Background/Question/Methods Understanding and conserving the biosphere increasingly requires prof... more Background/Question/Methods Understanding and conserving the biosphere increasingly requires proficiency in skills including critical thinking, data analysis, oral communication, broad synthesis of information and teamwork across diverse groups. However, a real concern exists that US undergraduate science students do not currently develop these important process skills needed as professionals. First, our work asks “how can we best ‘operationalize’ teaching of process skills?” Second, we must also discover how to evaluate development of specific process skills in our students. Such assessment allows us to determine if we have succeeded in teaching these skills with a gain or loss in content understanding. Here, we present the design and preliminary results of a recently launched experimental study aimed at these two tasks. The study brings together faculty from diverse institutions and professional conservation biologists to create and validate a set of instructional materials for pr...
The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) is a global initiative that seeks ... more The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) is a global initiative that seeks to create opportunities for the broad exchange of educational and training information and strategies among conservation educators and practitioners. The lack of access to such resources is a significant obstacle to building capacity in biodiversity conservation. To expand teaching resources and availability, NCEP has created over
▪ We summarize the influences of harvester ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex on communities and ec... more ▪ We summarize the influences of harvester ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex on communities and ecosystems. Because of nest densities, the longevity of nests, and the amount of seed harvested and soil handled, harvester ants have significant direct and indirect effects on community structure and ecosystem functioning. Harvester ants change plant species composition and diversity near their nests. These changes result from differential seed predation by the ants, their actions as seed dispersers and competitors with other granivores, and the favorable soil conditions they create through their digging. Their nest building creates islands of increased nutrient density. In some areas, the effects of their activities may be so pervasive that plant community structure is strongly influenced. Ant removal studies, which would reveal their total impact, have generally not been done. Granivore removals have been conducted in North America where ants are of lesser importance than small mammals,...
... 5 TABLE 1.-Replicated goodness-of-fit test comparing seed removal at patches placed 20 cm and... more ... 5 TABLE 1.-Replicated goodness-of-fit test comparing seed removal at patches placed 20 cm and 100 cm from trunk trails and at one of three distances from a nest. A significant pooled G indicates a difference in the proportion removed from the two patch types. ...
The effective preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems is a complex endeavor that requires ... more The effective preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems is a complex endeavor that requires proficiency in skills of critical thinking, data analysis, oral communication, broad synthesis of information and teamwork across diverse groups. However, there is concern that US undergraduate science students do not currently develop these fundamental process skills they will need as professionals. In this study, we investigate how we can best 'operationalize'the teaching of process skills and how we can assess their development in ...
Background/Question/Methods Understanding and conserving the biosphere increasingly requires prof... more Background/Question/Methods Understanding and conserving the biosphere increasingly requires proficiency in skills including critical thinking, data analysis, oral communication, broad synthesis of information and teamwork across diverse groups. However, a real concern exists that US undergraduate science students do not currently develop these important process skills needed as professionals. First, our work asks “how can we best ‘operationalize’ teaching of process skills?” Second, we must also discover how to evaluate development of specific process skills in our students. Such assessment allows us to determine if we have succeeded in teaching these skills with a gain or loss in content understanding. Here, we present the design and preliminary results of a recently launched experimental study aimed at these two tasks. The study brings together faculty from diverse institutions and professional conservation biologists to create and validate a set of instructional materials for pr...
The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) is a global initiative that seeks ... more The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) is a global initiative that seeks to create opportunities for the broad exchange of educational and training information and strategies among conservation educators and practitioners. The lack of access to such resources is a significant obstacle to building capacity in biodiversity conservation. To expand teaching resources and availability, NCEP has created over
▪ We summarize the influences of harvester ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex on communities and ec... more ▪ We summarize the influences of harvester ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex on communities and ecosystems. Because of nest densities, the longevity of nests, and the amount of seed harvested and soil handled, harvester ants have significant direct and indirect effects on community structure and ecosystem functioning. Harvester ants change plant species composition and diversity near their nests. These changes result from differential seed predation by the ants, their actions as seed dispersers and competitors with other granivores, and the favorable soil conditions they create through their digging. Their nest building creates islands of increased nutrient density. In some areas, the effects of their activities may be so pervasive that plant community structure is strongly influenced. Ant removal studies, which would reveal their total impact, have generally not been done. Granivore removals have been conducted in North America where ants are of lesser importance than small mammals,...
... 5 TABLE 1.-Replicated goodness-of-fit test comparing seed removal at patches placed 20 cm and... more ... 5 TABLE 1.-Replicated goodness-of-fit test comparing seed removal at patches placed 20 cm and 100 cm from trunk trails and at one of three distances from a nest. A significant pooled G indicates a difference in the proportion removed from the two patch types. ...
The effective preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems is a complex endeavor that requires ... more The effective preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems is a complex endeavor that requires proficiency in skills of critical thinking, data analysis, oral communication, broad synthesis of information and teamwork across diverse groups. However, there is concern that US undergraduate science students do not currently develop these fundamental process skills they will need as professionals. In this study, we investigate how we can best 'operationalize'the teaching of process skills and how we can assess their development in ...
Uploads
Papers by John Mull