THE ECOLOGICAL QUESTION:

What are the short- and long-term effects of a whole-watershed deforestation experiment on streamflow?

ECOLOGICAL CONTENT:

small watershed concept; watershed response to major disturbance (i.e., deforestation); forest hydrology; importance of long-term research in ecology; experimental design.

WHAT STUDENTS DO:

Students will use MS Excel file or hard copy of data to graph short- and long-term streamflow response to a whole-watershed manipulation. Students compare results to baseline data, draw conclusions about hypotheses, and consider implications of long-term research.

SKILLS:

Using a computer spreadsheet to make simple graphs; interpreting long-term data; critical thinking; hypothesis development and evaluation.

ASSESSABLE OUTCOMES:

Graphs from spreadsheet data; written interpretation of data; written analysis of hypothesis results; poster presentation of results; written discussion of short- and long-term ecological research as shown in this experiment.

SOURCE:

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest LTER archive (www.hubbardbrook.org)

AUTHORS:

Adam Welman ¹, Cynthia Berger ², and Marianne Krasny ³.

1 - Center for the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853,
2 - Science Writer, National Association of Science Writers, 215 Ridge Avenue, State College, PA, 16803, cberger@nasw.org, cyberger@adelphia.net, and

3 - Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, mek2@cornell.edu (corresponding author).