Biology in Context: Preserving Biodiversity

            Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The assignment is:      

• The governor has appointed you and your partners to a committee
• The responsibility of the committee is to plan the purchase of additional preserved lands for your state (or local community)
• You may spend up to $3 million

• Work in groups (2, 3 or 4); give the instructor the names of people in your group and what you plan to recommend for preservation (i.e., the name of your topic)
• Use the information provided in the Lab write up, pages 99-102
• Do some preliminary conversation with your group to determine what types of biological resources e.g., trees, plants, animals, land types (beaches, forests, parks, etc) each of you is most interested in
• Decide on what type of biological resource you want to preserve
• Divide up doing the background ‘research’ among you as you search for additional information on the biological resource you want to propose a plan for
• Do the research to find additional information to support your plan (use the library, the web sites provided, other web sites, review public land sales information, etc. NOTE: DO NOT USE Wikipedia)

Prepare a written document and make an oral presentation: (e.g., the ‘written’ document can be a copy of a slide set that will be turned in)

• The presentation is to be approximately 15 minutes
• The presentation is to persuade ‘the governor’ and your classmates that your plan is worth supporting
• Your presentation will address all the following:

1.      A clear, detailed explanation of your plan, including:

a.      Location of the preserve

b.      How big the preserve will be

c.      How much it will cost

d.      What communities of species you plan to preserve

2.      A clear, detailed discussion describing why you chose what you did, including:

a.      Biological reasons for your recommendation

b.      Any sociopolitical reasons that affect your recommendation

c.      Any difficulties to accomplishing your plan

d.      Any potential consequences that might arise from your plan becoming reality

3.  Include a list of the references you used (web sites, books, journals, newspapers, people's names)

1.      Clarity of presentation

2.      How much background research you conducted

3.      Your apparent knowledge of the issues

4.      Your apparent understanding of the issues

5.      The quality of the justifications of the plan

Rules for Presentations:

·        people will be ON TIME

·         people will show respect and consideration for each other, and be prepared to ask presenters questions about their talks

·        people must stay through the last presentation, aka <you can not leave>

·        Mount Hamilton Project

·        Giant Garter Snake

·        Santa Cruz Mountains – Monarch Butterflies

·        Create a ‘garden’ for wildlife habitat

·        Vernal Pools, Tiger salamanders

·        Oakhurst Pines camp ground

·        Klamath Siskiyou forest & wolves

·        San Felipe Botanical Reserve