Is Leaf Litter Just “Yard Waste”?

By Timothy Stewart, Janette Thompson, Kristina Tank, Makayla Buck, Anna Drahos, and Benjamin White

We are experiencing a global environmental crisis, exemplified by declining biodiversity and increasingly degraded ecosystems. Actions needed to produce healthier and sustainable social and ecological systems require ecologically-literate citizens with an interest in nature and concern for the welfare of both humans and non-human species. ^{[1] , [2] , [3]} Inquiry-based field ecology experiences can promote such literacy while also educating students about scientific procedures. ^{[1] , [4]}

In this article, we present an ecology activity that has been implemented with first graders in an informal park setting. This activity provides opportunities for students to investigate the relationship between habitat abundance and biodiversity, and learn how biodiversity benefits humankind. In this 45-minute lesson, students collect plastic toy arthropods from two types of 1-m² plots located in a woodland and that differ in the abundance of leaf litter (dead leaves covering the ground). Students find that plots with abundant leaf litter, and therefore the most habitat, have the greatest abundance (numbers of individuals) and diversity (number of species) of plastic arthropods. With instructor guidance, students interpret causes for these results, learn an ecological concept, and develop a broader understanding for the importance of what they learned.