Spring 2014 quarter
- Faculty
- Dylan Fischer forest ecology , Alison Styring ornithology
- Fields of Study
- biology, ecology, environmental studies, field studies, natural history and zoology
- Preparatory for studies or careers in
- plant and wildlife ecology, environmental studies, habitat management, ecological restoration and conservation biology.
- Description
-
This program is designed to provide a premier hands-on experience on learning how to conduct field science in ecology at the advanced undergraduate level. We will focus on group and individual field research to address patterns in ecological composition, structure and function in natural environments. Students will participate in field trips to local and remote field sites and they will be expected to develop multiple independent and group research projects. A small group of 16 students will also participate in a 16-day boat trip through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River where they will conduct individual and group research. Students will be selected for the Grand Canyon experience based on an application available in winter quarter.
We will work as a community to develop and implement field projects based on: 1) workshops that will train students in rapid observation and field data collection; 2) participation in large multi-year studies based in Washington and more distant field sites; and 3) student originated short- and long-term studies. Students will focus on field sampling, natural history and library research to develop workable field data collection protocols. Students will implement observation- and hypothesis-driven field projects. We will then learn to analyze ecological data using laboratory and statistical analytical approaches. Students will demonstrate their research and analytical skills via writing and presentation of group and individual research projects. Student manuscripts will be "crystallized" through a series of intensive, multi-day paper-writing workshops. Students will also give public presentations of their research work.
Specific topics of study will include community and ecosystem ecology, plant physiology, forest structure, ecological restoration, riparian ecology, fire disturbance effects, bird abundance and monitoring, insect-plant interactions, disturbance ecology and the broad fields of bio-complexity and ecological interactions. We will emphasize identification of original field research problems in diverse habitats, experimentation, data analysis, oral presentation of findings and writing in journal format.
- Campus Location
- Olympia
- Online Learning
- Enhanced Online Learning
- Books
- Greener Store
- Required Fees
- $250 for a week-long field trip; $1600 (optional) for the Grand Canyon field trip.
- Upper Division Science Credit
- This is an upper division science credit program. Upper division science credits will be awarded based on successful completion of the program. Students who do not demonstrate a strong understanding of the prerequisites, or are not cabable of successfully completing the requirements of the program will not be eligible for upper division credit.
- Offered During
- Day