EBIO 4800/5800-005, Fall 2013.
Planning, Conservation and Restoration in the Anthropocene
(short title: Intervention Ecology)
T-TH 9:30-10:45, Ramaley N183
Instructors: Tim Seastedt, Prof., EEB, Patrick Bourgeron, Fellow, INSTAAR
Offices: Seastedt: Rose Litman (RL-1), rm 119. By appoint: Ramaley 132
Phone 303 492-3302,
Bourgeron: Rose Litman (RL-1) rm 227 Phone 303 492-5212
Critical Thinking (from CU catalog): Courses in this area encourage the active practice of critical reasoning, evaluation, and discussion. They do so by providing opportunities for student participation beyond those offered in ordinary lecture courses, labs, or seminars. Critical thinking courses address matters of controversy within a given field of study or in the society at large. Students learn how to construct, defend, and criticize arguments; identify and assess tacit assumptions; and gather and evaluate evidence. Critical thinking courses emphasize some combination of the methodology of acquiring knowledge in a specific discipline, key arguments in the discipline, and problems of interpreting original literature and data. In addition, they may subject arguments within the discipline to scrutiny from competing cultural, social, or methodological perspectives. Students must pass 3 credit hours of specified course work at the upper-division level that requires them to practice sustained critical thinking and to demonstrate such thinking in both written form and oral discussion.
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Course goals: Biotic change is both a cause and a consequence of other environmental and social change drivers. We are constantly bombarded with a plethora of environmental issues, from global climate change down to local consequences of fragmentation and urbanization, all with assumed direct and indirect consequences on the present and future social systems. Does one have to integrate all of the potential variables and drivers to understand the big picture? And, what does the big picture mean in terms of our local environment?What kinds of change and drivers are far more influential in determining the long-term dynamics, conservation and delivery of ecological services of the ecosystems in the Front Range?
Our goals are to 1) critically evaluate the ideas and empirical support for formulating and understanding biotic changes at local scales (i.e., community to watershed to regional scales), and 2) evaluate the ideas and empirical support for formulating ‘solutions’ to change-related environmental issues. From an expertise perspective, our mission is to make sure we understand the suite of ecological processesand patterns impacted by the changes and potential solutions.
Mature sciences are said to be predictive sciences. However, as climate change models demonstrate, prediction is often difficult due to non-linear interactions, and ecological systems are full of non-linear interactions. What, then, are the important contributions that ecologists can make in attempting to mitigate the preponderance of negative effects of environmentalchange?
The key approach to meeting the class goals will be through performing an integrated assessment of environmental issues of local and regional relevance. We will look at these individually, and then ask how these changes will interact. From natural sciences: how do the current changes in single drivers such as climate, carbon dioxide fertilization, or nitrogen deposition amplify or attenuate other environmental change impacts (such as the presence of new species (invasions), fragmentation, or fire return intervals? From the social sciences: how do land ownership and stakeholder decisions at local, state, and federal levels alter landscape patterns and processes? The grassland to glacier gradient of the Front Range – as impacted directly and indirectly by human activities, is our model system.
We have a web site. Access to this site requires an IDwhich is:
User name:
Password:
Our final exam time is: Monday, Dec. 16th 1:30. (used for synthesis activity, see grading below)
Course Grading (tentative and under consideration):
Course grading for EBIO 4800:
24%. Participation on field trips(6 points max per trip): submission of a brief writing assignment is associated with each trip.Attendance is viewed as a critical part of this course!
40% Class projects.
Attendance and evidence of conscious activity (25%: one point per class day: see web site for dates not included) If time allows, this will include”Presentation of a “hot topic” (breaking science news relevant to class activities)
Group projects (three; 15% total).
16% Take home exam due 2 Dec. (Exam emailed Mon, Nov 19th).
20% Written research investigation (due 9 Dec.) and 5 minute summary presentationgiven during final exam period. (Paper written on topic relevant to class mission. Topic needs to be approved by instructor. See instructions at end of syllabus.)
The EBIO 5800 group will hold a meeting to finalize grade procedures.
Talk to us about your grade expectations! There should be no surprises. I don’t have a standard curve. We ask that students keep activity logs that indicate the dates you took the lead in discussions, your specific contributions to hot topics, and field trip record.
Field Trips
Note that you need to go on four trips. You have a choice of signing up for either a Saturday or Sunday field trip except for trip 3, which requires a Saturday time slot.
Trip 1. Climate change on the Moutains: Fire and Beetle kill in the Rockies
Trip 1a. Sept 7th 9 AM.
Or Trip 1b. Sept 8th 9 AM.
Trip 2. Fire and Plant Invasions in the foothills of the Front Range.
Trip 2a. Sept 21th, 9 AM.
OrTrip 2b. Sunday, Sept 22th, 9 AM.
Trip 3. Major conservation issues of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Sept. 28th, 8 AM (Sat. only, will return in late afternoon).
Trip 4. The three Pleistocene Relict Grasslands: stories of Open Space along the Colorado Front Range. (and)Transformation by a keystone species? Prairie Dog impacts on prairie at the urban-wildlands interface
Trip 4a Oct. 12th, 9 AM.
Trip 4b ) Oct13th, 9 AM.
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First group assignment: Small working groups will be given reading assignments and expected to make presentations on the following topics:
1)What is the concept of “Historical Range of Variability” and why has it driven land management to date? What is its validity (or does it have validity) for our region?
2)Has the climate changed in the Colorado Front Range? What does thefuture (next 50 years) hold?
3)What is the status of non-native species in the Front Range. How many are there, what are the most dominant species. What are the concerns regarding these species? What biota are“rare” here? What species are threatened by extinction on the Front Range? What are proximate causes?
4)How has the fire cycle (fire return interval) been altered in the Front Range? What, if anything, are the effects on biota and soils?
5)What are the likely effects of carbon dioxide enrichment on plant growth and plant species of the Colorado Front Range?
6)What are the likely effects of atmospheric nitrogen enrichment on plant growth and plant species of the Colorado Front Range?
7)How has fragmentation of native landscapes affected these landscapes on the Colorado Front Range?
Additional class group activities will focus around two or three topics:
- Preparing for high-probability catastrophe: Fire at the Urban-Wildland Interface: Mitigation or Adaptation? Does land use and land ownership affect fire frequency and severity?
- Prairie Dogs: are these Keystone species (in need of federal protection) or Ecosystem transformerscausing destruction of native species and ‘desertification’ of grasslands?
The plan is to use the local information provided evaluate the Open Space and Mountain Park Grassland Management Plan. We will look at how prairiedogs are viewed and see what science is available that suggests when and where protection or control is warranted.
- ‘We’re Frackin’ (modified Bob Marley song). Does the Science support the current social view to ban this activity? How does this activity differ from some of the historical battlegrounds (e.g., pesticides, nuclear energy, etc.?)
The two ‘big’ individual assignments in this class include the take-home final and the individual research effort.
We’ve noticed that the ‘quality’ of the research effort has slipped in recent years. (“Quality”...what’s that? Well, it’s the comparison of what you wrote on your topic compared to what we’ve read on your topic.) You are expected to read and emulate the professional literature in this effort.
The Research paper rubric:
(A scoring rubric is an attempt to communicate expectations of quality around a task. In many cases, scoring rubrics are used to delineate consistent criteria for grading. Because the criteria are public, a scoring rubric allows teachers and students alike to evaluate criteria, which can be complex and subjective. A scoring rubric can also provide a basis for self-evaluation, reflection, and peer review. It is aimed at accurate and fair assessment, fostering understanding, and indicating a way to proceed with subsequent learning/teaching.)
The easiest way to define this is by example. How does your paper compare to something similar in the journals such asScience, Nature, Frontiers of Ecology and the Environment, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Bioscience, etc.
1)Your paper will have a title relevant to the “Factors contributing to local and regional change of the ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range.” These can be aquatic or terrestrial and involve organisms, soils, water, climate, etc. They CANNOT be marine or dedicated to regions outside of the combined plains and Rockies region.
2)Your paper will contain a short (200 words or less) abstract or summary that captures the key findings or arguments made in your research.
3)Your paper will contain an ADEQUATE literature review that summarizes both facts and opinions related to your topic.
4)Your paper will use appropriate graphics (tables, figures,) as necessary to convey your analyses. Excessive (redundant) materials are strongly discouraged, although, like modern journal articles, they may be included in a Supplement or Appendix to your paper. Such materials follow the literature cited section.
5)Paper lengths are to be appropriate with the subject matter. In general 5000 words of text (exclusive of graphics, literature cited) are expected.
6)We do not expect original research findings. Hence, an appropriate outline for your paper might be:
Title
Abstract or Summary
Introduction
Overview of topic
Specific objectives of the current paper
Topical Paragraphs: Usually good to lead with a bold heading
Conclusion(s)
Literature Cited (use a standard scientific format of the journals you’ve read).
Supplemental Materials (if contributes to key points).
Intervention Ecology. Research Paper topics, 2013
The following list is not meant to be complete or exclusive. However, these subjects are currently generating substantial research and discussion.
The goal here is to take a subject area you’re ‘intensely interested in’ and using it as a focus for an ‘intervention ecology’ topic.
1)Assisted Colonization, Assisted Migration.
2)Reassessing the positives and negatives about recently introduced species
3)Ecological consequences of the new, dusty Rocky Mt. region
4)What ‘fracking’ can and cannot due to groundwater resources
5)Ecological consequences of the longer growing seasons in the Rocky Mt. region
6)Changes in ecosystem services of a more fire-prone Rocky Mt. region
7)What does an increase in ‘extreme climate events’ mean for the Rockies?
8)Winners and losers of carbon dioxide enrichment and nitrogen deposition in the Rocky Mt. region.
9)We already control stream flow: What does warming mean for streams in the Rockies?
10)The realities of fire mitigation and adaptation for the Red Zones of Colorado.
11)Plant traits of newly arrived species: Are these different and do these matter?
12)Can “novel ecosystems” provide conservation opportunities?
13)Can we identify or characterize those species most likely to be harmed by rapid environmental change. (best to divide into taxonomic/functional groups...’birds’ ‘higher plants’, trophic positions, etc.)
14)Can we use ‘novel management’ to address ‘novel changes’ in environmental drivers (e.g., fires, invasive species, etc.) to produce desirable conservation and ecosystem service outcomes.
IMPORTANT UNIVERSITY INFORMATION FOR FALL, 2013:
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