Applied Theory and Methods in Urban Ecology

CFR 476/576 URBDP 598  GEOG 487  ENVIR 487

Anderson 306, Tue 2:30-3:50 – Thu 2:30-5:50

 Instructors

Marina Alberti Department of Urban Design and Planning Office: Gould 410H Tel: 616-8667 E-mail: malberti@u.washington.edu	John Marzluff College of Forest Resources Office: Anderson 123E Tel: 616-6883 E-mail: corvid@u.washington.edu
Gordon A Bradley Office: Anderson 123G College of Forest Resources Tel: 685-0881 E-mail: gbradley@u.washington.edu	Craig ZumBrunnen Department of Geography Office: Smith 416D Tel: 543-4915 E-mail: craigzb@u.washington.edu
Clare Ryan                                            Office: Anderson Hall 123H College of Forest Resources Telephone: (206) 616-3987 Email: cmryan@u.washington.edu	Eric Shulenberger Office of Research Office: 204 Winkenwerder Hall Tel: 685-1457 E-mail: ericshul@u.washington.edu
Jeff Hepinstall Urban Ecology Tel: 293-3237 Office: Anderson 301/Gould410F E-mail: jahwash@u.washington.edu	Robert Reineke Urban Ecology Office: Anderson 301 Tel: 616-2874 E-mail: picapica@u.washington.edu

Description

 The goal of this class is to move the student teams forward on their projects by providing class work time and access to faculty and post-docs on an as-needed basis. PhD teams will work on pilot projects and the Undergraduate group will conduct their field work and write up their results

 Class Meetings

 There will be several class meetings and potentially one panel session on Policy.

Aprill 24th -

230-315: First Student Update (10-15 overview for Mark Brown's information, plus update of current status)

315-415: Discuss Mark Brown readings (see below) with Mark.

Mark Brown Readings (Check them all out, but be sure to fully read at least ONE)

1. Emergy Evaluation of the Biosphere and Natural Capital, 1999.

2. Emergy Measures of Carrying Capacity to Evaluate Economic Investments, 2001.

3. Emergy-based indices and ratios to evaluate sustainability: monitoring economies and technology toward environmentally sound innovation, 1997.

4. Emergy indices and ratios for sustainable material cycles and recycle options, 2003.

5. Spatial modeling of empower and environmental loading.

4:30-530 Mark Brown Seminar

5:45-7:00 Reception in 306 Anderson.

 

May 22nd - Ronald Pulliam Seminar, Second Student Update

June 5th - The Kaplans, Final Student Update

 

Group's Individual Schedules 

Group DAJA - Dave Oleyar, Adrienne Greve, John Withey, Andrew Bjorn
Presentation I (24 April)

Identification and characterization of forest patches in King County: characteristics of selected patches and distribution of population characteristics.
Preliminary results from the economic model: basic hedonic price model for forest cover.
Update on the needs of relevant actors within King County: city and county departments, NGOs, developers.

Presentation II (22 May)

More (final?) results from the economic model: presentation of model with revisions based on faculty / student feedback, additional information.
Descriptions of relevant local policies and frameworks: local / county open space policies.
Preliminary description of the social survey: an overview of questions, methodology for sample selection and timetable for distribution and analysis.

Presentation III (5 June)

Overview of work completed to date and work that will be completed from June to September.
Results from pilot testing of social survey (if available): basic analysis of responses received to date, potential changes to questions / format.
Application of existing ecological (urban songbird) data to our project.
Use of remote sensing data (tassel cap, NDVI) as indicators of productivity.
Potential next steps for the analysis of interactions between factors: review of relevant literature and tentative methodology.

Division of Labour

Andrew

Contact relevant actors in urban forest protection, develop hedonic model for economic analysis, and assess relevant local policies.

Adrienne

Conduct needed GIS analyses (including buffer analyses), and contact relevant actors in urban forest protection.

Dave

Develop social survey, conduct needed GIS analyses, review existing ecological data (urban songbird study), assess tassel cap / NDVI data.

John

Review existing ecological data (urban songbird study), propose methods for how to use in our project, assess tassel cap / NDVI data