Biology 287
Island Biology in the Bahamas
Instructor: Eric S. Cole
Prerequisites: Biology 125, 126 and/or instructor's permission.
Cost: $3,250

Philosophy

In the last century colleges and universities sent expeditions to explore and report on the biology and geology of exotic lands. These students of nature took it upon themselves to rigorously investigate and describe this new world. Their studies were marked by an energy and inner motivation to explore and describe. Students interested in this interim should be ready to adopt the attitude of an expeditionary explorer, intent on harvesting a full crop of information.

Goals

Biology 287 is designed to give St. Olaf students an intensive exposure to living representatives of diverse marine and terrestrial organisms, as well as the fascinating structures and dynamics of island ecosystems. Towards this end, lectures will explore the various terrestrial and marine habitats, while distinguishing characteristics of marine organisms with special emphasis on invertebrates. Field excursions allow students to collect, identify and study living specimens of both in the laboratory and within their natural habitats. We will also examine community structure within a number of marine habitats: sea-grass beds, coral reefs and mangrove forests. Each community will be examined for its own internal structure and how it serves the surrounding marine environment (spawning beds, primary nutrient fixation etc.). Finally, students working in pairs will develop and pursue independent research projects using both library and field resources. These projects will form the basis of an ongoing research program into the Biology of San Salvador Island.

Location

San Salvador Island is located on the Southern and Eastern extreme of the Bahamian Shelf. It is in fact an isolated ocean mountain rising from nearly 6,000 foot depths. San Salvador is one of the most intensively studied marine environments in the world. This small, ten-mile-long island boasts a great diversity of marine and terrestrial habitats including coral reefs, sea grass beds, mangrove forests, hypersaline ponds, limestone caverns and the "blue-holes" that connect inland waterways to the sea. This course takes advantage of the Gerace Research Center 's unique proximity to these diverse habitats for an intensive study of invertebrate zoology, marine fishes and numerous aspects of a Caribbean marine ecosystem.

Classes

Lectures are held twice daily just after breakfast and dinner. These last one hour each. Class-room time will cover characteristics of the major marine invertebrate phyla, as well as information regarding specific island and marine ecosystems,. We will have occasional guest lectures from local scientists as well. Morning and afternoon field trips will introduce students to each of the island's habitats and their fauna. Evenings will be used for night-dives and night-snorkeling. Students are expected to deliver individual presentations on a library project of their choosing. Evaluations will be based on a final exam, a laboratory practicum, one lecture presentation, and written reports of the student's research projects. Opportunities exist for students to continue their research at St. Olaf during semester II for an IR and a poster presentation at the summer's “Natural History of the Bahamas Symposium” to be held in June.