: Ecology and the Biosphere from OpenStax, Biology. OpenStax. 21 October 2016.
Cardinale-2012 – Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity. Nature. 486:59-67.
Unit 5 Class 08 [day/date] Self-Assessment
[insert form]
Unit 5 Class 09 [day/date] Required Readings/Videos:
NOTE: Everyone watch the first video. Then read only ONE of the last two papers based on which group you are in.
-
- Video: SciShow: The Times and Troubles of the Scientific Method
- You will need to read only one of the following:
- ***GROUPS 1, 2, and 3 read: Helden-and-Leather-2004. Biodiversity on urban roundabouts—Hemiptera, management and the species–area relationship. Basic and Applied Ecology. 5:367-377.
- ***GROUPS 4, 5, and 6 read: Cheptou PO, O Carrue, S Rouifed & A Cantarel. Rapid evolution of seed dispersal in an urban environment in the weed Crepis sancta. PNAS. 105(10):3796-3799.
Unit 5 Class 09 [day/date] Self-Assessment
[insert form]
Unit 5 Class 09 [day/date] Major Assignments Due
- MAP – Essay Part 3: Essay due [time/date] (there will be an optional second draft allowed)
- MAP –Poster Question due [time/date]
