~ Teaching experience

Ecological Methods (NRES 222)

I co-instructed this applied undergraduate course for two years with a fellow grad student. We focused on quantitative ecology, including development of testable research hypotheses, sampling in the field, data analysis and interpretation, and technical writing. Lab exercises included investigating 1) spatial relationships between sampling area and diversity of plant species at UNL's historic Nine Mile Prairie Reserve, 2) influence of soil salinity gradients on occurrence and distribution of plant species at the City of Lincoln's Frank Shoemaker Saline Wetland, 3) physical, chemical, and biological differences between an upstream rural stream site and downstream, higher-order, channelized, urban stream site, 4) influence of topography/soil depth, fire frequency, and precipitation on above ground primary productivity of grasses and forbs. For this last exercise, we used an excellent prepared lab and associated data set, developed at the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Kansas. Finally, we conducted a series of computer-based demography labs to learn about models of population growth.

Most of these labs were already developed but I spent significant time refining some of them. I also created an exercise focused on developing explicit and testable research hypotheses with clearly identified predictor and response variables, where after students would support or refute their hypotheses by synthesizing information from the peer-reviewed literature.

Raptor Ecology (NRES 498)

I designed and instructed this 1-2 credit hour undergraduate course in raptor ecology and management (syllabus), which included primarily reading and discussion, assignments, and field trips. Enrollment made 18 students and focused primarily on species identification, natural history, population dynamics, field-sampling methods, and legal protection and sociopolitical issues. The field methods component included numerous trips to the Hitchcock Nature Center, a preserve in the Loess Hills of western Iowa owned by Pottawattamie County, where they have a raptor trapping and banding station, and an annual autumn migration raptor count (over 8,000 raptors in 2008!) Students learned how to 1) identify and count migrating raptors from an observation tower, and 2) trap, handle, band, and take morphometric data from migrating raptors.

Fish and wildlife agencies often expect their employees to provide comprehensive and accurate knowledge to facilitate conservation and management decisions (e.g., for game or endangered species). Thus, student groups were responsible for synthesizing species-specific demographic information with a review of peer-reviewed literature to construct final project posters (project guidelines document here). Two-credit-hour students were responsible for using demographic parameter estimates from the peer-reviewed literature to predict population growth rates with a deterministic population growth matrix model (matrix model guidelines doc here). Demography posters were developed for the Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Ferruginous Hawk, and Swainson's Hawk.

Tropical Ecosystems (NRES 498)

I was a teaching assistant for this course, which includes a 10-day field trip to Puerto Rico. My responsibilities included designing a field sampling exercise to explore bird and vegetation relationships, lots of driving, and general logistics and supervision of undergraduate students.

Establishing a sampling transect in a saline wetland to sample plant species occurrence as a function of soil salinity.

Processing soil samples to measure soil salinity.

Removing a first-year Red-tailed Hawk from a bow net.

Taking morphometric data from a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.