REU Site: Urbanization Impacts on Stream Ecosystems - An Integrated Training Experience for Undergraduate Researchers

Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH

Investigators

Abstract

Urbanization Impacts on Stream Ecosystems - An Integrated Training Experience for Undergraduate Researchers is a 10-week summer program designed to provide students with opportunities to investigate urbanization as a critical factor in the current crisis of declining biodiversity. Students will develop and conduct independent research projects emphasizing interdisciplinary studies of biodiversity and ecological function of the Cuyahoga River watershed. The experience will begin with a two-week orientation and basic training that includes a tour of the watershed and instructions in stream ecology and fundamental research skills. The balance of the program will be devoted largely to independent research. All student projects will be integrated around the central concept that urbanization alters the ecology and genetic diversity of stream organisms, but students will select among projects approaching this hypothesis with different methods and organisms, including studies of ecology or genetic diversity of plants, invertebrates, fish, and amphibians. Students will also participate in seminars presented by REU faculty and visiting experts emphasizing basic research skills, urban ecology, and socio-cultural dimensions of urban ecosystem studies. In addition, students will attend workshops emphasizing (1) educational and career opportunities in urban environmental science, and (2) analysis, interpretation, and communication of scientific data. The experience will conclude with a research symposium at which students will present their work to REU faculty, environmental scientists, and resource management professionals. Student recruitment efforts will target biological and environmental science majors from urban institutions lacking ecological research opportunities and under-represented groups in the sciences. For additional information, contact Dr. B. Michael Walton at 216-687-3979 or b.walton@csuohio.edu.