In a general sense, biodiversity is an intuitively simple concept, referring to the variety of Ea... more In a general sense, biodiversity is an intuitively simple concept, referring to the variety of Earth's organisms. Ecologists, however, conceptualize biodiversity in a more nuanced, multidimensional way to reflect the enormous diversity of species, niches, and interspecific interactions that generate spatiotemporal complexity in communities. Students may not fully comprehend or appreciate this deeper meaning if they fail to recognize the full range of species in a community (e.g., the often-ignored microbes and small invertebrates) and how their varied interactions (e.g., mutualism, parasitism) and activities (e.g., ecosystem engineering) affect an ecosystem's emergent structure (e.g., food webs) and function (e.g., decomposition). To help students learn about biodiversity and complex ecological webs, a role-playing activity was developed in which students "become" a different species (or resource) that they investigated for homework. In class, students work in small groups to "meet" other species in their community and, as appropriate for their roles, "consume" or "interact" with each other. As they make intraspecific connections, students collectively create an ecological web diagram to reveal the structure of their community's relationships. This diagram is used for further exploration and discussion about, e.g., trophic cascades, non-trophic interactions, ecosystem engineering, and species' effects on the movement of energy and nutrients. This inquiry-based activity has been observed to sustain student engagement and yield productive discussions and positive responses. Further, qualitative assessment indicates that students' knowledge about biodiversity and ecological interactions improves after the activity and discussions, suggesting that students benefit from acting in and constructing their own ecological webs.
Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant challenge in teaching soil ecology is ... more Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant challenge in teaching soil ecology is our inability to observe organisms as they live and interact in the soil. The objective of this article is to describe an interactive class project to help students visualize the sizes of different groups of soil organisms and to relate these to soil structural components. This project was carried out by students in an upper-level undergraduate soil ecology class. It involved the design and construction of a 4000× scale model of a soil aggregate and its associated organisms. The body of the model was made from inexpensive, lightweight materials and had a diameter of approximately 1 m to depict a 0.25-mm aggregate. Students identified and discussed appropriate size ranges and construction materials for the model's bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, springtails, and other components. Instructorguided questions addressed size and arrangement of sand, silt, and clay particles; pores; and organic matter in a typical soil aggregate. The model is a useful tool for conveying physical and ecological relationships among soil organisms and is adaptable for use at diverse educational levels.
Urbanized ecosystems and urban human populations are expanding around the world causing many nega... more Urbanized ecosystems and urban human populations are expanding around the world causing many negative environmental effects. A challenge for achieving sustainable urban social-ecological systems is understanding how urbanized landscapes can be designed and managed to minimize negative outcomes. To this end, an interdisciplinary Ecological Landscaping conference was organized to examine the interacting sociocultural and ecological causes and consequences of landscaping practices and products. This special issue of Cities and the Environment contains a diverse set of articles arising from that conference. In this introductory paper, we describe the meaning of ecological landscaping and a new conceptual framework that helps organize the topic's complex issues. The essence of ecological landscaping is a holistic systems-thinking perspective for understanding the interrelationships among physical-ecological and sociocultural variables that give rise to the patterns and processes of biodiversity, abiotic conditions, and ecosystem processes within and among individually-managed urban landscape parcels. This perspective suggests that 1) variables not considered part of traditional landscaping and 2) the effects of landscaping within an individual parcel on variables outside of it must both be considered when making design and management decisions about a parcel. To illustrate how these points help create a more holistic, ecological approach to landscaping, a traditional ecosystem model is used to create a framework for discussing how sociocultural and physical-ecological inputs to a landscape parcel affect its characteristics and outputs. As exemplified by papers in this issue, an integrated sociocultural-ecological approach to the study of urban landscaping practices and products is needed to 1) understand why and how humans design and mange urban landscape parcels, 2) describe how the combined characteristics and outputs of many parcels give rise to the emergent ecosystem properties of urbanized areas, and 3) develop effective educational programs that catalyze adoption of sustainable landscaping choices and practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges for the future of ecological landscaping research and practice, and a list of preliminary guidelines for ecological landscaping. We hope that this special issue will increase understanding, visibility, and research about the value of an ecological approach to urban landscaping.
The general consensus among institutions of higher education is that for a course in Sustainabili... more The general consensus among institutions of higher education is that for a course in Sustainability Studies to be successful it must treat the subject in a transdisciplinary manner. The authors (an Engineer, Ecologist, and Anthropologist) have collaborated to create and deliver a course titled "Introduction to Sustainability Studies." It will become the introductory course in the minor in sustainability studies at Roger Williams University. The students in the course were from many different majors (for example: Criminal Justice, Architecture, Biology, although no Engineering majors were enrolled), and ranged from freshman to seniors. The content of the paper will describe the genesis of the course and the manner in which it was delivered in a transdisciplinary way to such a diverse audience. It will also describe the engineering content, and the attempts made to deliver it to a non-engineering audience. Finally, some lessons learned from teaching this course will be offered that might be of use to others attempting such a course.
On-going human population growth and changing patterns of resource consumption are increasing glo... more On-going human population growth and changing patterns of resource consumption are increasing global demand for ecosystem services, many of which are provided by soils. Some of these ecosystem services are linearly related to the surface area of pervious soil, whereas others show non-linear relationships, making ecosystem service optimization a complex task. As limited land availability creates conflicting demands among various types of land use, a central challenge is how to weigh these conflicting interests and how to achieve the best solutions possible from a perspective of sustainable societal development.
Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location.... more Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location. Although habitat structure is the physical template underlying ecological patterns and processes, the concept is relatively unappreciated and underdeveloped in ecology. However, it provides a fundamental concept for urban ecology because human activities in urban ecosystems are often targeted toward management of habitat structure. In addition, the concept emphasizes the fine-scale, on-the-ground perspective needed in the study of urban soil ecology. To illustrate this, urban soil ecology research is summarized from the perspective of habitat structure effects. Among the key conclusions emerging from the literature review are: (1) habitat structure provides a unifying theme for multivariate research about urban soil ecology; (2) heterogeneous urban habitat structures influence soil ecological variables in different ways; (3) more research is needed to understand relationships among sociological variables, habitat structure patterns and urban soil ecology. To stimulate urban soil ecology research, a conceptual framework is presented to show the direct and indirect relationships among habitat structure and ecological variables. Because habitat structure serves as a physical link between sociocultural and ecological systems, it can be used as a focus for interdisciplinary and applied research (e.g., pest management) about the multiple, interactive effects of urbanization on the ecology of soils.
Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant chal- lenge in teaching soil ecology i... more Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant chal- lenge in teaching soil ecology is our inability to observe organ- isms as they live and interact in the soil. The objective of this ar- ticle is to describe an interactive class project to help students vi- sualize the sizes of different groups of soil organisms and to re- late these to soil structural components. This project was carried out by students in an upper-level undergraduate soil ecology class. It involved the design and construction of a 4000× scale model of a soil aggregate and its associated organisms. The body of the model was made from inexpensive, lightweight materials and had a diameter of approximately 1 m to depict a 0.25-mm aggregate. Students identified and discussed appropriate size ranges and construction materials for the model's bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, springtails, and other components. Instructor- guided questions addressed size and arrangement of sand, silt, and clay particle...
In a general sense, biodiversity is an intuitively simple concept, referring to the variety of Ea... more In a general sense, biodiversity is an intuitively simple concept, referring to the variety of Earth's organisms. Ecologists, however, conceptualize biodiversity in a more nuanced, multidimensional way to reflect the enormous diversity of species, niches, and interspecific interactions that generate spatiotemporal complexity in communities. Students may not fully comprehend or appreciate this deeper meaning if they fail to recognize the full range of species in a community (e.g., the often-ignored microbes and small invertebrates) and how their varied interactions (e.g., mutualism, parasitism) and activities (e.g., ecosystem engineering) affect an ecosystem's emergent structure (e.g., food webs) and function (e.g., decomposition). To help students learn about biodiversity and complex ecological webs, a role-playing activity was developed in which students "become" a different species (or resource) that they investigated for homework. In class, students work in small groups to "meet" other species in their community and, as appropriate for their roles, "consume" or "interact" with each other. As they make intraspecific connections, students collectively create an ecological web diagram to reveal the structure of their community's relationships. This diagram is used for further exploration and discussion about, e.g., trophic cascades, non-trophic interactions, ecosystem engineering, and species' effects on the movement of energy and nutrients. This inquiry-based activity has been observed to sustain student engagement and yield productive discussions and positive responses. Further, qualitative assessment indicates that students' knowledge about biodiversity and ecological interactions improves after the activity and discussions, suggesting that students benefit from acting in and constructing their own ecological webs.
Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant challenge in teaching soil ecology is ... more Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant challenge in teaching soil ecology is our inability to observe organisms as they live and interact in the soil. The objective of this article is to describe an interactive class project to help students visualize the sizes of different groups of soil organisms and to relate these to soil structural components. This project was carried out by students in an upper-level undergraduate soil ecology class. It involved the design and construction of a 4000× scale model of a soil aggregate and its associated organisms. The body of the model was made from inexpensive, lightweight materials and had a diameter of approximately 1 m to depict a 0.25-mm aggregate. Students identified and discussed appropriate size ranges and construction materials for the model's bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, springtails, and other components. Instructorguided questions addressed size and arrangement of sand, silt, and clay particles; pores; and organic matter in a typical soil aggregate. The model is a useful tool for conveying physical and ecological relationships among soil organisms and is adaptable for use at diverse educational levels.
Urbanized ecosystems and urban human populations are expanding around the world causing many nega... more Urbanized ecosystems and urban human populations are expanding around the world causing many negative environmental effects. A challenge for achieving sustainable urban social-ecological systems is understanding how urbanized landscapes can be designed and managed to minimize negative outcomes. To this end, an interdisciplinary Ecological Landscaping conference was organized to examine the interacting sociocultural and ecological causes and consequences of landscaping practices and products. This special issue of Cities and the Environment contains a diverse set of articles arising from that conference. In this introductory paper, we describe the meaning of ecological landscaping and a new conceptual framework that helps organize the topic's complex issues. The essence of ecological landscaping is a holistic systems-thinking perspective for understanding the interrelationships among physical-ecological and sociocultural variables that give rise to the patterns and processes of biodiversity, abiotic conditions, and ecosystem processes within and among individually-managed urban landscape parcels. This perspective suggests that 1) variables not considered part of traditional landscaping and 2) the effects of landscaping within an individual parcel on variables outside of it must both be considered when making design and management decisions about a parcel. To illustrate how these points help create a more holistic, ecological approach to landscaping, a traditional ecosystem model is used to create a framework for discussing how sociocultural and physical-ecological inputs to a landscape parcel affect its characteristics and outputs. As exemplified by papers in this issue, an integrated sociocultural-ecological approach to the study of urban landscaping practices and products is needed to 1) understand why and how humans design and mange urban landscape parcels, 2) describe how the combined characteristics and outputs of many parcels give rise to the emergent ecosystem properties of urbanized areas, and 3) develop effective educational programs that catalyze adoption of sustainable landscaping choices and practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges for the future of ecological landscaping research and practice, and a list of preliminary guidelines for ecological landscaping. We hope that this special issue will increase understanding, visibility, and research about the value of an ecological approach to urban landscaping.
The general consensus among institutions of higher education is that for a course in Sustainabili... more The general consensus among institutions of higher education is that for a course in Sustainability Studies to be successful it must treat the subject in a transdisciplinary manner. The authors (an Engineer, Ecologist, and Anthropologist) have collaborated to create and deliver a course titled "Introduction to Sustainability Studies." It will become the introductory course in the minor in sustainability studies at Roger Williams University. The students in the course were from many different majors (for example: Criminal Justice, Architecture, Biology, although no Engineering majors were enrolled), and ranged from freshman to seniors. The content of the paper will describe the genesis of the course and the manner in which it was delivered in a transdisciplinary way to such a diverse audience. It will also describe the engineering content, and the attempts made to deliver it to a non-engineering audience. Finally, some lessons learned from teaching this course will be offered that might be of use to others attempting such a course.
On-going human population growth and changing patterns of resource consumption are increasing glo... more On-going human population growth and changing patterns of resource consumption are increasing global demand for ecosystem services, many of which are provided by soils. Some of these ecosystem services are linearly related to the surface area of pervious soil, whereas others show non-linear relationships, making ecosystem service optimization a complex task. As limited land availability creates conflicting demands among various types of land use, a central challenge is how to weigh these conflicting interests and how to achieve the best solutions possible from a perspective of sustainable societal development.
Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location.... more Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location. Although habitat structure is the physical template underlying ecological patterns and processes, the concept is relatively unappreciated and underdeveloped in ecology. However, it provides a fundamental concept for urban ecology because human activities in urban ecosystems are often targeted toward management of habitat structure. In addition, the concept emphasizes the fine-scale, on-the-ground perspective needed in the study of urban soil ecology. To illustrate this, urban soil ecology research is summarized from the perspective of habitat structure effects. Among the key conclusions emerging from the literature review are: (1) habitat structure provides a unifying theme for multivariate research about urban soil ecology; (2) heterogeneous urban habitat structures influence soil ecological variables in different ways; (3) more research is needed to understand relationships among sociological variables, habitat structure patterns and urban soil ecology. To stimulate urban soil ecology research, a conceptual framework is presented to show the direct and indirect relationships among habitat structure and ecological variables. Because habitat structure serves as a physical link between sociocultural and ecological systems, it can be used as a focus for interdisciplinary and applied research (e.g., pest management) about the multiple, interactive effects of urbanization on the ecology of soils.
Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant chal- lenge in teaching soil ecology i... more Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant chal- lenge in teaching soil ecology is our inability to observe organ- isms as they live and interact in the soil. The objective of this ar- ticle is to describe an interactive class project to help students vi- sualize the sizes of different groups of soil organisms and to re- late these to soil structural components. This project was carried out by students in an upper-level undergraduate soil ecology class. It involved the design and construction of a 4000× scale model of a soil aggregate and its associated organisms. The body of the model was made from inexpensive, lightweight materials and had a diameter of approximately 1 m to depict a 0.25-mm aggregate. Students identified and discussed appropriate size ranges and construction materials for the model's bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, springtails, and other components. Instructor- guided questions addressed size and arrangement of sand, silt, and clay particle...
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