4DEE-Aligned Lab: Ecological Patterns and Land Use (Land Use in the American West Course)

This resource is a scaffolded undergraduate geography laboratory assignment titled Lab 1: Ecological Parameters and Land-Use Viability, developed for the course GEOG 3342: Land Use in the American West. The lab is explicitly aligned with the Ecological Society of Americas Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) framework and emphasizes core ecological concepts, spatial reasoning, and humanenvironment systems analysis. The lab is organized into two parts. In Part A, students complete a guided analysis of the Southern High Plains/Llano Estacado region, focusing on aridity, drought variability, groundwater dependence, and land-use suitability. Students interpret multiple publicly available datasets and mapping tools, including PRISM climate normals, the U.S. Drought Monitor, USGS aquifer data, and land-cover datasets. Structured reading quiz questions and guided prompts help students connect ecological processes to land-use patterns and vulnerability. In Part B, students apply the same analytic framework independently to a project location of their choice in the American West. Students evaluate ecological characteristics, identify major constraints, assess compatible and vulnerable land uses, and justify their spatial boundary selection. The assignment is designed to build foundational analytic skills that will be revisited and expanded throughout later labs and the final synthesis project. The resource may be useful to instructors seeking models for integrating ecology, geography, and spatial analysis into online environmental studies or humanenvironment geography courses.