Ecology
Lesson 2.5
2.5.1 Native American Ecology Introduction
"Toward calm and shady places I am walking on the Earth."
- Ojibway Song
Gems of Lake Superior. Photographs by B.F. Childs. Taken at Beaver Bay, MN, in the 1870s.
Did you know the name "Minnesota" is a Siouan Indian word? It means "cloudy water." The Sioux are one of many native peoples of our great state. There are 11 federally recognized tribes in Minnesota.
Lesson 2.5 Learning Targets:
Get a hard copy of this table from your teacher. Below are the learning targets you will master during this lesson.
As a pre-assessment, before the lesson begins, please circle the number that describes your current understanding of the learning target.
Before the formative assessment for this lesson, please draw a triangle around the number that describes your understanding of the learning target.
Before the summative assessment, please draw a square around the number that describes your understanding of the learning target.
Build your understanding of the objectives and how they apply to populations, ecosystems, and the environment.
Learning Targets for Lesson 2.5 | My self-assessment 1 - I have never seen this learning target before. 2 - I have seen this learning target, but I don't know what it means. 3 - I have seen this learning target, and I think I know what it means 4 - I can explain this learning target to another student. | ||||
LT1: I can explain two or more ways that Native Americans describe the earth. |
| ||||
LT2: I can explain two or more ways that Native Americans use materials from the natural world. |
|
Scientist Spotlight - Kevin Potts
Augsburg College
Research interests:
I am a wildlife ecologist with broad interests in population dynamics, management, and conservation of wild mammals. In my research I take a quantitative approach to investigating habitat relationships in mammalian populations occupying landscapes under threat from natural and anthropogenic environmental change, and predicting responses of populations to these changes. I am also working on the development and modification of techniques to enable wildlife managers to efficiently monitor mammal populations and communities. My work is primarily field-based (with most field work taking place in Kibale National Park, Uganda) but also includes statistical modeling approaches.
Current research projects:
- Modeling the impact of various external threats on the population viability of chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda
- Investigating the influence of spatiotemporal variation in plant nutritional quality on foraging dynamics and population density of chimpanzees in Kibale National Park.
- Modeling biotic and abiotic factors influencing tree fruiting phenology patterns in Kibale National Park
- Developing a protocol for monitoring coyote and red fox populations in Hennepin County, MN
- Modeling the impact of ecological factors on movement and life history tradeoffs in Daphnia, a freshwater crustacean, inhabiting Minneapolis lakes
Previous fieldwork included projects on the recovery of tiger populations in China and monitoring the status of mammalian carnivores in the Lake Superior Basin.
Check out his research website, publications, and classes taught! Thanks to Dr. Potts for permission to spotlight.