Hands-on field studies in which students are directly involved in gathering, analyzing, and presenting data can be a powerful high impact teaching practice. However, complex ecological processes and environmental problems, such as global climate change, occur across time scales that are much longer than a semester or a year. Therefore, in order to directly measure ecological patterns at the appropriate time scale, undergraduate curricula should be designed in ways that allow for consistent data gathering over longer time periods, e.g., decades. Undergraduate curricula should also incorporate the newest technology in order to provide the skills that students will require in graduate school or industry. Real-time data sensors and hand-held computers linked to web-based databases are becoming an integral part of ecological research. These tools can increase the frequency of measurement of ecological parameters but can also increase the quantity and complexity of datasets. Future ecologists will need to not only conduct fieldwork but also will need to assist in the management of databases and use more complex mathematical analytical tools or, at a minimum, effectively collaborate with those that do.
Results/Conclusions
In an attempt to meet the demands of the near future, the objective of our project is to incorporate long-term ecological monitoring across the natural science, mathematics, and information technology curricula. Many faculty in the biology, chemistry, environmental studies, mathematics, and information technology leadership departments are involved in the project. Initial course projects have focused on the design of long-term monitoring protocols as well as the design of databases and user interfaces. By focusing on long-term ecological monitoring across the curriculum, students can approach problems from interdisciplinary perspectives, learn basic theory and methods, and also observe issues first hand. We are able to use data collected by the students at the school’s field station to examine the spread of invasive species (garlic mustard), food chain disruption through release from top predators (effects of deer overabundance), and many anthropogenic disturbances such as the potential effects of long-wall coal mining and drilling for natural gas on streams, amphibian and song bird declines, and global climate change. Our ultimate goal is to facilitate the creation of a network of undergraduate institutions that use similar methods and share data via searchable web databases.