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Place-based Activities: Engaging educational projects for community and school
  • Place-based activities
    • Educational research on placed-based activities >
      • Educational research related to integrated activities
      • Educational research related to meaningful activity
      • Educational research on learning through experiential activities
      • Educational research related to learning in social environments
      • Educational research on problem based approaches
      • Educational research related to Active Citizenship
    • How to include examples of your place-based activity
  • How to get started
    • Establishing community relationships
    • Examples of schools that have started community projects
    • Examples of schools that have worked with large scale projects
    • Start-up resources: people, information and tools
  • Types of Place-Based Activities
    • Do It Yourself school projects >
      • School projects centred on social justice and meeting community needs >
        • Examples of projects related to community housing
      • Building community gardens >
        • Garden links to community
        • Garden: Your school location considerations >
          • The climate of your school garden
        • Composting organic materials >
          • Building a school composter for a school garden
        • The resources you have for your school garden
      • Building Shelters to Meet Community Needs >
        • Housing for humanity projects
      • Making a Community Video
    • Activities that monitor environments >
      • Monitoring Natural Environments >
        • Terrestrial environments >
          • MUC Key
          • Forest structure analysis
          • Tree studies
          • Ground Cover Analysis
          • Fine and Course Woody Debris Analysis
          • Dendrochronology
          • Carbon Sequestering
          • Analysis of Forest Soils
          • wildlife habitat, wildlife trees
          • Forestry Field Notes
        • Aquatic environments >
          • Hydrology Studies >
            • Rivers and Streams
            • Lakes and Wetlands
            • Ground Water and Springs
          • Water quality studies >
            • Aquatic invertebrates
            • Paleoliminology
            • Water Chemistry >
              • Water temperature
              • Water Turbidity
              • Water pH
              • Water Dissolved Oxygen
              • Nitrates in water
              • Water conductivity
        • Marine environments >
          • Intertidal monitoring >
            • Intertidal monitoring >
              • Intertidal data sheets
          • Intertidal populations
          • Sub tidal monitoring
        • Soil environments >
          • Soil Analysis
        • Snow and Ice environments
        • Wildlife Studies >
          • GPS Eco-Cache
          • Wildlife Scavenger Hunt
        • Invasive plants and animals
        • Human impacts
      • Monitoring built environments >
        • Monitoring the urban landscape
        • Monitoring urban waste management
        • Monitoring urban transportation
        • Monitoring urban encroachment on natural environments
    • Community Action projects >
      • School projects that reduce barriers
      • A comprehensive community planning process
      • Involvement in specific community issues
      • Involvement in a "big" community topic
      • Examples of schools leading a community action
      • Schools encourage community consensus
    • Activities that resonate with community culture >
      • Reinforcing cultural values and traditions
      • Activities that explore cultural roots
      • Exploring cultural ties to the land
    • Arts and Community Activities >
      • Community Activity through Performance
      • Community Activity through Visual Arts
      • Community Activity through the Written Word
    • Place-based activities that explore big picture topics >
      • Activities Studying Ocean Health
      • Energy and Our Ecological Footprint
      • Activities that examine sources of energy
      • Activities that explore climate change
      • Activities that examine human health
      • Activities that examine global distribution of wealth
  • Resources and tools
    • Resources and tools that schools use in a variety of DIY projects >
      • Resources for school gardening
    • Tools and resources needed for monitoring natural environments
    • Tools and resources needed for monitoring built environments
    • Resources and tools that help schools start community projects
    • Tools and resources that can be used in generating a community involvement
    • Tools and resources that help schools encourage community consensus
    • Resources and tools that help schools take a lead in community action
  • Contact us and comments
    • Blog for Placebased Basics

Terrestrial environments

Understanding what is happening in a variety of ecosystems requires careful scientific monitoring over an extended period of time.  Such monitoring and research is most effective when it is open ended, public in nature and results in peer reviewed publication.  Over the past three years the Conservative Government of Canada has systematically reduced the support and funding for such research.  Such research and monitoring remain essential if we are to understand what happens to ecosystems.  NGO's, community groups and schools have increasingly become active in such research in hopes of sustaining some of the research initiatives.   The protocols outlined in this section deal with the monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems.

One of the first steps in studying a landscape is to identify the type ecosystem you are in.  This can be undertaken by using a MUC  Key (Modified UNESCO Code).  Once the ecosystem has been identified more specific studies may be undertaken to determine more specific information about the compositions and dynamics of the ecosystem,  (You may need to do some of the activities before you can adequately identify the ecosystem using the MUC Key).

This site addresses forested ecosystems.  There are a number of methods for systematically studying forests. Trees are the most notable feature of forests.  The species of trees, their size (height and diameter) the density of the stand, their preferred site locations, their health and the plants and soils associated with the forest are all parts that need to be studied to understand the structure of the forest.  Each of these features have specific protocols that are used when studying forests. Click on the specific analysis you wish to examine. 

  • using the MUC key for identifying a terrestrial environment.
  • forest studies:  forest structure analysis
  • tree studies: species, diameter, height, age, canopy closure, 
  • ground cover analysis
  • fine and course woody debris analysis
  • analysis of forest soils
  • wildlife habitat, wildlife trees