COURSE-BASED RESEARCH PROVIDES COASTAL INSIGHTS THROUGH COLLABORATIVE SCIENCE AND BIG DATA SKILLS

The National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) provides an opportunity to compare spatiotemporal dynamics across a wide range of estuaries in the nation to discover patterns and trends in ecosystem dynamics. With decades of SWMP data being amassed, there is ample opportunity and NERR interest to conduct analyses to investigate long-term changes in estuarine systems, yet limited personnel capacity has meant that these datasets have not been fully utilized. To address this need we developed a graduate level class at University of Wisconsin-Madison for Spring 2024 with dual learning objectives: a technical objective of learning big ecological data skills and a collaborative objective to learn how to conduct end user-driven collaborative science. Student groups work with a NERR throughout the semester to address a specific science and/or management need using SWMP data from that Reserve. During the class students are learning about coastal ecosystems and estuarine environments, how to wrangle big ecological datasets and conduct complex time series analyses, and how to do collaborative science that is centered around end-user engagement from beginning to end. In this talk we will share our journey of developing and implementing this class and discuss successes and lessons learned along the way.

Primary Presenter: Paul Hanson, University of Wisconsin - Madison (pchanson@wisc.edu)

Authors:

Kaitlin Reinl, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, University of Wisconsin -Madison Division of Extension  (kreinl@wisc.edu)

Paul Hanson, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Center for Limnology  (pchanson@wisc.edu)

Sylvia Yang, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Washington State Department of Ecology  (syang@padillabay.gov)