OCELOTS

Description

The “Spreading Seeds” case study was used to introduce students to fascinating ecology of seed dispersal mutualisms. Students were guided through the introductory concepts of the case, and we watched videos together to help spark their curiosity. Then students worked on their own with the aid of the worksheet to focus their responses.  The case study highlights the importance of seed dispersal for tropical and temperate forest function, as well as its potential role in restoration. This implementation plan and associated worksheet detail modifications made to add reflection about the ecology of temperate coniferous forests in the PNW of USA, where the course was taught. Descriptions are where you have the freedom to talk about your work and its context. The final application in “Spreading Seeds” is to consider how to initiate restoration in a way that brings seed dispersers to the plot to augment and diversify the growing forest.  This modification for temperate coniferous forest allows students to think about the case where many canopy species are wind-dispersed, but understory species are animal dispersed, and decide how their application of these same principles might differ from the tropical case.

Overview of Module:

“Spreading Seeds” explains the nature of seed dispersal mutualisms, and introduces students to the main biological actors in neotropical forest seed dispersal and their role in primary and secondary dispersal.  Students are asked to think through how seed dispersal is affected by anthropogenic impacts and shapes ecosystems recovery in secondary forests. The final component is an opportunity for students to learn more about the ecology of plants and seed dispersers for a given plane, and apply their knowledge of seed dispersal agents and their effectiveness to a restoration scenario with high vs low levels of surrounding forests.

Summary of implementation plan and teaching notes

• The attached implementation plan describes the modifications I made to guide students through the beginning of the exercise, trim some content to fit our time frame, and adapt the final application module to the restoration context the students were familiar with in the Pacific Northwest. The Implementation Plan also includes reflection on student response to the Spreading Seeds Case Study. These notes are summarized in “GROOM FMN Spreading Seeds Implementation Plan OCELOTS & Teaching Notes”
• Supplementary Worksheet: “Worksheet Spreading Seeds Case Study Responses and Modified Module for PNW USA Temperate Coniferous Forest Plots”.  The attached worksheet was created to aid students in working in small groups to respond to key questions from the case study, and then to apply a modification of the restoration module to our context in the PNW. Sample responses are also attached (available for instructors only).

Support was provided by: A grant from the United States National Science Foundation (DBI-RCN-UBE 2120141).

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