Paleoecology: Documenting Long-term Environmental Variability
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- Author:
- Jane Beiswenger, Mark E. Lyford, Robert Booth
- Subject:
- Science and Technology
- Institution Name:
- University of Wyoming
- Collection:
- Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE)
- Grade Level:
- Post-secondary
- Abstract:
The objectives of this lab are to 1) provide students with an overview of paleoecological techniques, 2) illustrate how these techniques are used to document local changes in peat-accumulating wetlands over long time-scales (centuries to millennia), and 3) illustrate how long-term perspectives on environmental variability aid in the interpretation of recent environmental changes. Students actively create and interpret a hypothetical plant macrofossil and charcoal record spanning the last few thousand years. The macrofossil record places human-caused changes within the context of long-term natural variability. Interpretation of the record also reveals interrelationships among climate, vegetation, hydrology, and fire.
- Course Type:
- Learning Module
- Languages:
- English
- Material Type:
- Activities and Labs, Lesson Plans
- Media Format:
- Downloadable docs
- Conditions of Use:
-
Custom Permissions
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Use solely at one's own institution with no intent for profit is excluded from the preceding copyright restriction, unless otherwise noted on the copyright notice of the individual chapter in this volume. Proper credit to this publication must be included in your laboratory outline for each use; a sample citation is given [on the copyright page of each volume]. Upon obtaining permission or with the "sole use at one's own institution" exclusion, ABLE strongly encourages individuals to use the exercises in this proceedings volume in their teaching program.
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