This 10 step outline presents the basic model of how to go about setting up an Adopt an Ecosystem Project in your school or organisation.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "PROCESS"

a) Design a plan and procedure for the creation of a local : "Adopted Ecosystem"

b) Use field methods involving quantification to document the chosen ecosystem with a baseline inventory.

c) Use a Spreadsheet program for the analysis and recording of locally collected data.

d) Set up a weather station for collection of weather data.

e) Construct a species list and/or taxonomy of the local organisms in the "Adopted Ecosystem".

f) Setup a website dedicated to the collection of resources relating to your locally adopted ecosystem.

g) Outline the ECOSYSTEM SERVICES and the value of the NATURAL CAPITAL of your adopted Ecosystem.

Procedure:

1. Identify the area and describe the ecological features that make the area unique, important or just representative of other surrounding ecosystems. Also indicate what your group intends to do with it.

2.You may indicate time lines for your goals, and even designate responsibilities to different group members in order to help you plan your strategy.




3. Establish a good "baseline inventory " of what is there presently. Many ecological techniques are available to quantify organisms and their distribution. You may use our Transect Files as an example.




4. Use the template linked here to establish a class project designed to provide a taxonomy of the species of your local ecosystem.

5. Include dated maps, databases, taxonomic inventories, checklists, photographs, QTVR movies, Quick Time Movies made with iMovie, or drawings to document your site.

6. Begin monitoring the site for aspects of its structure and function. For structure: what living things are there, how they are distributed, what relationships or biotic associations exist. Also, the structure includes physical factors such as temperature, salinity, etc. --start gathering long term data, enter it into a database (such as excel), and save it to the internet site so that others can download and manipulate the data.

7. Submit your site for inclusion in the OceanQuest GIS and Database. Currently, we are able to handle areas on the Pacific Coast of Canada, however, if the interest exists, we may be able to expand this database to include more terrestrial as well as coastal areas.

8. Obtain a recent Tiff-referenced photograph taken from the Air of the location in which you are interested in working. Check at your local coucil office for access to these digital photos. If one is available in for instance 1:8000 resolution, we can make every effort to include it in the database started by the OceanQuest project. With such a photograph, the same system of recording observations as we are using at Race Rocks can be set up.

9. If you have access to your own internet site, assemble the information on the site, let us know its location and we will provide a link to your site from racerocks.com

10. Establish a Project to list and value the Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital of your ecosystem. In recent years, we have started to acknowledge that "ecosystem services " are something to which we must start paying attention as to fail to do so leads to a decline in quality of life:
This file explores that idea further and invites you to contribute to a new project : DEFINING THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES of RACE ROCKS. By looking at the model of such services developed for Race Rocks, you might also get an idea how you could choose a part of your own local ecosystem and do a similar analysis.

11. In the fall of 2005 we installed a Davis Weather Instrument at Race Rocks for real time monitoring of a number of meteorological events. The weather data on the OceanQuest GIS submissions for RaceRocks comes directly from that station.

From this environmental data index page, you can see how we are developing pages for each environmental abiotic factor and interpreting how that factor is important in the ecosystems of Race Rocks. Many schools already have weather stations installed. Here are some examples from the Victoria area:

Send inquiries to: Garry Fletcher

At Lester B. Pearson College we have had a long term relationship with our local ecosystem example at Race Rocks . We "adopted" the Race Rocks Area when we made it into an Ecological Reserve in 1980 , and then have followed up with the creation of the Marine Protected Area starting in 1996. We use the work that we do on student projects, field labs, or from the assistance of other researchers and volunteers in the community. This site can always have new material added to it and this will always be an on-going cumulative process. You are welcome to borrow ideas and to suggest them also.
Environmental Education which involves science students at undergraduate levels in direct action is the goal of our program at Pearson College. We have found that the production by students of internet materials on environmental issues is a vehicle for doing this effectively. This is a tool which provides incentive for environmental understanding and encouragement of an "adopting an ecosystem" attitude that can have important consequences in education. The emphasis is on "action" and seeking methods to enable collaboration with others to help solve environmental problems.
Students at Lester B. Pearson College have been learning about environmental issues by producing materials for the internet, a "DIGITAL LEGACY". In this way, their education has the added advantage of serving as a resource for others in the educational system in British Columbia and around the world. It also allows them to participate in facilitating collaborative efforts in environmental research.

THE CRITERIA:
The materials we produce should meet at least one of the following criteria:

• They serve as models for students in other schools and colleges for environmental studies field research methods.
• They serve as a resource of data being accumulated on local ecosystems which can be used to compare with other systems and as a record of long term environmental change.
• They are part of a center for collection of environmental data obtained collaboratively from others engaged in first hand environmental research around the world.
• They encourage others to the "adopt an ecosystem" approach so that ownership encourages environmental responsibility.