PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 16: Ecology Education
Tuesday, August 9, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Toward a unified undergraduate ecology curriculum.

Vaughan, John^*,1, Taylor, Jason^*,2, ¹ St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg, Florida² Ecological Society of America, Silver Spring, MD

ABSTRACT- We are presenting data collected as part of a workshop we conducted at the annual meeting of ESA in 2004. It was designed to generate consensus on which ecological topics and concepts are critically important to present in a general ecology course. One of our concerns is that faculty are allowing content presented in textbooks to determine which topics end up in syllabi. As an international organization of ecologists, it seems appropriate for ESA to provide recommendations about what should be included in an undergraduate general ecology curriculum. Thus, we are presenting our preliminary assessment of the vital topics to be addressed with the hope that our data will generate interest in developing ESA approved curriculum outlines that can be used by faculty to prepare syllabi for a general ecology course, publishers preparing new ecology texts, and to provide a basis for those preparing standardized tests that assess ecological knowledge. ESA can and should influence what is learned and how it is evaluated by providing the standards to be assessed. The results suggest that there was a large degree of consensus about topics that are vital to include in an undergraduate ecology course. The topics that participants estimated that they would allot 1.9 to 3.7 hours each out of 45 hours of lecture included: population dynamics, population interactions – predation and competition, influence of abiotic factors on the distribution and abundance of organisms, physiological ecology, mathematical models of population growth, ecosystem ecology – energy flow, history of ecology, scientific method as it relates to ecological studies, evolutionary ecology, community ecology – succession, ecosystem ecology – biogeochemical cycles, and population interactions – mutualism and commensalisms. Those considered least important in terms of time allotted to lecture, ranging from 0.4 to 0.8 hours each/45 hours of lecture included: ecological applications – invasive species, ecological applications – environmental science, ecological applications – biological control, theoretical ecology, ecological applications – wildlife management, microbial ecology, ecological forecasting, and paleoecology.

Key words: curriculum, undergraduate, ecology