Field Observations Lesson 1

FIELD OBSERVATIONS LESSON 1

FIELD ECOLOGY

Dr. Thornton

I.  Make and Record Observations

During the 20-minute writing exercise, students should record their observations in their field notebooks, through writing or drawing. Digital tools, such as cameras and mobile phones, can be used to record images and other data, but for the initial phase keep the students focused on making basic, sensory-based observations. The writing prompts below can be used to get them started:

• What do you smell?

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• What do you hear?

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• What do you see above you?

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• What do you see near you?

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• What do you see as you use your magnifying glass?

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• Is anything moving around you? How does it move?

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• What is the ground like? Describe its texture.

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• Do animals live here? How do you know?

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• What do you notice about the plants around you?

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• What questions come to mind as you sit and observe?

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• How many different species do you see?

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• What other quantitative observations can you make?

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II.  Discussing Your Findings

Once student teams have completed the basic research needed to answer the questions for the Findings section of the project, have them reflect on their work in the Discussion section.

• What did you find that surprised you about your field study site?

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• What plants and animals have disappeared from the area that might have once flourished there?

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• What organisms have been introduced to the area in recent decades? How and why were they introduced?

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• What is important about the changes that occurred in your area over time?

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• Why is your field study site important to your local community?

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III.  What was there when people first settled the area?

Research the plants, animals, and natural features that were present at the site when the local area was first settled by humans. Things may have been very different at the time. For example:

• If your community first took shape when a group of Native Americans settled the area in the 700s, you wouldn’t have found any dandelions at the site: Europeans introduced them to North America much later.

• If your community began when a group of European settlers established a town along a railway in the 1800s, elm trees may have flourished in the area, only to disappear when Dutch elm disease struck in the late 1900s.

• Settlers may have also changed your site’s natural features. For example, they may have created new ponds or lakes by building an irrigation dam. If settlers to your area brought their own plants and animals, those introduced species may have driven out native species.

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IV.  What was there before the first humans arrived?

Suggest students find out as much as they can about the geologic and prehistoric history of the site.

• Was the land once covered in water?

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• Did glaciers move through your area during the most recent ice age?

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• Was it forest, desert, wetland, or grassland?

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V.  What is natural history?

Natural history is broadly defined as the systematic study of the organisms and physical features a particular place. The specific scientific disciplines that are involved in natural history include:

• Botany

• Zoology

• Ecology

• Geology

• Paleobiology

• Anthropology

Someone who studies natural history is called a naturalist. Unlike human history, much of natural history is based on physical evidence rather than recorded or written accounts. Pick a topic for study. Make brief power point (approx 5 slides) to teach class. INCLUDE:

a.  How has the area changed over time?

Have students describe the changes over time in a timeline, series of illustrations, multimedia presentation, or narrative format.

b.  How is the area important to the nearby human community?

Have students find out how humans use the site. Suggest they answer the basic questions:

• Who uses it, and when?

• Why do they use it?

• If it were to become a shopping mall or other industrial site, what would the community lose?

VI.  Project Guidelines

Each research team will produce a natural history report of the field site to serve as a foundation

for further work in the course. Each report, however it is delivered, should include the

following sections:

• Executive summary - One-page summary of the key findings—something an executive might read instead of the entire report

• Background - Background information about the study site—where it is located, how it is currently used, etc.

• Methods - Outline of the procedures used for the collection of observations and natural history

information

• Findings - Presentation of the information in an organized way; includes observations from all team members, but leaves interpretations and speculation to the next section

• Discussion - Discussion of the findings and why they are important

• References - List of any references and Web sites used, including experts consulted

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