Studying Behavioral Ecology on High School & College Campuses

We present a practical field exercise for ecology and animal behavior classes that can be carried out on campus, using urban wildlife. Students document an animal's feeding behavior to study its interactions with the surrounding environment. In this approach, an animal's feeding behavior i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American biology teacher 2015-08, Vol.77 (6), p.432-438
Main Authors: Abu Baker, Mohammad A., Emerson, Sara E., Brown, Joel S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We present a practical field exercise for ecology and animal behavior classes that can be carried out on campus, using urban wildlife. Students document an animal's feeding behavior to study its interactions with the surrounding environment. In this approach, an animal's feeding behavior is quantified at experimental food patches placed within its habitat. Following a lecture on foraging ecology and an outdoor discussion about the animals on campus, students formulate questions and hypotheses. Simple statistical analyses are used to construct results and draw conclusions.
ISSN:0002-7685
1938-4211
DOI:10.1525/abt.2015.77.6.432