Updates
1999
June 7-11: C&I 498o visits Touch of Nature, Andrew Lumpe
April 21-23: PLB200 visits Touch of Nature.
April 12-16: PLB117 visits Touch of Nature.
April 21-23: PLB200 visits Touch of Nature.
Feb 8: Backyard Ecology for 7-9th grade students, Marilyn Mathis
January 1: SIU assumes project.
1998
December 30: Official end of project via NSF.
November 2-6: PLB115 visits Chautauqua.
October 13-15: PLB117 visits Chautauqua.
September 15-17: PLB200 visits Chautauqua.
August 15: Alice Brandon joins the project.
August 10: Melissa Rice's paper on fractal analysis accepted in Bios.
August 3-6: Ecological Society of America poster presentation, Baltimore, Maryland.
July 28-30: PLB200 visits Chautauqua.
July 21-23: PLB117 visits Chautauqua.
May 15: Michele Oyler's paper "The macaroni lab" accepted in American Biology Teacher.
April 14-16,28-30: Bio 200b visits Touch of Nature
April 21-23: PLB200 visits Touch of Nature.
March 31-April 1: PLB115 visits Touch of Nature.
February 9: Melissa Rice taped for public television's SIU Connections.
January 20: Abstract submitted to the Ecological Society of America for summer meetings in Baltimore, Maryland.
January 12: Sumita Bhattacharyya and Andrew Lumpe of SIU Curriculum and Instruction and Rich Fiori of Video Production join the project.
January 1: Fence fixing at Chautauqua continues....
1997
December 19: Melissa Rice submits paper, "Fractal analysis of worm movement patterns in vegetated versus unvegetated areas" to the Journal of Undergraduate Research.
December 17: Fall mowing at Touch of Nature.
December 10: Michele Oyler leaves the project.
November 11: Fall fertilization at Chautauqua
October 20: NSF Site visit
September 26: Internal Advisory Committee meeting
Sept-Nov: Teach PLB115,117,200 & 337 at both sites.
August 11-14: Poster presentation at Ecological Society of America meetings in Albuquerque, NM "Directed inquiry in ecology instruction: the transition."
July 27-29: Gerry Saunders and David Gibson participate in Writing Workshop at UNC on Small Scale Long-Term Ecological Research projects.
July 24: Warren Weaver leaves project.
Dr. Katherine Kantz hired for Fall in Warren's place.
July 8: Rototilling of plots at Chautauqua Road.
July 7-14: Mowing of plots at Chautauqua.
July: Teach PLB115, 117 & 200 at Chautauqua.
June 2-7: Teach C&I 498o Ecology Workshop for Teachers at Touch of Nature.
June 1 - 5: Poster presentation at annual meeting of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Bozeman, Montana: " Wetland succession studies for undergraduate education."
April 15: Touch of Nature site fertilized.
April 11: Chautauqua Road site fertilized.
April 7-29: Teach PLB117, PLB 200, & BIO200b labs at Touch of Nature site. Final version of ETSP ready to be used for assessment of these classes.
March 25: David Gibson & Warren Weaver led a lab written by Marilyn Mathis, "How long would you survive in the wild? An experimental test of animal foraging" at the Touch of Nature site for the 1997 Illinois Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.
March 24: Sigma Xi Campus Research Day. David Gibson presented a poster on the project.
Spring: Data sets coming on line on these web pages. Look for the "DATA" link on the home page
February 28: Dr. Andrew Lumpe, SIU College of Education. Seminar "The Inquiry Nature of Science."
February 8: Marilyn Mathis led a workshop "Backyard Ecology" on mimicry to 7-9th grade girls from around the southern Illinois region in the "Expanding Your Horizons" program. "It was a roaring success" says Marilyn!
February 1: Fiscal Year 2 of this project officially starts
January: Seed bank samples placed out in greenhouse. TN samples were collected May 21, 1996, and CH samples were collected August 2, 1996. Since collection the samples were stored in the freezer
January: Permanent photo stations installed at both sites
Ongoing Dr. Gerry Saunders: A similar set of experimental plots for teaching are being established at the University of Northern Colorado as part of a xeric demonstration of establishment/succession in the shortgrass prairie
Ongoing Student
Projects:
Jen Neely & John Rivera: A three lab sequence for General Biology using the inquiry teaching approach.
Melissa Rice: Fractal analysis of worm movement patterns in vegetated versus unvegetated areas.
Melanie Roffel: Seed dispersal by white tailed deer.
Ongoing Doctoral
Projects:
Marilyn Mathis: Deer herbivory and succession in a lowland field.
Warren Weaver: A test of successional models.
1996
November: Fall N fertilizer application at both sites.
Oct 28: Fall mow at TN site. Fall mow at CH site was abandoned after two attempts in November because of flooding
October 25: NSF National Visiting Team visited SIU.
October 17: Two oral presentations "Enhancing undergraduate education in environmental science and ecology: The role of long-term field studies" and "The Organization of Tropical Studies teaching model at Southern Illinois University" at SIU Regional Showcase research conference.
October 16-19: Oral presentation "The establishment of a long-term field experiment to enhance undergraduate ecology education" at National Association of Biology Teacher meetings in Charlotte, NC.
Sept 30 - Oct 16: Vegetation abundance measurements at TN site.
Sept 23-27: Poster presentation "Wetland succession studies for undergraduate education" at International Wetlands Conference in Perth, Australia.
Sept 21 - Oct 31: Vegetation abundance measurements at CH site.
Sept 13: Internal Review Team met.
August 10-15: Poster presentation "The establishment of a long-term field experiment to enhance undergraduate ecology education" at Ecological Society of America meetings in Providence, RI.
July 30: PLB117 (Plants & Society) lab taught at Touch of Nature site.
July 29: PLB451 (Flora of Southern Illinois) lab taught at Chautauqua Rd site.
July 26-August 1: Electric deer fence installed at Chat. Rd site.
July 25: PLB200 (General Plant Biology) lab taught at Touch of Nature site.
July 19-20: Fertilized Chat. Rd site.
June 21-26: Plowed, disked, and used field cultivator at Chautauqua Rd site. Plot borders marked out the next day.
June 4: First class (C&I 498o) used Touch of Nature plots.
May 31: Completed spring mowing at Touch of Nature.
May 6: Began collection of precipitation and temperature data.
May-June: Jen Neely completes undergraduate student project on the use of rapid cycling Brassica for teaching field ecology.
April 23: Touch of Nature plots fertilized.
April 15: ArcView map completed for Chautauqua site.
April 10: Membership of NSF's National Visiting Team (NVT) is finalized. The NVT will provide an on site evaluation of our project in October. We look forward to hosting Alan Berkowitz (Institute of Ecosystem Studies, NY), Marilyn Lisowski (Eastern Illinois University), and Gordon Uno (University of Oklahoma).
April 5: Soils collected from both field sites. Analysis by the College of Agriculture lab shows:
Sample pH Phosphate Potassium
(lbs/acre) (lbs/acre)
Chautauqua Road 6.1 36 106
Touch of Nature 5.9 18 198
These test results will allow us to determine the fertilizer application rates for the fertilized plots.
April 2: Warren Weaver, University of Nebraska has agreed to join the project as a PhD student starting in Fall, 1996. Welcome aboard !
March 29: Gerry Saunders in town for meeting with the other PI's on project evaluation.
March 27: This Web site comes on line. Visit often as it is always under construction and we welcome your comments.
March 23: Meeting with Shaun Bennett in Costa Rica to discuss publication.
March 14: Disking of the Touch of Nature field plots takes place. The experimental plot borders were marked out shortly thereafter.
March 1: Chautauqua Road site surveyed.
Feb 1: Official Start of our project. i.e., the funding from NSF started today.
Jan 15: Jon Campbell, & Marilyn Mathis, both SIU Master's students are appointed as RA's on the project.