As urban centers continue to expand rapidly, college campuses have strived to protect green space for aesthetics, recreation, and future development. These often underutilized areas can support long-term undergraduate research on the ecological effects of urbanization and climate change on ecosystem processes. Typically student research at undergraduate institutions is limited by funding, facilities, equipment, access to large long-term datasets, and inter-institutional collaboration. The establishment of a network of permanent study plots on college campuses can alleviate these obstacles. Students and faculty would be able to ask novel ecological questions across ecosystems. Undergraduate students and faculty would have contact with a range of research collaborators enhancing the research experience and findings for all involved. To encourage others to help us establish this network, we present a case study of a recently instituted urban forest plot on the Meredith College campus in Raleigh, NC. In July 2007, we established a permanent 1-ha plot along the edge of an oak-hickory-maple forest with 10 x 10 m subplots.
Results/Conclusions
Since its creation, six undergraduate students enrolled in the department’s research seminar and four biology courses have conducted research projects on the plot. One student tagged, identified, and measured all trees ≥ 5 cm DBH on the plot (818 trees total). She found greater tree species richness and stem density along the edge of the forest (within 10 m of edge) compared to the interior of the forest. A plant biology course has utilized the tagged trees to record and enter data for the USA National Phenology Network to help document the phenological response to climate change. Other research students has live-trapped four species of small mammals on the plot over multiple seasons (4280 trapping nights, 376 trapping events, and 120 individual mammals) and found that parasite loads are not higher at the forest edge as predicted, and small mammal distribution does not correlate with woody debris volume. Another student’s project found that insect herbivory and fungal loads on Acer rubrum leaves are higher along the forest edge relative to the forest interior. All research projects have benefitted by sharing spatially and temporally tied information that is in a common database. Students have gained experience in hypothesis formulation and testing, statistical analysis, and professional communication of findings. If established on campuses across the country, permanent plot studies can encourage collaborative research efforts among faculty and students of undergraduate institutions while providing key ecological findings.
