Service-Learning through Community-Based Research in Conservation Biology
Presentation Format
Poster
Intended Audience
All Audiences
Presentation Description
Conservation biology is an integrative science with three goals: to document the full range of biodiversity on Earth; to investigate human impacts on species, genetic variation, and ecosystems; and to develop practical approaches to prevent the extinction of species, maintain genetic diversity within species, and protect and restore biological communities and their associated ecosystem functions (Primack 2014). It is thus an applied field that requires active management and collaborative problem solving, often in response to crisis situations. However, there is a discrepancy between the professional practice of conservation biology and the predominant model of conservation education at the undergraduate level. Most conservation biology courses taught in the U.S. lack laboratory sections, while those with labs often rely on computer simulations of conservation problems, rather than hands-on activities. This deficiency is probably due in part to logistical difficulties associated with the long time frames and large spatial scales of many conservation projects (Work 2015).
In my upper-level Conservation Biology course at the College of Coastal Georgia, I address this shortcoming by engaging students in service-learning through community-based research. My classes collaborate with partner agencies such as the St. Simons Land Trust, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and Jekyll Island Authority to develop, implement, and assess real conservation projects. Students thus gain opportunities to apply their content knowledge, learn and practice scientific research methods and skills, and interact with professional biologists and resource managers to help solve actual problems in their “backyards”, local field sites ranging from a nature reserve to a state park and even a golf course. They also learn to tolerate and embrace uncertainty, diversity of values and perspectives, and tradeoffs that are inherent to conservation issues, unlike the tidy solutions sometimes perceived from textbook case studies. Our community partners, on the other hand, benefit from the intellectual stimulus and physical data collection and analysis, particularly given the paucity of resources available to support their conservation missions. Moreover, our work serves the community in a broader sense, by protecting and enhancing biodiversity and important ecosystem services.
I propose to present an overview of this teaching and learning model and to reflect on its pedagogical benefits and organizational challenges, which may be of interest to fellow practitioners. I also plan to highlight my students’ contributions to and findings from community-based research projects, including monitoring a population of redbay trees threatened by disease, surveying butterfly diversity as an indicator of environmental change, inventorying grassland restoration sites on the fringes of a golf course, and assessing the impacts of a living shoreline installed to stabilize a creek bank while providing salt marsh habitat.
Location
Embassy Suites Hotel
Start Date
4-13-2016 5:00 PM
End Date
4-13-2016 7:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Holbrook, C. Tate, "Service-Learning through Community-Based Research in Conservation Biology" (2016). Gulf South Summit on Service-Learning 2016. 85.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gss/2016/2016/85
Service-Learning through Community-Based Research in Conservation Biology
Embassy Suites Hotel
Conservation biology is an integrative science with three goals: to document the full range of biodiversity on Earth; to investigate human impacts on species, genetic variation, and ecosystems; and to develop practical approaches to prevent the extinction of species, maintain genetic diversity within species, and protect and restore biological communities and their associated ecosystem functions (Primack 2014). It is thus an applied field that requires active management and collaborative problem solving, often in response to crisis situations. However, there is a discrepancy between the professional practice of conservation biology and the predominant model of conservation education at the undergraduate level. Most conservation biology courses taught in the U.S. lack laboratory sections, while those with labs often rely on computer simulations of conservation problems, rather than hands-on activities. This deficiency is probably due in part to logistical difficulties associated with the long time frames and large spatial scales of many conservation projects (Work 2015).
In my upper-level Conservation Biology course at the College of Coastal Georgia, I address this shortcoming by engaging students in service-learning through community-based research. My classes collaborate with partner agencies such as the St. Simons Land Trust, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and Jekyll Island Authority to develop, implement, and assess real conservation projects. Students thus gain opportunities to apply their content knowledge, learn and practice scientific research methods and skills, and interact with professional biologists and resource managers to help solve actual problems in their “backyards”, local field sites ranging from a nature reserve to a state park and even a golf course. They also learn to tolerate and embrace uncertainty, diversity of values and perspectives, and tradeoffs that are inherent to conservation issues, unlike the tidy solutions sometimes perceived from textbook case studies. Our community partners, on the other hand, benefit from the intellectual stimulus and physical data collection and analysis, particularly given the paucity of resources available to support their conservation missions. Moreover, our work serves the community in a broader sense, by protecting and enhancing biodiversity and important ecosystem services.
I propose to present an overview of this teaching and learning model and to reflect on its pedagogical benefits and organizational challenges, which may be of interest to fellow practitioners. I also plan to highlight my students’ contributions to and findings from community-based research projects, including monitoring a population of redbay trees threatened by disease, surveying butterfly diversity as an indicator of environmental change, inventorying grassland restoration sites on the fringes of a golf course, and assessing the impacts of a living shoreline installed to stabilize a creek bank while providing salt marsh habitat.
Program Abstract
Conservation biology is a mission-driven, multidisciplinary field that aims to document, protect, and restore biodiversity. Students in my Conservation Biology course collaborate with community partners to develop, implement, and assess conservation projects at local field sites, where they apply core concepts and methods toward solving real problems. I will describe this service-learning model and its pedagogical benefits and challenges while also highlighting our conservation activities and preliminary research findings.