SEE-U 2000: Biosphere 2 - Module 2:Exercise 2

General Methadology for Instructors and TAs
## Exercise 2: Measuring Biodiversity Module 2: Introduction to Local Biomes Printer format ### Background Lecture Instructor gives the biological background during the lecture on the Local Biome and utility of GPS/GIS (Day 2, late morning): The Local Biome—the North American Subtropical Desert—and local factors that control ecosystem structure. Include comparisons of biodiversity across biomes, as used in Anne’s BRF Ex.1. Focus on the Sonoran Desert. Discuss and collectively produce the characteristics that are unique to the desert—How would you be able to tell it apart from other biomes that are similar? What are biomes that are most similar to the Sonoran? What are the most characteristic plants and animals that distinguish the Sonoran and subtropical deserts in general? Utility of GPS and GIS in field ecology and conservation biology. (The students will already have had field use of GPS the previous day and this morning.) ### Lab prep discussion (Day 1, afternoon) Discuss field precautions—Hazards of desert field work (Heat exhaustion, sun stroke, poisonous snakes, etc.), stress prevention and first aid. Perhaps someone at the lab is well qualified to participate in this presentation Introduce the independent research projects that they will have to do this semester. Get students thinking about these projects. Describe the types of hypotheses that students could test during the term—all will have received a mailing with a listing of many sample projects on them as well as the syllabus of the course so that they could come up with some general fields of interest before they come out to the field sites. See also Activities for Task B ### Activities for Task A: Orienteering and Introduction to the Sonoran (Day 1, late afternoon) Students are taken on a short guided hike through B2C, visiting upland and riparian elements. My recollection is that trails at B2C are fairly limited. Staff will need to determine access to surrounding grounds. A brief orienteering session is held to acquaint students with navigating with maps and GPS units. Students are given a topographic map of B2C area and compass, and are instructed on how to read the map and locate a given area for their site locations. Step is repeated with GPS. Students proceed to different areas of the desert selected by the instructor to maximize their eventual understanding of various measures of biodiversity. Students identify the important plant species in these regions, bring specimens (limited cuttings only) to the lab if needed for identification that night. Students are encouraged to begin thinking about their independent research projects. ### Activities for Task B. Measuring Local Biodiversity and the Importance of Spatial Scale During lab period, the afternoon of Day 1, Briefly introduce on the importance of scale and how diversity is measured within and between sites. Outline the techniques to be used to measure diversity (see below). Ask students to hypothesize how diversity may vary at their respective sites. Approach: Through multiple levels of spatial scale, students will address questions concerning species richness and diversity in various Sonoran habitat types in B2C vicinity. Later, if we take a field trip to the Desert Museum and Saguaro NM, they can compare and contrast these habitats to those at the Museum and montane environments visited en route. Also later (Community dynamic module), students will be able to reconsider what they found in terms of of ( and (-diversity. Field methods, as outlined in description of Task B steps, above. At the largest size, at least some of the students need to cross into other habitats to show jumps in spp-area curves. If plants need to be identified, students can collect specimens for later identification at the B2C facilities ### Introduction to GIS Students are introduced to GIS theory, the software program ArcView, and ArcView maps of B2C Students enter GPS localities into ArcView format, for overlay on B2C maps and data analysis. ### Activities for Task D. Regional Biodiversity Based on lecture, students will have some introduction to broadscale vegetation differences across major divisions within the NA deserts and in turn with in the Sonoran. The purpose of this Task is to illustrate what these differences may mean in the ground. Students will compare field plant species lists for sites throughout the NA desert region with their own lists for B2C, and see that there (1) there is little overlap in dominant plants among divisions, and more similarity with sites in the Sonoran around B2C, and (2) that local habitat conditions create a level of diversity that is just as great as between the coarse-scale geographic divisions. This Task is listed as optional depending on schedule. ### Hypotheses Review hypothesis testing Hypotheses to test: Task B: There is a relationship between area and species diversity. This relationship changes at scale large enough to cross multiple habitat types Task D: There is little overlap in dominant plants among divisions, and more similarity among sites in the Sonoran around B2C Local habitat conditions create a level of diversity that is just as great as between the coarse-scale geographic divisions. ### Independent variables in the experiment Task B: Area, GPS coordinates ### Dependent variables that they could use in their experimental design. Task B: Species Diversity Ask students for additional independent variables (e.g. species richness, number of individuals) ### Student evaluation Students will be evaluated by a short lab report (optionally) and presentation. Optional—Report will be no more than 5 pages long and should include results analyses of the interactions of scale and biodiversity at plot and regional scales Students will give short (10 min max) presentation to share with the class their findings for their sites in Task B (local biodiversity field results) and their comparisons at the regional level for selected divisions within the NA deserts in Task D (regional biodiversity analysis). Participation in discussion Authors: A. Hoylman, T. Kittel, J. Danoff-Burg