The development of graduate students in the sciences preparing for careers in
academia has long included elements to advance students as science researchers, but
recent emphasis is being placed on developing students as instructors and education
researchers as well. As such, objectives of this study included assessments of seedling
responses to hydrology typical of floods in urban settings, the role of created
microtopography in community development of a bottomland hardwood forest, and the
influence of geographic information systems (GIS) on student motivation and conceptual
knowledge.
Substantial losses of bottomlands in Texas necessitate restoration to regain the
ecosystem services that they provide. Restoration of proper hydrology is the most
important aspect of wetland restoration, but this can prove difficult in urbanizing
environments where hydrology has been irreversibly altered. Microtopography has been
shown to be an important component of bottomland hardwood forests, and its restoration
may aid in hydrologic restoration as gradients are created that support a diverse
community.
Tree seedlings were subjected to experimental flooding regimes typical of
floodplain forests in rural and urban settings. Growth rates of seedlings varied over time
and differed depending on species and treatment. Created microtopography resulted in a
spatially heterogeneous system similar to that of natural bottomlands and strongly
influenced hydrology, soil properties, survival of planted seedlings, and abundance and
distribution of colonizing species. Proper bottomland restoration in urbanizing environments should include species selection based on current and potential future
hydrologic conditions. In addition, restoring microtopography may improve survival of
a variety of species introduced during restoration, as well as enhance colonization of a
diverse plant community under changing hydrologic regimes.
Trends indicated a slight improvement in attitude and performance for students
that used GIS. More important, the authenticity of the experience appeared to affect
student attitude. The effective use of GIS in teaching may be scale-dependent. Smallscale
phenomena may be assessed as easily in a field exercise as with GIS. Using GIS to
assess large-scale, complex patterns may have a substantial impact on student
understanding. Further studies are needed to determine direct benefits of teaching with
GIS in undergraduate ecology classrooms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1374 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Simmons, Matthew Earl |
| Contributors | Whisenant, Steven G., Wu, X. Ben |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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