Active learning module: Nuts and Bolts of biomes

I. Learning Objectives:

1)Gain a general knowledge of the biomes. We are focusing on 9 biomes: Tropical Rainforest, Savannah, Temperate Rainforest, TemperateSeasonalForest, Woodland/Shrubland, Temperate Grassland, Desert, Boreal Forest, and Tundra. This list of biomes can be adjusted accordingly by the professor and the students’ interests. This general knowledge entails:

  1. What shapes the biome
  2. General features of the biome
  3. Distribution of the biome
  4. Biodiversity of the biome
  5. Species adaptation in response to the climate of the biome

2)Be able to list some the ecosystem goods and services that each biome provides. This will focus on the economic value that a biome provides. Types of examples that students will need to provide can cover areas including: food, fuel, pharmaceuticals, industrial products, pollination of crops and wild plants, composition of the atmosphere, aesthetic beauty, etc.

3)Know some of the potential human impacts on the different biomes covering different scales.

II. Supplemental Materials

All required materials are provided with this module, except for the Ricklefs (or other general ecology) text book.

  • Table 1 key with answers (for instructor)
  • Table 1 blank (for students)
  • Whittaker diagram with text
  • Whittaker diagram with biome names omitted
  • Questions to guide discussion of Table 1
  • Homework Questions
  • Ricklefs chapter 5
  • Selected Popular Media Articles for each biome (titles below)

Name of Biome / Articles
All biomes / Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A new map of life of earth
Tropical Rainforest / To Slow Amazon Fires; tropical forests
Savannahs / Climate Change 'Could Disturb African Savannahs'
Temperate Rainforest / Loggers and green lobby strike deal to save vast rainforest
Temperate Rainforest / Rain forest clear-cuts persist, groups complain
Temperate Rainforest / War of the woods
Temperate Seasonal / As the Climate Shifts, Trees Can Take Flight
Temperate Seasonal / Forests in Peril
Shrubland/Woodland / Blazed and Confused
Temperate Grassland / Carbon dioxide levels impacting rangelands
Temperate Grassland / grassland and gaseous emissions
Desert; hot desert / Solar Power; hot deserts
Desert; hot desert / Concentrated Solar Power The Answer To The World’s Energy Supply Problems
Desert; cold desert / An Antarctic Ecosystem Shows Signs of Trouble as a Tiny Worm Turns
Boreal Forest / For Billions of Birds, an Endangered Haven
Boreal Forest / Dead Trees and Shriveling Glaciers as Alaska Melts
Tundra / ColoradoState researchers evaluate whether arctic soil microbes are factors in climate change

III. Activities

We are presenting multiple options depending on the professor’s choice; they can develop this module in 1, 2, or 3 periods.

In all cases we recommend six core activities:

1)Required Homework so that students are ready to tackle the material before their first “biome group” meeting in class. Read chapter 5 of Ricklefs (2001), read assigned popular media articles (included in module), and fill in first three columns on Table 1 for the biome to which they have been assigned.

2)Quizcovering chapter 5 of Ricklefs (2001): This activity is to test that students have prepared for the lecture as well as the “biome group” (activity described below) by reading definitions and concepts (time assigned: 5 minutes)

3)Minilecture of variable duration depending on the time allocated to the module. The minilecture should include:

  • Factors that shape biomes (climate); adaptations for plants and animals
  • Definition of ecosystem goods and services
  • Connections among biomes
  • Global change and biomes

4)“Biome group” of 4-5 people. We describe this activity below. The time for this activity varies with the number of allotted periods. Note: This requires advanced assignment of a biome to each student in the class and time for the students to 1) read Ricklefs chapter 5, 2) 1-3 articles from popular media sources, and 3) fill in the first three columns in Table 1 for their biome.

5)“Jigsaw group” described below. The time for this activity is varied with the number of allotted periods.

6)Required Homework after completion of group projects. The description of this homework is in the assessment at the bottom of this document.

If three class periods have been allotted for the biome module, the activities will include the six core activities above as well as a period for synthesis and connections between the biomes.

Below is a more in-depth description of each of the core activities:

1) Required homework prior to first “Biome group” meeting: Regardless of the number of periods allocated to studying biomes, the students need to come to class on the first day of the biome lecture having completed the following homework:

  • Read Ricklefs chapter 5; students are responsible for reading about all of the biomes covered (which will be assessed through the 5 minute quiz).
  • Filled in the first three columns of Table 1 (below) that cover the biome to which they have been assigned. These columns are “Climate,” “Adaptations,” and “Biodiversity.”
  • Readpopular media articles distributed with this module (and updated with an RSS feed online); students are only required to read the popular media articles that apply to the biome to which they were assigned. These articles will facilitate “biome group” discussion about the more complex topics covered in Table 1, “Ecosystem Services” and “Impact of global climate change on biome characteristics and resource availability.”

4) “Biome Group” Activity

After the minilecture, students will form their “Biome group” to discuss the biome that they have been assigned. Each member of this “Biome group” will become “specialists” in the biome so that they can take this information forward (at a subsequent time) to the “Jigsaw group.” In order to achieve the learning needed to become a “specialist” in their biome, the “Biome group” will organize the information about their biome through Table 1. They can reflect on their learning from the minilecture as well as detailed information from Ricklefs. To cultivate discussion within the group regarding the first three columns (filled in at home),“Climate,”“Adaptations,” and “Biodiversity,”questions have been suggestedbelow (and are again included as supplemental class material).

Questions to organize “biome group” discussion about Table 1 (students can use this to help them fill in table for their biome)

  1. How do you relate the Whittaker climate diagrams (pages 107 and 108, Ricklefs (2001) and a blank version is included with the module’s supplemental materials) with the climatic characteristics of each biomes. How do you notice excess or deficit of water? How do you notice seasonality? How do you relate the climatic description in with the approximate latitude and longitude where the biome is located? (Remember chapter 4 of Ricklefs (2001), global patterns in temperature and precipitation are established by the energy of solar radiation, which determines major latitudinal climate belts)
  2. How do you relate high temperature and precipitation with biodiversity? How do you expect that biodiversity varies towards a more extreme (i.e. cold and dry, hot and dry) environment?[e1]
  3. Remember the adaptations (chapter 3 of Ricklefs (2001)) to cope with water stress or high temperatures, as well as low temperatures. Think about competition among plants for light and nutrients.
  4. Discuss what ecosystem goods and services are. How do they shape the way that humans regard a biome?

To complete the last two columns, “Ecosystem Services” and “Impact of global climate change on biome characteristics and resource availability,”the student will rely on the popular media articles associated with this biome as a resource to guide theirin-class, “biome group” discussions. Because these are more complex topics, group discussion will facilitate a more in-depth understanding of the subjects (along with immediate assistance from the professor and the TAs). The required popular media articles come from a variety of sources from the New York Times to Today @ Colorado State University.

Table 1 is the main productfor the biome module. It will have a two-fold purpose:

  1. useful tool to organize the information learned about their own biome, and after the “jigsaw group,” all of the biomes,
  2. and theformat of the table can be used with some blanks as an assessment tool in future tests and the final exam.

5) “Jigsaw group” Activity

The “biome groups” will split and students will re-group (called a jigsaw) so that each new group has one “specialist” from each biome. This person is in charge of disseminating information about their biome to the rest of the group. At the completion, all of the students will have a completed Table 1 with information about all of the biomes covered in class.

During the “jigsaw group” meetings, the professor should project the Whittaker diagram on the screen with no labels (included in supplemental materials of the module). “Specialists” can refer to where their biome is in the diagram based on its climate and precipitation as well as using the colors of the boxes as a reference.

Third Class Period “Connections between Biomes”

For this activity, the professor should provide a short lecture explaining what connections between biomes might be giving some examples.

At this discretion of the professor, groups should reform into their “biome groups” or “jigsaw groups” (although we recommend the use of the jigsaw groups for this activity). With a projection of the Whittaker diagram on the screen, the professor can ask questions about connections between biomes (such as: Question- How could deforestation in the tropical rainforest biome affect the tundra biome? Possible Answer- Increased CO2 will warm the atmosphere causing permafrost melt). The groups will think of possible connections between the biomes and raise their hands when they think they have come up with a logical answer.

The professor and class will listen to the answers of the first two to three groups with their hands up. Those groups who make plausible, logical connections will get a point. The individuals of the top scoring group should be rewarded at the instructor’s discretion (e.g. extra credit point on the exam or candy in class).

IV. Class period allocation of time for Biome Module

One period of50 minutes- Truncated version of module

1) Quiz(5 minutes)

2) Minilecture (10 minutes)

3) “Biome group”:the group that was working before the class(“specialists” on one particular biome) will finish completing the Table 1. For this option, the time is limited; students must fill in the table information in the columns “Climate,” “Adaptations,” and “Biodiversity” for all of the biomes before class. (This differs from the “biome group” as described in the Activity section above.) In their group meeting they will discuss the columns “Ecosystem Services” and “Impact of global climate change on biome characteristics and resource availability” and any other concerns related to their biome. (15 minutes)

4) “Jigsaw group”: Students will still act as “specialists” in this shorter version of the module, but they will not need to discuss the information in the columns “Climate,” “Adaptations,” and “Biodiversity” because students will have done this at home. They will only be responsible to disseminate information about “Ecosystem Services” and “Impact of global climate change on biome characteristics and resource availability” to their groups. (20 minutes)

One period of1 hour and 15 minutes

1) Quiz(5 minutes)

2) Minilecture (15 to 20 minutes)

3) “Biome group”: This can be carried out in standard format, as described in section II. Activity “Biome group” above (15 minutes).

4) “Jigsaw group”: This can be carried out in standard format, as described in section II. Activity “Jigsaw group” above (35 minutes)

5) Wrap up: Professor projects a blank copy of the table and students volunteer to fill in the blanks. This ensures that the class can check that the information that they have is correct (5 to 10 minutes)

Two or Three periods of 50 minutes (Recommended)

First period

In class activities:

1)Quiz(5 minutes)

2)Minilecture (15 minutes)

3) “Biomes groups”: The students will have filled out the columns of table 1 “Climate,” “Adaptations,” and “Biodiversity” for their assigned biome before class, and they will discuss their findings in class. Students will use the questions listed above in the II. Activity section titled “Questions to organize ‘biome group’ discussion about Table 1” to guide their learning of their biome. Students will use the information they learned from their popular media articles to discuss and fill in the columns titled “Ecosystem Services” and “Impact of global climate change on biome characteristics and resource availability.” (30 minutes)

Second period

1) “Jigsaw groups” will be formed where one person from each “biome group” represents their biome as the “specialist.” Students will fill out the table:

  • Nine biomes, 4 minutes each(approximately 40 minutes)

2) Class Wrap-up: Synthesis questions with clickers/hand raising (10 minutes)

  • Which biome would be the most stressed?
  • By what (there are lots of choices in stressors, not only climate change)?

Have teacher call on groups and explain their answers.

Third period

1) Overview Lecture: The teacher talks about connections among biomes (10 minutes)

2) “Connections between Biomes”: This activity can be carried out as described in section II. Activities: “Third Class Period Connection between Biomes”

Two periods of 1 hour and 15 minutes

First period

In class activities:

1) Quiz(5 minutes)

2) Minilecture(30 minutes)

3) “Biomes groups”: The students will have filled out the columns of table 1 “Climate,” “Adaptations,” and “Biodiversity” for their assigned biome before class, and they will discuss their findings in class. Students will use the questions listed above in the II. Activity section titled “Questions to organize “biome group” discussion about Table 1” to guide their learning of their biome. Students will use the information they learned from their popular media articles to discuss and fill in the columns titled “Ecosystem Services” and “Impact of global climate change on biome characteristics and resource availability.” (40 minutes)

Second period

1) “Jigsaw groups” will be formed where one person from each “biome group” represents their biome as the “specialist.” Students will fill out the table:

  • Nine biomes, 5 minutes each (approximately50 minutes)

2) Activity Wrap-up: Synthesis questions with clickers/hand raising

  • Which biome would be the most stressed?
  • By what (there are lots of choices in stressors, not only climate change)?

Have teacher call on groups and explain their answers (10 minutes)

3) Overview Lecture:The teacher talks about connections among biomes (15 minutes)

V. Assessment activities

a. Quiz with the table or Whittaker diagram with blank spaces that they have to fill in or questions about biomes in general before mini-lecture

b. Homework questions after jigsaw groups:

  • Choose 2 biomes and write a short essay about how they will react when there is a change in rainfall pattern.
  • Is it possible that changes in one biome affect another biome? Pick two biomes (different biomes than the first question) and give an example of how changes in one biome may impact another biome.

c. Test questions:

  • Present class with the table or Whittaker diagram with blank spaces that they have to fill in (change the axes on the Whittaker diagram so that students aren’t just memorizing the spots) and/or
  • Use an essay question to assess their deeper learning, such as: choose one biome and discuss its biodiversity, ecosystem services, and its connectedness to other biomes.

Literature cited
Ricklefs, R.E. 2001. The economy of nature, Fifth edition. W.H Freeman and company, New York

[e1]Latitudinal gradient

Rapoport's rule of Latitudinal gradients in species diversity: The species richness increase from high latitudes to the low latitudes.

The peak of the species richness is not at Equator, however. It is deducted that the peak is between 20-30°N

The gradient of species richness is asymmetrical about the equator. The level of species richness increase rapidly from the north region but decrease slowly from the equator to southern region.

Stevens, G. C. (1989). The latitudinal gradients in geographical range: how so many species co-exist in the tropics. American Naturalist 133, 240-256.

Rapoport, E. H. (1975). Areografía. Estrategias Geográficas de las Especies. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México Rapoport, E. H. (1982). Areography. Geographical Strategies of Species. Trad. B. Drausal, Pergamon Press, Oxford.