1. Watch these videos:
ForestGEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02UTPPmiKyM
NEON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSD84bIkWDw
2. Visit these websites and browse protocols and data collection:
At each site, read more about one specific type of equipment or data collection methodology/protocol. You will discuss what you learn in your DQ post.
Forest GEO: https://forestgeo.si.edu/protocols
NEON: https://www.neonscience.org/data-collection
3. Read about GLUE, the white clover Global Urban Evolution project: https://globalurbanevoluti.wixsite.com/urbancloverproject
Note: The evolution of white clover and the cyanogenesis trait have been affected by urban environments, and this is the subject of Rowan’s Clover CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience). In this course, you will propose a scientific experiment that aims to understand the ecological factors that drive urban adaptation in this species. Upon request, your instructor may provide white clover data that has been collected along the Glassboro to Philadelphia (rural to urban) gradient by students in many sections of Introduction to Ecology at Rowan as they collaborated in the CURE.
4. Watch this short video about Rowan’s Clover CURE:
1. Briefly describe the data collection equipment/procedure that you read about on the NEON and ForestGEO websites. What type of ecologically-relevant data does it collect?
2. What is a scientific question that we might be able to answer by collecting the same data for many years at replicated national and global sites (like NEON or ForestGEO)?
Think: How are the scales different for NEON vs. ForestGEO datasets, and how might this limit the generalizability of the results?
3. What is one ecological factor (biotic/abiotic) that differs between Glassboro and Philly? Think like you’re a clover plant. Be specific. Don’t simply say “the presence of humans.”
4. Considering all of the resources you explored in this DQ, why do you think it is necessary for scientists to collaborate, take extensive notes and make detailed experimental plans?