Field sites include Pine Barrens, salt marsh, swamp, upland forest, maritime forest, coastal beach and dune, urban wildlife refuge, and bog. Discussions of plant-environment interactions, contemporary ecological issues, and other elements of ecology are carefully coordinated with our field studies. This class is offered on Saturdays in the spring. Field studies include identification of forest flora and fauna, study of the major habitats within the forest, and the discussion of plant-environment interrelationships. Elements of ecology and current environmental issues are addressed.
Night hikes focus on study of owls, amphibians, and mammals.
Some students opt to take their own cars. We will travel as a group. These topics are related to current environmental problems such as resource management, pollution, radiation, and human ecology. Several field trips are scheduled during the regular class periods. Topographical variation and disturbance history have generated a mosaic of plant assemblages that include mature upland oak forest, hemlock ravine, pitch pine scrub oak ridge, shrub thicket, bog and post-fire successional.