Instructors:
Dr. Mike Booth and Chelsea Hintz (Teaching Assistant)
Office Hours: By appointment
Location and meeting times:
Rieveschl Hall 411 or in the field, see course schedule.
Section 1: Monday 13:25-17:15
Section 2: Thursday 13:25-17:15
Course Theme and Approach
The course is designed to give you exposure to research techniques used in the study of freshwater ecosystems, as well as provide a deeper hands-on experience with many of the concepts covered in the Aquatic Biology companion class. About half of the weeks will be field excursions, the other half will involve lab work. You will learn techniques from the fields of freshwater ecology, hydrology, and chemistry. You will also learn to identify and characterize some of the most common organisms found in local stream, lake and river ecosystems.
Learning Outcomes
Students successfully completing this course will be able to:
- Describe and explain the fundamental physical and chemical drivers in freshwater ecosystems and how they typically vary in space and time
- Understand the fundamental
- Carry out fundamental stream and lake characterization using basic limnological equipment
- Identify some of the most common organisms found in lakes and streams
- Integrate and analyze field data with theory learned in class lectures
Transferrable Skills
- Collect and organize, summarize and analyze field collected data. Create graphics to help interpret results.
- Proficiency at using spreadsheet, database, and statistical tools to organize and analyze data
- Ability to apply dichotomous keys to identify unknown organisms
- Function as a team while following scientific protocols