AUTHORS
Sara Hansen, Anna Monfils, and Debra Linton
Department of Biology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
Corresponding author: Sara Hansen (hanse2s@cmich.edu)
THE ECOLOGICAL QUESTION
How does invasive European frog-bit spread and impact native communities?
FOUR DIMENSIONAL ECOLOGY EDUCATION (4DEE) FRAMEWORK
- Core Ecological Concepts:
- Organisms
- Abiotic and biotic features of the environment
- Resources and regulators
- Community
- Habitat type - wetlands
- Species diversity
- Competition
- Ecology Practices:
- Quantitative reasoning and computational thinking
- Data skills
- Computer skills: spreadsheets
- Designing and critiquing investigations
- Study design
- Human-Environment Interactions:
- Human dependence on the environment
- Human accelerated environmental change
- Anthropogenic impacts
- How humans shape and manage resources/ecosystems/the environment
- Conservation Biology
- Cross-cutting Themes:
- Systems
- Spatial & Temporal
- Biogeography
- Native/alien/invasives
WHAT STUDENTS DO
In this module, students explore the spread of the invasive aquatic plant European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.) and design a dataset for evaluating the impacts of this species on native ecosystems. In the first two Activities, students access a publicly available dataset to map the spread of European frog-bit, evaluate how the invasion has changed over time, and reflect on ways humans would be impacted by the invasion and could work to slow or stop the spread of the species. In the next Activity, they use online literature sources to explain the specific affects of invasive aquatic plants on plants, animals, and humans. In the last three Activities, they create a dataset template based on a protocol for sampling European frog-bit in Saginaw Bay, Michigan. They create files and folders using best data management practices. They go through the steps of translating a written protocol to a fillable data template in Microsoft Excel. Finally, they assess which questions related to European frog-bit impacts could be addressed by their data. In the final Assessment, students demonstrate their understanding of vocabulary, human impacts on invasive species, and the importance of data in ecology and begin the process of designing a dataset addressing new questions on an invasive species of their choosing.
STUDENT-ACTIVE APPROACHES
Group Discussion (option for reflection questions), Brainstorming (independent), Inquiry-based Learning
STUDENT ASSESSMENTS
Students complete formative assessments throughout and a final assessment at the end of the module. Assessments include written answers, independent research, and data design. Answers may be graded according to the provided answer key, used to check for understanding, or discussed as a class.
CLASS TIME
3-4 hours
COURSE CONTEXT
Introductory biology or ecology course for life science majors
SOURCES
Hansen, S., Cahill, B., Hackett, R., Monfils, M., Goebel, R., Asencio, S., and Monfils, A. 2022. Aggregated occurrence records of invasive European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.) across North America. Biodiversity Data Journal. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/jsab2y accessed via GBIF.org
DOWNLOADS
This module is also available at https://qubeshub.org/publications/2865/3
Description of Resource Files:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Development of this module was supported by DBI-1730526 RCN-UBE: Biodiversity Literacy in Undergraduate Education - Data Initiative (BLUE Data Network) and DBI-2120678 RCN-UBE: Transforming Ecology Education to Four Dimensional Network.
CITATION
Sara Hansen, Anna Monfils, and Debra Linton. August 2023. Building Biodiversity Datasets for Invasive Species. Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology, Vol. 19: Practice #3. https://tiee.esa.org/vol/v19/issues/data_sets/hansen/abstract.html