Moore, Jewel E.

English

UARK (University of Arkansas )

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 34 Article 46 1980 Use of an Outdoor Lab in Teaching Botany Jewel E. Moore University of Central Arkansas Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas  Part of the Botany Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Moore, Jewel E. (1980) "Use of an Outdoor Lab in Teaching Botany," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 34 , Article 46. Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol34/iss1/46 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. 126 Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedings, Vol.XXXIV,1980Arkansas Academy of Science 11Mean lengths (sexes combined) forall agesIthrough VIwere 250, 350, 385, 407, 424, and 419 mm,respectively (Table 2). The oldest whitt fbass (419 mm) collected were age VI,and only15% of all fish collected were older than age IV.Growth of white bass inDeGray Lake was similarto that ofother Arkansas reservoirs (Table 3). First-year growth was faster inDeGray Lake; however, age Ifish were represented onlyby sexually .mature males that had migrated to the spawning areas. As noted bymost investigators, females grew faster than males. Mean length of females at Ieach age was at least 21 mm greater than that of males.Table 1. Year class composition (percent) of white bass collected in Table 2. Average total length (mm, empirical data) of white bass fro- '.DeGray Lake each spring, 1975-79. DeGray Lake, 1975-79. ICOLLECTION OF FISH YEAR CLASS AGEANDSEX2.1 6<>. 5 I*.7 8.4 5.3 YEAR CLASS H M F M F M F M F M_ S1976 55 12.7 25.5 20.0 38.2 3.61«J 12 29.3 12.0 35.9 9.8 13.0 1978 j 6̂ f1978 181 0.5 15.0 27.1 7.7 18.2 31.51977 251 334 3571976 243 330 350 357 365Table 3. Average total length of white bass from selected lakes inArkansas. i«7*Ml 3« «' 374 «¦> 384 4i6 401 435 ,WATER TOTALLENCTH (HH) REFERINCE 1973 343 38°375 WS 3Q6 4l5 41? 428 419 IAT END OF YEAR OF LIFE t1972 392 415 405 427 420 438I II III IV 1971 403 42? 4l5 433DeCray Lake 250*^ 350 385 407 Truant Study 1970 438Lake Catharine 224 305 333 368 Huliey and Steven., Proc. Ark. UnweightedAcad. Scl. 12i17-30, 1958. Average LengthHullShoal. UWtVOtl 190 332 382 420 slr^T.!*Papl',"1 B^ S" 25° 338 361 373 3% 396 417 413 434 41<!'No. 49, 11 pp., 1970.SexesBeaver Reaervolr 216 295 355 3B5 ] k̂"'Combined 2 50 3 50 385 407 424 41?1] Males only 1]Only one female yearling was collected during the study.THOMAS E. MOEN and MICHAEL R. DEWEY, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Multi-Outlet Reservoir Studies, Post Office Box 705, \Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas 71923.\<USE OF AN OUTDOOR LAB IN TEACHINGBOTANYThose ofus who teach botany withan ecological emphasis often have difficultyinlocating areas for field experiences forour classes. AttheUniversity ofCentral Arkansas, however, the Outdoor Lab is an ideal setting forsuch exercises. This Outdoor Lab is situated on the southwesternpart of the campus and consists of these habitats: a wooded area, an old field or pasture (perhaps a "prairie remnant"), shrubby successionalstages, and a stream. This Outdoor Lab is considered part of the UCACampus Arboretum (Moore, 1974).Atthe present time four laboratory-field exercises have been developed and are being regularly used withmyGeneral Botany classes.The first field experience is forconsciousness-raising and is primarily set up to develop an awareness of the natural plant community. Theclass assembles at a circle of benches set up in the midst of the wooded area. Abrief introduction to the area is given—the history of its develop-ment and its function oncampus. Members of the class are then given suggestions for"experiencing an ecosystem." No communication with peersor instructor ispermitted. Each student isinstructed to wander in the area at willor sit to listen to sounds, to see what can be seen, to smell, to feeltextures ofrock or bark or leaf—letting thoughts come and go at will,recording in sketches or words, or not recording, as it pleases the student.At a signal from the instructor, the group gathers back at the benches to share reactions from this experience (if they wish todo so). Discussionfollows and leads into consideration of the types of organisms seen in the area; some concepts of the ecological relationships are introduced to thegroup. These relationships deal with the basic ecological classification of organisms into decomposer, producer, and consumer categories. Listingof those seen by members of the class (perhaps pointing out some of these, if unnoticed by the group) tends to focus thoughts on some of theecological concepts which willlater be discussed intheir text.A second lab experience deals withthe decomposers—a group of organisms which tends to be under-studied in most field experiences deal-ing withplant communities. Near the wooded area is a place where the maintenance crew dumps leaves and other biodegradable materials fromcampus clean-ups. Examination of what is happening in this large "compost pile" leads naturally into discussions of cycling of materials andenergy in ecosystems. Discussions dealing with organisms involved, processes of metabolism, end-results, availability of materials and energy,and related questions can become quite lively and productive. Questions dealing with decomposition oforganic materials, or composting, include:Does the decomposition of certain kinds of leaves (oak, pine, maple, elm) change the pHof the soil? How long does decomposition take? Is theprocess speeded by use of commercially available preparations? Can chemical fertilizers be used? Are aerobic or anaerobic conditions "better"?Students can usually add many questions, and they contribute to designing experiments by which some of these questions can be tentatively126Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 34 [1980], Art. 46Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1980.1'Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedings, Vol.XXXIV,1980 127General Notesanswered. The fact that these experiments usually use containers which are being recycled (such as half-gallon milk cartons) adds to the develop-ment of the concept of recycling. Setting up these experiments which they have designed has enabled these students to apply the scientific methodof investigation to a problem in which they are interested, and recycling materials and energy has been emphasized. Ifthe group can be en-couraged to see the value ofrecycling other materials such as aluminum cans and see some glimpse of the relationship ofsuch recycling toplantsand plant communities, then more of the total material-energy picture can be included indiscussions.The thirdOutdoor Lab experience deals with the traditional sampling methods by whichplant communities can be described. The botanystudents have had some experience in keying out trees on other parts of the campus arboretum, using Moore (1972); hence, they are able toidentify the trees within the wooded area of the Outdoor Lab rather quickly. During the laboratory period, the modified point-quarter method(Smith, 1980) is used insampling of the trees. The plant community is named interms of the importance values assigned to the trees, a value basedon the percentages of dominance, frequency, and density of the trees. Discussion ofother sampling possibilities enables the students to form someconcepts dealing withthe techniques of quantifying other aspects of the ecosystem.During the fourth session, the emphasis is on the time-space relationships of this plant community with others. Succession is observed inthevarious serai stages present in a proposed Nature Reserve, an area extending beyond, yet included in the Outdoor Lab area. Back at the benchcircle, a discussion of relationships in time and space of these examples ofplant communities with the worldwide view is usually quite rewarding.This discussion includes looking at a sheet dealing with activities relating to lifestyle, including hobbies and work,as these activities relate to theenvironment (interms of polluting or maintaining it), to the economy and energy (in terms ofcost and use ofmaterials and energy), and to eachstudent. Hopefully, the discussion which follows will spark some questions dealing with each student's relationship to the whole and thoughtsconcerning the student's reactions to these basic problems. Is the grassy community really "aprairie remnant"? Ifso, does that make itmore val-uable as part of a Nature Reserve or Outdoor Lab for the UCAcampus? How can itbe preserved and yet used tobest advantage? Should studentsbe concerned about the environment? about plant communities? about recycling materials? about energy shortages and alternative sources?These questions, hopefully, change to the more valuable and life-longquestions for each student: What concerns doIhave about these things?and what canIdo about these concerns?Having the Outdoor Lab on the UCAcampus has been a most valuable asset for teaching these ecological concepts to various classes. Withthe increased emphasis onenvironmental education in our state and the development ofoutdoor-lab facilities inthe various public school systemsin Arkansas, it becomes even more important that the colleges and universities develop such on-site facilities forstudents. Students ingeneral,not just the botany students, need toreceive training inenvironmental awareness, to develop a knowledge of some of the relationships and de-pendencies on our "Spaceship Earth", in order tobecome part of the solution toproblems and notpart of the problems.LITERATURE CITEDSMITH, ROBERT LEO. 1980. Ecology and field biology. ThirdEdition. Harper and Row; New York.MOORE, DWIGHT M.1972. Trees of Arkansas. ThirdEdition. Ar-kansas Forestry Commission; LittleRock, Arkansas.MOORE, JEWEL E. 1974. Multi-use of the campus environment inthe teaching ofbotany. Proc. Ark.Acad. of Sci. 28:45-46.JEWEL E. MOORE, BiologyDepartment, University ofCentral Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas 72032.AN INVESTIGATIONOF THE STREAMBED OXYGEN DEMAND OF FOURCHE CREEK, PULASKI COUNTY, ARKANSAStinrecent years Fourche Creek has been the site of numerous investigations (ADPC&E, 1974a,b; Bryant and Terry, 1979; U.S. ArmyCoE,The stream has a history of consistently low D.O. values. Previous five-day BOD's collected indicated that neither the carbonaceous norenous demand, nor a combination of the two, was sufficient to account for the low D.O. concentrations measured (ADPC&E, 1974a).Kina modeling report byBryant and Terry (1979), it was hypothesized that the benthic deposits exerted a significant demand on the oxygen in'erlying water. The primary purposes of this study were to compare S.O.D. values derived experimentally with those derived from the modeland, ifpossible, define the effects on the stream's ecosystem.Fourche Creek extends 30 miles (48.6 km) from its sources innortheastern Saline County, Arkansas, to its confluence with the ArkansasRiver inPulaski County. The sources lie in the eastern edge of the Ouachita Mountains at an elevation approximately 600 feet above mean sealevel (Fig. 1).Figure 2is a schematic diagram of the Fourche drainage showing locations of tributaries and major municipal and industrial effluentsrelative toits confluence withthe Arkansas River.The main stem also receives runoff from springs, timberland, pastureland and residential areas(USACE Environmental Assessment Report, 1972). Table 1contains data regarding the sampling sites.LITTLE ROCK CITYLIMITCOUNTY LINE1 PANTHER CRK.2 OWEN CREEK3 CROOKED CRK,4 OTTER CREEK5 MCHENRY CRK6 BRODIE CREEK7 ROCK CREEK8 COLEMAN CRK9 LITTLE FOURCHE CRKFigure 1. Map of Fourche Creek drainage showing sampling sites and major tributaries.127Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 34 [1980], Art. 46https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol34/iss1/46

Use of an Outdoor Lab in Teaching Botany

ScholarWorks@UARK

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 34 Article 461980Use of an Outdoor Lab in Teaching BotanyJewel E. MooreUniversity of Central ArkansasFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Botany Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the ArkansasAcademy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu, ccmiddle@uark.edu.Recommended CitationMoore, Jewel E. (1980) "Use of an Outdoor Lab in Teaching Botany," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 34 , Article 46.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol34/iss1/46126 Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedings, Vol.XXXIV,1980Arkansas Academy of Science 11Mean lengths (sexes combined) forall agesIthrough VIwere 250, 350, 385, 407, 424, and 419 mm,respectively (Table 2). The oldest whitt fbass (419 mm) collected were age VI,and only15% of all fish collected were older than age IV.Growth of white bass inDeGray Lake was similarto that ofother Arkansas reservoirs (Table 3). First-year growth was faster inDeGray Lake; however, age Ifish were represented onlyby sexually .mature males that had migrated to the spawning areas. As noted bymost investigators, females grew faster than males. Mean length of females at Ieach age was at least 21 mm greater than that of males.Table 1. Year class composition (percent) of white bass collected in Table 2. Average total length (mm, empirical data) of white bass fro- '.DeGray Lake each spring, 1975-79. DeGray Lake, 1975-79. ICOLLECTION OF FISH YEAR CLASS AGEANDSEX2.1 6<>. 5 I*.7 8.4 5.3 YEAR CLASS H M F M F M F M F M_ S1976 55 12.7 25.5 20.0 38.2 3.61«J 12 29.3 12.0 35.9 9.8 13.0 1978 j 6^ f1978 181 0.5 15.0 27.1 7.7 18.2 31.51977 251 334 3571976 243 330 350 357 365Table 3. Average total length of white bass from selected lakes inArkansas. i«7* Ml 3« «' 374 «¦> 384 4i6 401 435 ,WATER TOTALLENCTH (HH) REFERINCE 1973 343 38° 375 WS 3Q6 4l5 41? 428 419 IAT END OF YEAR OF LIFE t1972 392 415 405 427 420 438I II III IV 1971 403 42? 4l5 433DeCray Lake 250*^ 350 385 407 Truant Study 1970 438Lake Catharine 224 305 333 368 Huliey and Steven., Proc. Ark. UnweightedAcad. Scl. 12i17-30, 1958. Average LengthHullShoal. UWtVOtl 190 332 382 420 slr^T.!*Papl',"1 B^ S" 25° 338 361 373 3% 396 417 413 434 41<!'No. 49, 11 pp., 1970.SexesBeaver Reaervolr 216 295 355 3B5 ] k^"'Combined 2 50 3 50 385 407 424 41?1] Males only 1]Only one female yearling was collected during the study.THOMAS E. MOEN and MICHAEL R. DEWEY, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Multi-Outlet Reservoir Studies, Post Office Box 705, \Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas 71923.\<USE OF AN OUTDOOR LAB IN TEACHINGBOTANYThose ofus who teach botany withan ecological emphasis often have difficultyinlocating areas for field experiences forour classes. AttheUniversity ofCentral Arkansas, however, the Outdoor Lab is an ideal setting forsuch exercises. This Outdoor Lab is situated on the southwesternpart of the campus and consists of these habitats: a wooded area, an old field or pasture (perhaps a "prairie remnant"), shrubby successionalstages, and a stream. This Outdoor Lab is considered part of the UCACampus Arboretum (Moore, 1974).Atthe present time four laboratory-field exercises have been developed and are being regularly used withmyGeneral Botany classes.The first field experience is forconsciousness-raising and is primarily set up to develop an awareness of the natural plant community. Theclass assembles at a circle of benches set up in the midst of the wooded area. Abrief introduction to the area is given—the history of its develop-ment and its function oncampus. Members of the class are then given suggestions for"experiencing an ecosystem." No communication with peersor instructor ispermitted. Each student isinstructed to wander in the area at willor sit to listen to sounds, to see what can be seen, to smell, to feeltextures ofrock or bark or leaf—letting thoughts come and go at will,recording in sketches or words, or not recording, as it pleases the student.At a signal from the instructor, the group gathers back at the benches to share reactions from this experience (if they wish todo so). Discussionfollows and leads into consideration of the types of organisms seen in the area; some concepts of the ecological relationships are introduced to thegroup. These relationships deal with the basic ecological classification of organisms into decomposer, producer, and consumer categories. Listingof those seen by members of the class (perhaps pointing out some of these, if unnoticed by the group) tends to focus thoughts on some of theecological concepts which willlater be discussed intheir text.A second lab experience deals withthe decomposers—a group of organisms which tends to be under-studied in most field experiences deal-ing withplant communities. Near the wooded area is a place where the maintenance crew dumps leaves and other biodegradable materials fromcampus clean-ups. Examination of what is happening in this large "compost pile" leads naturally into discussions of cycling of materials andenergy in ecosystems. Discussions dealing with organisms involved, processes of metabolism, end-results, availability of materials and energy,and related questions can become quite lively and productive. Questions dealing with decomposition oforganic materials, or composting, include:Does the decomposition of certain kinds of leaves (oak, pine, maple, elm) change the pHof the soil? How long does decomposition take? Is theprocess speeded by use of commercially available preparations? Can chemical fertilizers be used? Are aerobic or anaerobic conditions "better"?Students can usually add many questions, and they contribute to designing experiments by which some of these questions can be tentatively126Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 34 [1980], Art. 46Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1980.1'Arkansas Academy of Science Proceedings, Vol.XXXIV,1980 127General Notesanswered. The fact that these experiments usually use containers which are being recycled (such as half-gallon milk cartons) adds to the develop-ment of the concept of recycling. Setting up these experiments which they have designed has enabled these students to apply the scientific methodof investigation to a problem in which they are interested, and recycling materials and energy has been emphasized. Ifthe group can be en-couraged to see the value ofrecycling other materials such as aluminum cans and see some glimpse of the relationship ofsuch recycling toplantsand plant communities, then more of the total material-energy picture can be included indiscussions.The thirdOutdoor Lab experience deals with the traditional sampling methods by whichplant communities can be described. The botanystudents have had some experience in keying out trees on other parts of the campus arboretum, using Moore (1972); hence, they are able toidentify the trees within the wooded area of the Outdoor Lab rather quickly. During the laboratory period, the modified point-quarter method(Smith, 1980) is used insampling of the trees. The plant community is named interms of the importance values assigned to the trees, a value basedon the percentages of dominance, frequency, and density of the trees. Discussion ofother sampling possibilities enables the students to form someconcepts dealing withthe techniques of quantifying other aspects of the ecosystem.During the fourth session, the emphasis is on the time-space relationships of this plant community with others. Succession is observed inthevarious serai stages present in a proposed Nature Reserve, an area extending beyond, yet included in the Outdoor Lab area. Back at the benchcircle, a discussion of relationships in time and space of these examples ofplant communities with the worldwide view is usually quite rewarding.This discussion includes looking at a sheet dealing with activities relating to lifestyle, including hobbies and work,as these activities relate to theenvironment (interms of polluting or maintaining it), to the economy and energy (in terms ofcost and use ofmaterials and energy), and to eachstudent. Hopefully, the discussion which follows will spark some questions dealing with each student's relationship to the whole and thoughtsconcerning the student's reactions to these basic problems. Is the grassy community really "aprairie remnant"? Ifso, does that make itmore val-uable as part of a Nature Reserve or Outdoor Lab for the UCAcampus? How can itbe preserved and yet used tobest advantage? Should studentsbe concerned about the environment? about plant communities? about recycling materials? about energy shortages and alternative sources?These questions, hopefully, change to the more valuable and life-longquestions for each student: What concerns doIhave about these things?and what canIdo about these concerns?Having the Outdoor Lab on the UCAcampus has been a most valuable asset for teaching these ecological concepts to various classes. Withthe increased emphasis onenvironmental education in our state and the development ofoutdoor-lab facilities inthe various public school systemsin Arkansas, it becomes even more important that the colleges and universities develop such on-site facilities forstudents. Students ingeneral,not just the botany students, need toreceive training inenvironmental awareness, to develop a knowledge of some of the relationships and de-pendencies on our "Spaceship Earth", in order tobecome part of the solution toproblems and notpart of the problems.LITERATURE CITEDSMITH, ROBERT LEO. 1980. Ecology and field biology. ThirdEdition. Harper and Row; New York.MOORE, DWIGHT M.1972. Trees of Arkansas. ThirdEdition. Ar-kansas Forestry Commission; LittleRock, Arkansas.MOORE, JEWEL E. 1974. Multi-use of the campus environment inthe teaching ofbotany. Proc. Ark.Acad. of Sci. 28:45-46.JEWEL E. MOORE, BiologyDepartment, University ofCentral Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas 72032.AN INVESTIGATIONOF THE STREAMBED OXYGEN DEMAND OF FOURCHE CREEK, PULASKI COUNTY, ARKANSAStinrecent years Fourche Creek has been the site of numerous investigations (ADPC&E, 1974a,b; Bryant and Terry, 1979; U.S. ArmyCoE,The stream has a history of consistently low D.O. values. Previous five-day BOD's collected indicated that neither the carbonaceous norenous demand, nor a combination of the two, was sufficient to account for the low D.O. concentrations measured (ADPC&E, 1974a).Kina modeling report byBryant and Terry (1979), it was hypothesized that the benthic deposits exerted a significant demand on the oxygen in'erlying water. The primary purposes of this study were to compare S.O.D. values derived experimentally with those derived from the modeland, ifpossible, define the effects on the stream's ecosystem.Fourche Creek extends 30 miles (48.6 km) from its sources innortheastern Saline County, Arkansas, to its confluence with the ArkansasRiver inPulaski County. The sources lie in the eastern edge of the Ouachita Mountains at an elevation approximately 600 feet above mean sealevel (Fig. 1).Figure 2is a schematic diagram of the Fourche drainage showing locations of tributaries and major municipal and industrial effluentsrelative toits confluence withthe Arkansas River.The main stem also receives runoff from springs, timberland, pastureland and residential areas(USACE Environmental Assessment Report, 1972). Table 1contains data regarding the sampling sites.LITTLE ROCK CITYLIMITCOUNTY LINE1 PANTHER CRK.2 OWEN CREEK3 CROOKED CRK,4 OTTER CREEK5 MCHENRY CRK6 BRODIE CREEK7 ROCK CREEK8 COLEMAN CRK9 LITTLE FOURCHE CRKFigure 1. Map of Fourche Creek drainage showing sampling sites and major tributaries.127Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 34 [1980], Art. 46http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol34/iss1/46

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Use of an Outdoor Lab in Teaching Botany

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