Tuesday September 16th

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey is a renowned natural/environmental writer who loved the American southwest. He was particularly disappointed in the dam(n)ing of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon. Based on the above quote, do you feel differently about increased economic prosperity and the development of natural areas (resource extraction/exploitation)?

One of the impacts associated with human development is a loss of habitat and species. Scientists are able to measure the variety and richness of an ecosystem using the Shannon Diversity Index. Today, you are going to recreate this measure in a lab activity.

1. For today:
1. Please turn in the Carrying Capacity "mini-lab" activity that was assigned yesterday.
2. Please pick-up (or print out if you are absent) the above handout (back of the room). In addition, here is the data collection sheet. (You need two (2) of these; one (1) for a faculty lot and one (1) for a student lot.)
3. Complete the data collection for two (2) lots on campus today. You should complete the first during class and the second during an off-hour. Be sure to describe the lot that you inventoried and the time (hour) that you completed the survey.
2. For Homework tonight...
1. Complete the pre-lab questions (1-3).
2. Complete the first three (3) columns for both of the data collection sheets (i, ni, pi).