WATERSHED SCIENCE: WORKING WITH BIOGEOCHEMICAL DATA IN A FIRST-YEAR UNDERGRADUATE SEMINAR

This course allows undergraduate students to construct and interpret water and nitrogen budgets for diverse watersheds as an introduction to scientific research and writing. The course consists of four investigations, each with a unique research question and watershed; students prepare a report at the end of every investigation. We begin with a field-based study of a small (~1 ha) local watershed. Students collect field data and learn how to quantify water fluxes and reservoirs within a watershed. Concepts and skills used in the initial investigation are repeated and expanded in the remainder of the course. Subsequent investigations utilize data from recently published scientific reports as well as on-line sources. For the second study, students analyse water and nitrogen budgets within the Mississippi River Watershed to identify the primary source of nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico. In the third investigation, students characterize water and nitrogen budgets for a northern hardwood forest and make predictions for how these budgets will change if the forest is cut. Archived on-line data allow students to compare their predictions with actual data to test their hypotheses. The final course project allows each student to design and execute an independent investigation. Projects have ranged from local, field based studies to analysis of global datasets. Students report the course provides an enhanced understanding of scientific inquiry and appreciation for complexity as well as effective practice communicating research results. The course format can be adapted easily to study other solutes or watersheds.