This coming winter/spring semester we are coordinating an NSF-funded, course-based research project on the landscape predictors of amphibian distributions in the Eastern and Central U.S. The project is packaged as a 4-6 week course module for undergraduate ecology or conservation biology (or similar) courses. Participating students will use protocols for qGIS and Google Earth to calculate landscape variables (e.g. road density, forest cover, wetland connectivity) for sites in their own region that have previously been surveyed for amphibians through the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program. NCEAS will provide, via a project website, all necessary protocols as well as online help for students. The project includes funding for one student and one instructor (or two students) from each class (or two students) to travel to NCEAS (Santa Barbara) in April to compile and analyze the group data.
We have a few spaces left for participating classes for winter/spring term. Ideally, classes would have fewer than 40 students, and have instructors who have some background in amphibian ecology or landscape ecology. Instructors from two-year colleges are definitely encouraged to contact us, along with instructors four-year colleges and universities. Please let us know if you’re potentially interested in having your class participate or if you just want to find out more about the project. David Marsh: [email protected]
