TEACHING ALL VOLUMES SUBMIT WORK SEARCH TIEE
VOLUME 6: Table of Contents TEACHING ISSUES AND EXPERIMENTS IN ECOLOGY
EXPERIMENTS

Principal Ecological Question Addressed

Given limited resources and the divergent goals of multiple stakeholders, how to design a marine reserve to best preserve marine resources?

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What Happens

Students are provided with information about a hypothetical island state, named Udubia, including a detailed map with infrastructure, bathymetry, currents, and a standardized grid.  Data on fisheries, biodiversity, and marine mammal and endangered species populations are also provided, and are referenced to the map’s grid.  A table (natural_history.doc) that summarizes the natural history of the species is also provided and can either be provided to the students or kept for instructor reference.  Each student will choose a character representing a stakeholder in the placement and design of the marine reserve. Groups of stakeholders propose marine reserves and debate the proposals.

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Experiment Objectives

By the end of this exercise, students should be able to:

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Equipment/Logistics Required

Little equipment is required for this simulation, beyond paper and a printer.  Ideally, a plotter will be available to produce larger maps, especially for students with disabilities.

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Summary of What is Due

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Keyword Descriptors

Ecological Topic Keywords:

Biodiversity, community ecology, conservation biology, dispersal, endangered species, fisheries management, marine ecology, oceans, overfishing, Shannon Diversity Index, Marine reserves, marine protected areas (MPA)

Science Methodological Skills Developed:

Data analysis, graphing data, library research, oral presentation, use of primary literature, use of spreadsheets, Collaboration, conflict resolution, use of geographical data

Pedagogical Methods Keywords:

Citizen's argument, cooperative learning, formal group work, role playing

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