Associate Professor, Forest, Ecosystems, and Society Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon, United States
Abstract: The Four Dimensional Ecology Education Framework (4DEE), developed by the Ecological Society of America, seeks to improve eco-literacy by transforming undergraduate ecological education through an integrative framework that includes core concepts, hands-on practices, human-environment interactions, and cross-cutting themes. In addition, research experiences are known to improve the retention, learning outcomes, and career advancement of undergraduates. In this talk we describe how a field course in restoration ecology can be developed to address the goals outlined by 4DEE and to offer students the benefits of undergraduate research experiences. In addition, in alignment with the 2023 theme of the ESA’s annual meeting, “Ecology for all ecologists,” we describe how developing a field course in ecological restoration offers collaborative opportunities for academic ecologists to work with ecological stakeholders. We describe how our course, Bi 375: Field Studies in Ecological Restoration, has helped us to initiate collaborations with the Deschutes Land Trust, the Bureau of Land Management, the Roundhouse Foundation, Anabranch Solutions LLC, and the Jake Place Property, with whom we have developed and monitored restoration projects in forest, field, and stream ecosystems and published course research in peer-reviewed journals. Through the lens of our restoration projects, we explain ways that a restoration field course is particularly well-suited to offer students hands-on learning opportunities across the 4DEE framework’s four categories: “core concepts,” including niches and habitats, biodiversity, and landscape linkages; “cross-cutting themes,” especially structure and function; “human dependence on the environment,” such as anthropological impacts and their mitigation through restoration; and “ecology practices” through improved expertise in natural history, habitat assessment, data skills, study design, and collaboration. We also describe how we have addressed logistics such as living in the field, developing a syllabus, and weighting in-person versus remote work to complete course requirements. We hope that our talk will encourage others to develop similar courses that may improve undergraduate education and stimulate future collaborations among academics, other practicing ecologists, and the general public.
