Marsh Madness: Using Video Games and a Case Study to Explore Food Webs and Ecosystem Services in Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve

As the complexity and interconnectedness of our world increases, we are continually expected to be capable of complex, non-linear thinking in order to successfully tackle and solve the challenges we face in the 21st century. Tackling these challenges requires “systems thinking,” in which problem solving must consider interconnected components within a whole to solve complex problems. However, high school and undergraduate training often focus on linear cause-and-effect relationships, failing to help students develop a systems approach to problem solving. Food web ecology lends itself well to developing systems thinking skills, as species depend on one another for resources, form complex systems, and provide benefits to society, known as ecosystem services. We developed a case study based on Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve that incorporates both active- and game-based learning to teach students about socio-ecological systems and food web ecology and to use systems thinking. This case study was designed for two 75-minute class periods and uses a freely available web-based game developed by the authors. The case introduces food web ecology and ecosystems services, and as such, it is helpful if students have basic knowledge of food webs prior to the case. After implementing this case study in an undergraduate introductory ecology course, we found that students often (i) improved their content knowledge regarding food webs and ecosystem services, (ii) recognized the importance of species interactions and direct/indirect threats for ecosystem services, and (iii) considered multiple types of information to make decisions.

Primary Image: Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve in Santa Barbara, California, USA. Salt marsh in front of mountains in Santa Barbara, California, overlaid with food web data from the Food Web Game. Photo by Aislyn Keyes. Data for food web game from R. F. Hechinger, K. D. Lafferty, J. P. McLaughlin, B. L. Fredensborg, T. C. Huspeni, J. Lorda, P. K. Sandhu, J. C. Shaw, M. E. Torchin, K. L. Whitney, and A. M. Kuris, Ecology 92:791, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1890/10-1383.1.

随着我们世界复杂性和相互关联性的不断提升，我们不断被期望具备处理复杂非线性思维的能力，以成功应对和解决21世纪面临的挑战。应对这些挑战需要‘系统思维’，在解决问题时必须考虑整体中相互关联的组成部分，以解决复杂问题。然而，高中和本科教育往往专注于线性因果关系，未能帮助学生们培养系统性的问题解决方法。食物网生态学非常适合于培养系统思维技能，因为物种之间相互依赖以获取资源，形成复杂系统，并为社会提供生态服务。我们基于Carpinteria盐沼保护区开发了一个案例研究，该研究结合了基于项目和基于游戏的学习方法，旨在向学生传授关于社会-生态系统和食物网生态学以及系统思维的知识。此案例研究设计为两个75分钟的课堂时段，并使用了作者开发的免费在线游戏。该案例介绍了食物网生态学和生态系统服务，因此，学生在进行案例研究之前，对食物网的基本知识将大有裨益。在将此案例研究应用于本科生入门生态学课程后，我们发现学生们通常在以下方面有所提升：（一）关于食物网和生态系统服务的内容知识得到增强；（二）认识到物种相互作用以及直接/间接威胁对生态系统服务的重要性；（三）考虑多种类型的信息来做出决策。主图：位于美国加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉的Carpinteria盐沼保护区。照片展示了加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉山脉前的盐沼，叠加了食物网游戏的数据。照片由Aislyn Keyes拍摄。食物网游戏数据来自R. F. Hechinger、K. D. Lafferty、J. P. McLaughlin、B. L. Fredensborg、T. C. Huspeni、J. Lorda、P. K. Sandhu、J. C. Shaw、M. E. Torchin、K. L. Whitney和A. M. Kuris，发表在《生态学》第92卷第791页，2011年，https://doi.org/10.1890/10-1383.1。