Nature's Economy

Summer Insight Course:

Ecosystems provide clean air, water, food, fiber, and fuel with a biologically diverse community of organisms that develop along seasonal climate cycles. A good naturalist can see renewable energy flows as sunlight drives the carbon and water cycle.  A succession of species works together to fill the soil fertility bank, from beach to wetlands, grasslands, savanna, and forest.  This course looks at natural systems as a model for living sustainably, using the Greater Chicago region as our example.  Species and genetic population identification, geographic mapping, and remote weather data collection are some of the techniques we will utilize to investigate the ecosystem. Understanding how the diverse habitat changes spatially and temporally will provide beneficial data for assessing the resource potential.  Teams of students will take trips 2-3 times per week to Indiana Dunes Parks and other Chicago wilderness areas to identify and tag foundation plant species and be trained touse gigapanoramic and geotagged photographic archives to quantify growth and phenological development on the landscape.  Students will also record weather and climate data to compare the function and response of local ecosystems. Lectures on the ecologic and geologic history of the region will be orienting tools for the field research.  Class topics include basic local plant ecology and biomicry, including sustainability modeling of built ecosystems. The field research and class computer lab work will cumulate into a shared group web site to report qualitatively and quantitatively on habitat differentiation. 

Taught by asst. prof. Justin Borevitz, Whitney Panneton, and student-researchers from the Borevitz Lab.  Student teams of 3-4 will each work with an student mentor.Session II: July 12-30 (3 weeks), M-F, 9:00-4:00.