A Campus Biodiversity Assessment
by Scott Milne
Students will use SEEK or other species identification tools to create a database of biodiversity on campus. The lesson starts with a discussion of the importance of biodiversity to the functioning of ecosystems and an exploration of biodiversity and species specific to the Sonoran Desert ecosystem. Students then walk teacher created transects on campus and scan species observed using SEEK, collecting data on species names and GPS data points. Finally, students will work in groups to graph and analyze the data they collected and present the information in a scientific poster.