Biocomplexity Teacher Workshop -- Workshop Overview
Puerto Rico
May 31 – June 2, 2008
Understanding watershed structure and natural processes is critical to understanding the affect
humans have on the condition of a watershed, including its water quality, fish and wildlife,
forests and other vegetation, and the quality of community life for people who live there.
Understanding the ways that human activities can either improve or degrade watershed
condition is necessary for future resource management strategies.
One approach to consider is biocomplexity. Biocomplexity seeks an integrative approach to
better understanding complex interactions. A biocomplexity approach bridges the disciplines of
ecology, evolution, and environmental science and connects other natural and social science
fields. Students are excited by this approach because it is an interesting and interactive field
that involves contemporary issues. Students are challenged by this approach as it demands an
interdisciplinary perspective where students must integrate their knowledge.
1. Goals and Objectives of Workshop
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Introduce concepts associated with biocomplexity
Introduce concepts associated with watershed ecology
Discuss the physical, biological, and social settings and the individual models for each
setting
Identify and use tools appropriate for a biocomplexity approach: Google Earth, GIS
Introduce biocomplexity concepts
Discuss integrated (biocomplexity) models
2. What is Biocomplexity:
“Biocomplexity arises from the multitude of behavioral, biological, social, chemical, and physical
interactions that affect, sustain, or are modified by living organisms, including humans”
>> Rita Colwell
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Check out the Biocomplexity Readings on your CD-ROM.
 Biocomplexity definitions:
http://www.ecologicalsociety.org/education_diversity/pdfDocs/Biocomplexity.pdf
 The Biocomplexity Project:
http://www.bioquest.org/biocomplexity/
Biocomplexity Teacher Workshop, Overview, Puerto Rico, May 31 – June 2
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Goals of Biocomplexity Research
“Understanding how components of the global ecosystem interact – biological, physical,
chemical, and the human dimension - in order to gain knowledge of the complexity of the
system and to derive fundamental principles from it” (Colwell, 2000).
“Examining the self-organization, hierarchical structure, and dynamics of communities and
ecosystems over time and space requires new approaches and a new generation of nonlinear
modeling, designed by collaborators in the natural, social, and computational sciences” (Covich,
2000).
Goals of Biocomplexity Education
-Interdisciplinary approach
-Addresses contemporary issues
-Requires collaboration and integration
-Employs multiple modes of understanding and learning
-Utilizes multiple methods and tools
Tools of Biocomplexity
-Statistics
-maps, tables, and graphs
-Geographic information systems (GIS)
-ArcExplorer
-ArcGIS
-Remotely sensed data
-Google Earth
-Modeling
-NetLogo
-Field Observation and data collection techniques
-State of the Watershed Handbook
Outcomes of Biocomplexity Activities
-Interdisciplinary: cross-disciplinary activities and communication
-Innovation: new methods and approaches
-Integration: inter-relationships and thresholds
3. NSF Research in El Yunque National Forest
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Go to: http://biocomplexity.warnercnr.colostate.edu/
Modeling Complex Interactions of Overlapping River and Road Networks in a
Changing Landscape
The goal of this research is to develop and test the analytical tools needed to understand and
predict the interactions and feedbacks among humans and aquatic species across complex
landscapes. The study sites include three watersheds in the northeastern portion of the island
Biocomplexity Teacher Workshop, Overview, Puerto Rico, May 31 – June 2
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of Puerto Rico: the Rio Espiritu Santo, the Rio Mamayes, and the Rio Fajardo. This workshop
will focus on the Rio Mamayes and the El Yunque National Forest.
The projects have developed several educational resources:
1. GIS data and field data: http://biocomplexity.warnercnr.colostate.edu/data.htm
This data can be downloaded and used in ArcExplorer or other GIS software
products. There are numerous datasets for Puerto Rico as well as the study site
locations. However, these data are not exhaustive – there are many other data
sites that provide additional digital data for Puerto Rico.
2. State of the Watershed Handbook:
http://biocomplexity.warnercnr.colostate.edu/partnership.htm
We will use the State of the Watershed Handbook during our field trip on
Monday. The handbook provides a lens to evaluate your watershed and collect
observational information while in the field. It also identifies other web-sites
where information about your watershed can be collected.
3. Interacting Networks in the Rain Forest of Puerto Rico, University of Pennsylvania
http://www.cml.upenn.edu/hacialasnubes/
Visit this website.
 How might you use the materials from this website for your class?
4. GIS Demonstration Projects
http://biocomplexity.warnercnr.colostate.edu/nr505_biocomplexity.htm
Several GIS projects were designed for high school teachers to use in their
classroom to demonstrate GIS and biocomplexity concepts. These projects were
designed to be used without GIS software. Additionally, if there is a problem
with Internet connections, the projects will be provided on a CD-ROM. These
projects include:
 A Tale of Two Watersheds: Land Use, Topography, and the Potential for
Urban Expansion, Level: Grade 10-12
 Puerto Rico Recreation, Level: Grade 10-12
 Rio Mameyes: GIS-Watershed Analysis Project, Level: Grade 10-12
 Tundra to Tropics: A comparison of Rocky Mountain National Park and
the Caribbean National Forest, Level: Grade 10-12
 Northeastern Colorado: if you water it, it will grow, Level: Grade 10-12
 Conservation of Coqui in the Caribbean National Forest (2006)
Level: Grade 10-12
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4. Fundamental Concepts of Biology, Hydrology, Social Science in Biocomplexity Research
a. Setting the Context:
Watershed – An area of land that drains water, sediment and dissolved materials to a
common receiving body or outlet. Water includes surface water runoff and interactions
with subsurface water.
Everyone lives in a watershed. Watersheds supply the needs of our daily lives: drinking
water, critical habitat for plants and animals, material resources, areas of natural
beauty, and recreation areas. The health of a watershed is a result of the interactions
between humans, water, land, plants, and animals.
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Go to:
Rio Mameyes: GIS-Watershed Analysis Project, Education Module 1: What is a
Watershed?
http://welcome.warnercnr.colostate.edu/class_info/nr505/nr505_06/biocomplexity/team4/ho
mepage.html
Ecosystem – An area of interacting biotic and abiotic components in a system whose
boundaries are determined by the cycles and flux of energy, materials, and organisms. …
Watershed Ecology – The study of watersheds as ecosystems, primarily the analysis of
interacting biotic and abiotic components within the boundary of a watershed.
The basic structure of a watershed includes its headwaters area, side slopes, valley floor,
and water body, as well as its soils, minerals, native plants, and animals.
b. The Physical Setting – the major landscape defining processes
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Climate
Hydrology
Geomorphology
Provide the template upon which all life is ultimately based
Climate refers to the aggregate of both the average as well as the maximums and
minimums of temperature, humidity, and precipitation, winds, and cloud cover
measured over an extended period of time.
Climate influences watershed vegetation, communities, stream flow magnitude and
timing, water temperature, and many other watershed characteristics.
Geomorphology is the study of landforms on the earth and processes that change them
over time. Fluvial geomorphology refers to the structure and dynamics of stream and
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river corridors and is important in understanding the formation and alteration of a
stream or river channel as well as the flood plain and associate upland transitional zone.
Hydrology is the science of water (in all its forms) as it relates to the hydrologic cycle.
Hydrology is the study of water on, in and over land areas including its distribution,
circulation and behavior; its chemical and physical properties; as well as the reaction of
the environment on water itself.
The hydrologic cycle is a life-sustaining cycle that is a natural solar driven process of
evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.
Physical Models of Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF)
 GIS based geomorphic model of LEF Streams
o Rainfall, stream flow, channel attributes
 Riparian Vegetation and flow frequency analysis
o Relating streamside vegetation to the frequency of flooding
c. The Biological Setting:
The biological setting becomes established upon and integrated with the physical
setting. It consists of all living organisms, plants and animals, and their interactions.
 Go to:
Conservation of the Coqui in the Caribbean National Forest, Puerto Rico, Project Background
http://welcome.warnercnr.colostate.edu/class_info/nr505/nr505_06/biocomplexity/team9/Pr
_web/pr_coqui_web_files/Page424.htm
Read about an aspect of the biological setting in the study area.
Biological Model of Luquillo Experimental Forest
 Field sampling techniques
 Distribution of Fish and Shrimp
d. The Social Setting:
The physical and biological settings make up the template upon which people interact
and influence how human and natural communities coexist.
 Go to:
A Tale of Two Watersheds/Home
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http://welcome.warnercnr.colostate.edu/class_info/nr505/nr505_06/biocomplexity/team1/BT
PR_Index.html
Read about the relationship between land use, topography, and the potential for urban
expansion.
Social Models of Luquillo Experimental Forest
 Seasonal visitor estimates
 In and out of water recreation activities
5. Fundamental concepts of Biocomplexity
Characteristics of Biocomplexity
-Nonlinear or chaotic behavior
-Interactions that span multiple spatial and temporal scales or levels
-Unpredictable behavior (hard to predict)
-Hierarchical structure
-Self organization – the ability of the system to learn the individual strategies
that lead to some emergent behavior
-Emergent (unexpected) properties
-Adaptive behavior
-Cascading effects
-Must be studied as a whole as well as piece by piece
-Relevant for all kinds of organisms in all kinds of environments
-Surprise: natural disasters, unintended consequences of human behavior
 Google Earth Exercise:
Work with a partner. This exercise will guide you through basic navigation skills and developing
tours using Google Earth to demonstrate biocomplexity concepts. You will share your tour and
discuss biocomplexity concepts demonstrated on your tour with other workshop participants.
6. Integrated Biocomplexity Models
-Instream flows for recreation
-Recreation and water quality (turbidity)
-Recreation and aquatic species
-Non – consumptive recreation
-Harvesting
-River Road Connectivity
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