Overview
Let’s start by diving into these lists of National Parks, Monuments and PreservesLinks to an external site. here in the United States. You will select one of these parks to study as well as an ecosystem within that location. You are not required to visit the park in person to complete this work and this park does not need to be near you. We are going to be using an online tool called iNaturalistLinks to an external site. to identify which plants and animals live in these parks, so if you’d like to explore somewhere new, go for it!
Before you make your final decision about which park you would like to focus on, we are going to guide you through studying plant and animal species of your park on iNaturalist so you can determine that there are enough documented species there for you to conduct a proper investigation. Ideally, you will select to work in a park that has at least 20 plant species and at least 20 animal species documented on iNaturalist. This will make it much easier to conduct your research on plant-animal interactions.
Assignment Instructions
Write 2-3 succinct, clear paragraphs (a total of 400-500 words) to introduce broad public audiences to the park or preserve you will be working in and its ecosystem. The paragraphs should describe the location, unique geography, climate, and ecological history of the park. Next describe the defining characteristics of the ecosystem you have selected to work in (i.e. important plant communities, ecosystem services they provide, keystone wildlife species that live there). Discuss whether this ecosystem is unique to your park or exists elsewhere and if it is threatened and/or of management concern. Each paragraph should be 5-6 sentences long and include at least 3 in text citations to reference where you collected your information.
You can submit this paragraph and reference list in a word document.