31 Transforming Geoscience Education: Reimagining how we teach the Earth
This session will explore innovative and student-driven approaches to geoscience education. Contributions may focus on either design and implementation or research on evidence-based instructional strategies like active learning, project-based learning, field experiences, and others.
Tuesday, 10 March 2026
1:30 PM - 5:00 PM
RCC, 105
Ecosystem Dynamics of a Young Floodplain Forest: Insights from Analysis of Data Collected During Undergraduate Course Activities and Student Research Projects
Paper number: 31-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 3:15 PM – 3:30 PM
Authors
Abstract
Multidisciplinary ecosystem research, conducted as part of an effort to develop ecosystem models that support environmental decisions, includes field data collection within a floodplain forest in the Virginia Piedmont. Plant community, hydrologic, soil and sediment, and elevation data have been and continue to be collected during activities of multiple university courses, through individual student research, as part of course preparation and synthesis, and during additional field work.
Distributions of species and diversity within the young forest were characterized and locations and types of mature trees bordering the study area were documented. Woody plant species data were collected in randomly located plots during activities in multiple undergraduate courses and a student research project.
Evaluations of variations in landforms, sediment and soil character, and water table levels are ongoing. The water table level data collection effort has expanded to include hydrology course activities, and soil and sediment descriptions continue to be done by students. The topography of the floodplain as well as individual elevations are being characterized and refined through work with Digital Elevation Models and other contributions made by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and cartography students.
Relationships among plant species distributions, floodplain landforms, and water table variations are evaluated by graphical, statistical, and geospatial methods. Plant communities include a variety of floodplain species with differing habitat requirements, arrayed with other aspects of the natural world in a multidimensional framework within the ecosystem.
Understanding the character and dynamics of plant communities, landforms, sediment, and water table fluctuations of floodplain and valley ecosystems combined with water quality and flow characteristics of the main creeks and rivers of the floodplains/valleys can support decisions about riparian buffer restoration and other floodplain related decisions. Myriad relations among aspects of the landscape can be explored in the interest of wise land use and conservation decisions, and students can meaningfully participate in the process.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 1
doi: 10.1130/abs/2026SE-411761
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