Posting this for Erik Piikkila [email protected]
I would like to suggest that taking a calculus course may not be the
best use of a student's time. I think math and statistics are far more
important.
Being able to count, measure and determine densities, abundance, cover
percentages, heights, and diameters are perhaps more important skills.
Field orientation and navigation skills using maps, aerial photos,
satellite images, GPS, topography, geography and geology, are also
perhaps more important than calculus.
Perhaps more importantly, there are other courses or topics that should
occupy this time slot in one semester:
* Ecosystems of the World. How do local ecosystems fit in with other
ecosystems in the same region, continent, other continents. What
are the similarities, differences, types, species, disturbance
regimes, changes and threats
* Systems Theory and Application
* Interdisciplinary Research
* Finding Data (Hidden & Forgotten) in Archives, Libraries, Research &
Experimental Sites, Theses & Online and look for Reports, Theses,
Newsletters, Photo collections, Maps, Aerial Photos, & Databases:
* Tour Libraries & Archives at home institutions and view collections
of historic, recent and current research
* Locate & Tour Local Community Archives & Museums
* Locate & Tour State & Federal Libraries & Archives
* Locate & Tour State & Federal Agency Archives: Dept of Interior
General Land Office Surveys 1812 - 1946
* Locate & Tour Corporate Libraries & Archives
* Link the above data sources and locations of data with on the ground
research at research and experimental sites
* Long Term Ecological Research Networks (https://lternet.edu/) &
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
(http://www.neonscience.org/)
* Big Data (http://harvardmagazine.com/2014/03/why-big-data-is-a-big-deal)
* Efficient Searches on Google and Google Scholar
* Finding online sources of historic research and data
* Satellite Imagery
* Turn industrial scale data into ecological data
o Using Farming and Agriculture data to study and describe changes
to prairie ecosystems and native grasslands
o Using forest harvesting and logging data to describe forested
landscape change that would compliment satellite imagery and
extend the data horizon beyond 1972 and into the early part of
the 20th Century
o Forest harvesting and logging data can also be used to describe
biological legacies especially at the forest stand level
My comments are NOT meant to denigrate or devalue calculus in any way.
Some have suggested that calculus has only cropped up once in 20
years. As a prime example of interdisciplinary research, a calculus
expert could be brought into the project if and when needed.
Erik Piikkila
