Coastal Ecology Program: Lessons and Field Trips

Oceanography Lab and Research Cruise

Water sampling, salinity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, currents, turbidity, benthic grab, and trawl. Data is analyzed during evening lab.

Intertidal Beaches
organism collection and sampling for various environmental parameters, species diversity, distribution, adaptation.

Organism Labs
dichotomous keys, field guides and microscopes are used to examine and identify fish, invertebrates, zooplankton and phytoplankton collected in earlier field trips.

Salt Marsh
Identification of flora and fauna, food webs, trophic levels, nutrient cycles, marsh formation and tidal zonation.

Dune Ecology
Littoral currents, wave energy, beach formation, sediment
deposition, distribution of flora and fauna, ecological succession

Maritime Forest/Ornithology 
forest ecology, flora, fauna, special emphasis given to birds if requested.

Advanced Topics
may be substituted for advanced or returning groups.
Examples are:

Wetlands Ecology
Coastal Morphology
Advanced Marine Biology
Chemical Lab
Chincoteague and Chesapeake Bays
Advanced Marine Biology  

Special Topics
Interested in other topics? Our education staff can develop specialized topics to meet your curricular needs.