Long Term field Studies for Undergraduate Education
A resource devoted to the use of a long term field experiment at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the field experiment is utilized by successive classes of students enrolled in environmental courses at SIU. Many of these students are following an Environmental Studies Program for their minor, others are life science majors, or future science teachers (Elementary, Middle or High School). The experiment addresses specific ecological concepts and allows students across a range of academic levels to collect a variety of types of data. The Long-Term Experiment is designed to address topics under the general concept of ecological succession. Short-term experiments (duration less than one semester) are conducted by students within the long-term experimental plots. Thus, the long-term experiment provides the context and framework for additional short-term experiments.
Important Note: The funding and activities associated with this project were completed in 2002. These pages are maintained as a resource although much of the information is now out of date. The lowland field plots have not been maintained. The upland field plots at Touch of Nature are being maintained and are being used for research and as part of a new NSF sponsored project, The Heartland Ecological/Environmental Academic Research Training GK-12 program.
Educational Opportunities
Links to Other Long Term Ecological and Educational Resources
- Association for the Promotion and Advancement of Science Education
- Ecological Society of America - Education Section
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- NAS Education Imperative
- NSF Sponsored Long Term Ecological Research Network
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center
- Park Grass Experiment, UK
- Plan-It Earth
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
- SIU Department of Plant Biology
- SIU Herbarium
- SIU Tropical Studies Research
- World Resources Institute Environmental Education
- WWW sites for Ecologists