Using pathway maps to link concepts, peer review, primary literature searches, and data assessment in large enrollment

classes: an example from teaching ecosystem ecology

Brian Darby and Brett GoodwinDepartment of Biology,

University of North Dakota

Key Terms for today:

• Look these up before we begin, and write each term on a separate Post-It Note.

Group A Group B Group CSunlight NPP N MineralizationTemperature Biomass Organic NShade Herbivores Inorganic NPhotosynthesis Predators Soil BacteriaBiomass Root Growth Extracellular EnzymesNPP Soil Leachates DecompositionAtmospheric CO2 Urea Respiration

Pathway maps

Promotion: Inhibition:

SCALE-UP room

FUN

Predator-PreyIsoclines

+ -

Mini-maps

• 10 minutes: In groups of three, write your seven terms on the huddle board and link them with “promotion” and “inhibition” lines.– Some terms may be new – look these up online and be

prepared to explain them to your table.

• When finished, write your seven terms as legibly as possible onto separate Post-it notes. Make sure that everyone at the table knows what the words mean.

Mega-maps

• 15 minutes: As a table, collect all 21 post-it note cards and link them together on your large dry erase board.

• Use your huddle board diagrams as a starting place, but the final pathway diagram should be one integrated figure.

• When finished, make sure your table’s number is clear at the top of the Mega-Map.

Peer-review• 5 min: move to the table that is one number greater

than your own (9>10, 10>12, table 20 should go to table 1).

• Each group select one link that you think deserves an explanation, and write your group letter (A, B, or C) next to that link, and circle it.– use a different colored marker if possible

SCALE-UP FUN

Predator-PreyIsoclines

+-

Documentation

• As you return to your table, find the link that has been assigned to your group, and consider what sort of explanation is needed for that link.– You may ask members of the group that assigned that

link what they were thinking.

• Take a photo of the pathway map (as clear and legible as possible) and make sure someone from your table submits the image on Blackboard by the end of the day tomorrow (“PathwayMap”)

Evaluation• For the link that was indicated by the previous

group:– Prepare a one-page explanation of the link using

empirical data (collected from the primary literature) to either explain, support, or refute the link.

– Use any format that you consider appropriate, but at the very least there should be:

1. Reflection of what you originally though plus what you now know from primary literature

2. Data (figure or table) from primary lit3. Brief discussion of the primary lit you found with

citations

What did we learn?

• Conceptual maps are commonly used in Ecosystem Ecology to visualize the relationship between ecosystem components

• Light, temperature, and moisture are the main drivers of primary productivity

• Belowground foodwebs are affected by what happens aboveground, and vice-versa

• Soil microbes secrete extracellular enzymes that break down litter and release nutrients that are available to plants.