Great research opportunity for undergraduate courses NCEAS is currently putting together an undergraduate ecology synthesis project and we're looking for winter/spring term (2011) Ecology, Plant Ecology, Conservation Biology, or other upper-level courses who would like to participate. This year’s project is an analysis of the predictors of plant invasion in U.S. National Wildlife Refuges, based on the data in the NWR Invasive Species survey (http://www.nwrinvasives.com/refuge_data.asp). The refuges are divided into six regions (Pacific/Alaska, Southwest, Mountain West, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast), so we hope to enlist one or two classes from each region. Students in each class will use the database to assemble data for hypothesized predictors of plant invasion in their own region, including refuge size, native plant species richness, habitat heterogeneity, and the richness of the regional invasive pool. They will analyze the data for their own region, then contribute their data to the overall analysis. We’re trying to get funding to bring one student and the instructor (or two students) from each class to Santa Barbara in the spring to analyze the combined data set. If funding doesn’t come through, we would do it remotely. Either way, we’re hopeful that the final result will be publication-quality.
The project could work well as a research-based course module of a few weeks, depending on the size of the class and the number of refuges. Or the work could be done gradually over the semester. However it is done, we will provide a full set of research protocols to ensure clarity and consistency among participants. The goal is to have everything set up so that students can do the work in small groups and the instructor mainly oversees and advises. We can even provide background readings, and if you want it, a test based on the material. If you think you might be interested in the project or just want to learn more about it, please e-mail me: ma...@nceas.ucsb.edu Also, feel free to forward this notice to anyone you think might be interested. Thanks, David Marsh Undergraduate Education Advisor National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
