Document: BRI-3-28-3

Dendropedagogy: Teaching basic ecological and biostatistical principles through tree-ring studies.

MCCARTHY, B.C.* and D.L.RUBINO

Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701 USA ¹

Abstract:
The relationship between plant growth and environmental stress remains a central focus of much research in plant ecology. We have developed a simple, inexpensive, practical laboratory exercise to assist students in the understanding of basic biological principles relating environmental stress to forest stand productivity. This lab experience is designed to be multi-disciplinary in its approach, combining basic botany, physiology, ecology, and dendrochronology in to a single lab that relates tree growth to regional patterns of climate. The lab exercise can serve as a springboard towards more advanced discussions of ecology, productivity, global climate change, carbon cycles, etc. The exercise necessitates a preliminary discussion of basic botany (primary and secondary growth in plants) and wood anatomy (ring porous vs. diffuse porous; angiosperms vs. gymnosperms, etc.), ecological principles of plant distribution and growth, and the basic principles of dendrochronology. Following this, students are brought to the field and taught the procedures for using increment corers and the storage of cores. Returning to the lab, students prepare cores for analysis, use dissecting microscopes to measure tree rings, download local climate data from the WWW, and perform a statistical assessment of the relationship of tree growth to seasonal moisture availability. The exercise can be easily modified and tailored to locally available species or presented at different levels from beginning to advanced students. Tree-ring studies offer an excellent opportunity for field and lab-based teaching exercises due to the inherent availability of trees throughout temperate ecosystems, the wealth of available online WWW resources, and the general public interest in forests and forest ecology. We have implemented the lab over a four-year period and have found it to be highly successful.

Keywords: dendrochronology, stress, forest ecology, trees, ecological education

This abstract is being presented at: 3:30 PM in session:
Poster Session #3: Education.