The effect of campus gardens on urban biodiversity: An undergraduate lab series contributing to a national dataset

<p style="line-height:1.38; margin-top:16px"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="text-decoration:none">In this series of labs, undergraduate students examine the effect of campus gardens on biodiversity, using other campus landscapes as controls. University campuses have not traditionally been considered a place for rigorous research, yet they are the one place available to every institution. Here we aim to encourage the use of campuses as study sites, harnessing the power of multiple investigators to contribute to a rigorous national dataset.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="line-height:1.38; margin-top:16px"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="text-decoration:none">This series of lab protocols includes field work on participants’ home campuses, investigating birds, insects, pollinators, plants, and soil organisms. Instructors may choose smaller or larger implementations of this series, such that the work may encompass a couple of weeks up to a full semester. For instructors lacking campus gardens, an alternative study design is presented utilizing community or other forms of neighborhood gardens.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="line-height:1.38; margin-top:16px"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="text-decoration:none">This resource is presented by TUBA (Teaching Undergraduate Biology through urban Agriculture), an NSF-sponsored Research Coordination Network.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p>