Field Ecology

What are the approaches that work for developing successful ecological field science research projects? This program will focus on intensive group and individual field research on current topics in ecological science, and is designed as a capstone experience for students taking a Ecology, Plant Biology, or Environmental Science Path. These topics will include forest structure, ecosystem ecology, effects of forest management, ecological restoration, riparian ecology, fire history, plant community abundance and monitoring, insect-plant interactions, and disturbance ecology. Students will be expected to intensively use the primary literature and student-driven field research to address observations about ecological composition, structure, and function. Multiple independent and group research projects will form the core of our work in local forests of the South Puget Sound lowlands, National Forests, National Parks, State Forests, and other relevant natural settings. Students are expected to hit the ground running and should develop research projects for the entire quarter within the first several weeks of the program.

Through a series of short, intensive field exercises, students will hone their skills in observation, developing testable hypotheses, and designing ways to test those hypotheses. We will also explore field techniques and approaches in ecology, and especially approaches related to measuring plant communities. Students will also participate in a 12-day field trip to remote sites in the Pacific Northwest or Southwestern US. Previous field trip locations have been either the Sinlahekin Valley (North-Central WA), Central Oregon, or the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Research projects will be formally presented by groups and individuals at the end of the quarter. Finally, student research manuscripts will be created throughout the quarter, utilizing a series of intensive multi-day paper-writing workshops. We will emphasize identification of original field research problems in forest habitats, experimentation, data analyses, oral presentation of findings, and writing in scientific journal format.