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

本科阶段生态学野外和实验课程的一个共同特点是缺乏适当的野外经验。具体而言，实地经验大部分是由测量性生境研究组成的，例如，从对比地区编制物种丰度清单。然而，许多生态学研究和一些最重要的概念上的进步都来自于操纵性实验，这些实验旨在满足严格的复制统计标准，分散处理，避免假复制的陷阱。为了解决这种教学与科研的二元对立，提出了建立长期的野外实验来改善生态与环境科学本科教学的建议。这项长期试验旨在解决生态演替问题，对比刈割和施肥处理对高地和低地废弃农田的影响。小学、初中和高中的职前和在职教师，以及参加南伊利诺伊大学环境研究项目课程的学生（作为广泛的专业学位课程的辅修课程）将参与现场实验的建立、运行、数据收集和分析。学生参与的经验将评估实地实验的优点、缺点和局限性，并准备将研究数据和结果整合到生态学的理解中。由于这种干预，学生将更好地理解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表达最重要的生态过程之一，即演替。将实地实验纳入适当的课程后，将对SIUC本科课程进行改进，这将成为国内和国际其他课程的典范。

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.