Long-Term Field Studies for Undergraduate Education: A Snapshot in Time

本科生的生态学领域和实验室课程的一个共同特点是缺乏适当的领域经验。特别是，实地经验大多包括定量的栖息地研究，例如，列出对比地区的物种丰度清单。然而，许多生态学研究和一些最重要的概念性进展来自操纵性实验，这些实验旨在满足复制、分散治疗和避免假复制陷阱的严格统计标准。为了解决教学和研究之间的两极分化，提出了建立一个长期的野外实验来改善生态与环境科学本科教学的建议。这项长期实验旨在探讨生态演替的主题，对比高地和低地废弃农田中割草和化肥处理的效果。小学、初中和高中的职前和在职教师，以及南伊利诺伊大学环境研究课程(作为一系列主要学位课程的辅修课程)的学生将参与现场实验的建立、运行、数据收集和分析。参与体验的学生将评估野外实验的优点、缺点和局限性，并准备将研究数据和结果整合在一起，以了解生态学。由于这种干预，学生们将更好地认识到科学研究在理解自然世界中的作用。一个重要的推论是，学生将能够更好地描述和阐明最重要的生态过程之一，即演替。在将实地实验纳入适当的课程之后，SIUC本科课程的改进将成为国内和国际其他项目的典范。

A common feature of ecological field and laboratory courses at the undergraduate level is a lack of appropriate field experiences. In particular, field experiences for the most part consists of mensurative habitat studies, e.g., making lists of species abundances from contrasting areas. However, much ecological research and some of the most important conceptual advances have arisen from manipulative experiments designed to meet rigorous statistical standards of replication, dispersion of treatments, and avoiding the pitfalls of pseudoreplication. To address this dichotomy between teaching and research, the establishment of a long-term field experiment to improve undergraduate teaching in ecology and environmental science is proposed. The long-term experiment is designed to address topics of ecological succession contrasting the effects of mowing and fertilizer treatments in upland and lowland abandoned farm fields. Elementary, Middle and High school pre-service and in-service teachers, and students taking courses in Southern Illinois University's Environmental Studies Program (as a minor for a wide range of major degree programs) will participate in the establishment, running, data collection and analysis of the field experiment. The student's participating in the experience will assess the advantages, disadvantages and limitations of field experiments, and be prepared to integrate research data and results in an understanding of ecology. Because of this intervention, students' will better appreciate the role of scientific research in understanding the natural world. An important corollary is that the students will be better able to describe and articulate one of the most important ecological processes, i.e., succession. The improvements to the SIUC undergraduate curriculum that will occur following the incorpora tion of the field experiment into appropriate courses will be a model for other programs nationally and internationally.