Course Intent and Design: This seminar course will focus on selected topics of current interest within urban ecology, such as plant-animal interactions in cities, urban hydrology and bioremediation, tree diversity and their services, the distribution and spread of pests and diseases, and urban agriculture. The course will meet in a journal club format with weekly roundtable discussions of primary articles and secondary reviews in focal areas. Students will also participate in a service-learning project with the City of Harrisonburg.
Service-Learning Project Overview: The aim of this project was to assist the City of Harrisonburg in conducting a tree inventory of all trees in Purcell Park, an area of recreational and environmental importance to the community. Central to this project was the inventory and mapping of the distribution of ash trees, as urban ash tree populations are currently being decimated by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle. The ecosystem services of all trees was modeled using the Forest Service’s i-Tree Eco program, and an estimation of services lost given impending removal of ash trees was estimated.
- Outcome 1: Presentation to city staff focused on the distribution of ash trees and potential ecological services lost given removal of ash trees (slides available upon request).
- Outcome 2: Poster presentation at the Annual Biosymposium.
