A Comparative Study of Organisms Found in Leaf Litter
in Recently Disturbed Plots vs. Old-Growth Forest.
Leaf Litter Organisms Project Home Page
To the Classroom Rubric Table 1 - Arthropod Orders Table 2 - Plot Conditions+Total Morphotypes Chart 1 - Total Morphotypes Chart 2 - Mean MorphotypesClassroom Use:
This is a very feasible activity for classroom use as it can be adapted to any climate and environment where leaf litter can be found. A class of students could be divided into teams with each team responsible for one transect. Teams could then share information and compare their results with the results gather by other teams. With more time available, organisms collected could be further classified to the family, genus, or species level.
More accurate collection could possibly be obtained using a Burlese funnel apparatus to collect the organisms. This would, however, require additional time for setting up the funnel apparatus and collecting the organisms. Burlese funnels can also be used to collect living organisms from soil samples.
Other suggestions or ideas for modifying this activity include: (1) having students bring samples from home after their initial introduction to the process, (2) comparing samples from a study site at various times throughout the year so that seasonal changes could be compared, and (3) comparing samples from a maintained lawn or athletic field with an abandoned lot.
Further, different collecting techniques could be used to compare methodologies. For example, pitfall traps or sticky traps could be used to collect the organisms in the same site and compared to organisms collected using the sieve method.