Course Description
Exploration of the diversity, adaptations, and interacting functional roles of estuarine plants, animals, and microorganisms.
Athena Title
SALT MARSH ECOLOGY
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in BTNY 4160
Non-Traditional Format
This course includes both a lecture and a laboratory component. Lectures are primarily concentrated during the first week of the class, after which students spend 10 days at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island doing a combination of laboratory and field work. (Students are required to spend 8-10 hours in class during this period.) The final week focuses on data analysis and interpretation of independent research, and includes discussion and synthesis sessions.
Prerequisite
(BIOL 1104 and BIOL 1104L) or BIOL 1108-1108L or PBIO 1220-1220L or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered summer semester every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The course explores the diversity, adaptations, and interacting functional roles of estuarine plants, animals, and microorganisms. This Maymester course will include at least a week of study at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. There, the students will carry out investigative field research on a chosen topic. The final week is devoted to science writing and presentations. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the plants, animals and microorganisms through critical and comparative observations and cooperative investigations concerning the diversity, adaptations and interacting functional roles of the biota. Through individual and small cooperative group activities students will become familiar with the process of doing science including: problem solving, hypothesis formulation, observation, experimentation, data analysis and scientific writing. In a broader context students will gain an increased sense of responsible stewardship for the natural world. The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.
Topical Outline
Introduction to course and the coastal environment - history and geology Salt marsh plants Invertebrate benthic communities Salt marsh microbes - salt marsh processes Experimental design and statistics "Spirit of Sapelo" video Group marsh walk/lighthouse Island Tour (geology, history, archaeology) "The Shoreline Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" video DNR trail/maritime forest and dunes Trawl on board RV "Spartina" Microscopic observations of marsh algae, fungi and plankton Marsh plant adaptations Beach walk to South End - birds, dunes, longshore drift Cabretta - erosion and inundation Project proposals due Projects NJ Marsh restoration video Projects Marsh Hammocks video
Syllabus