Brian Palestis

Meeting Times

 

The course meets from 9:00 to 5:00, Monday May 16 through Friday May 27. There will also be two overnight trips, on May 17 and 23.

 

 

Dr. Brian Palestis

Megerle Science Bldg 417

718-390-3237

bpalesti@wagner.edu

www.wagner.edu/faculty/bpalesti/

 

 

Combined lecture and laboratory. This class is an intensive summer field course involving trips to several nearby locations, such as the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Jamaica Bay, the Hackensack Meadowlands, and the American Museum of Natural History. There will be also two overnight trips, to witness the horseshoe crab spawning/shorebird migration spectacle in Delaware Bay and to hunt for marine fossils in the Pocono Mountains. Students will gain exposure to the organisms, ecology, and geology of a wide variety of habitat types, as well as to basic methodology for field studies. Prerequisites: Biology 215 or permission of the instructor. This course will satisfy requirements of the biology major and minor and the environmental studies minor. A non-refundable laboratory fee is required.

 

Learning goals addressed are: 1) Competency in “learning by doing”, where students learn to integrate ideas and field-based experiences and reflect their insights in writing and discussion. 2) Knowledge and skills in a chosen field of study, which provides both the proficiency and flexibility to achieve future goals. 3) Competency in scientific reasoning and quantitative analysis, which promotes critical thinking and constructive problem solving.

 

Alden, P. et al. 1999. National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States.

            Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

 

 

 

Class participation                               30%

Practical exam                                     25%

Project                                                 25%

Poster presentation                              10%

Informal presentations                        6%

Museum response                                4%

 

Each student will complete a project due one week after the course ends. The project is to make a collection relevant to one taxonomic group (e.g. leaf collection, insect collection, lichen collection, etc). These specimens will be mounted and labeled and the classification of each specimen must be described (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus species, and possibly intermediate levels.).

 

Presentations: Each student will give a poster presentation on one of the basic habitat types or categories described in the field guide. Students will be assigned two specific field trip locations to read up on ahead of time and, during the van ride, to give the class a preview of what we expect to see and to describe the importance of the site.

 

Given the nature of this course, attendance is critically important. You are expected to be an active participant in all field trips.

 

A make-up exam will only be given with a doctor’s note or a letter from Academic Advisement.

 

Incompletes require completion of at least 70% of the work at a passing level.

 

This course adheres to the published policy on Academic Honesty. A violation of academic honesty (plagiarism, copying answers on tests, etc.) may result in a referral to the Academic Honesty Committee and a failing grade for the course.

 

 

 

Monday, May 16

Wagner College: soil samples/Berlese funnel, leaf press, quadrats

            Watchung Reservation/Trailside Nature and Science Center

                                   

Tuesday, May 17       

Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Ed. Ctr.

Pocono Environmental Ed Ctr/Delaware Water Gap Nat Rec Area 34, 404

 

Wednesday, May 18

Franklin Mineral Museum                                                                   22

            Hackensack Meadowlands/Richard DeKorte Park

           

Thursday, May 19

            Jamaica Bay Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area                      49, 396

            Wagner College native plant garden, tangent height gauge

            Prehistoric New York City video

 

Friday, May 20 (Commencement)

            American Museum of Natural History - independent                       

            Ocean life (estuaries, continental shelf), NY environment, N. Am. Forests             

            plus New York Harbor, Central Park                                                 43, 396

 

 

Monday, May 23

New Jersey Pine Barrens                                                                    30, 36, 387

Webb’s Mill Bog                                                                     389

Dwarf Pine Plains      

Cape May Point: sieves                                                                       384-5  

Delaware Bay/Reed’s Beach                                                              10, 388           

Overnight in Bayville, NJ: crab & minnow traps

 

Tuesday, May 24

New Jersey Pine Barrens (cont.)                                                         30, 36, 387

Double Trouble State Park

Barnegat Bay/Pettit Isl.: seining, scan & focal sampling, habitat modification

 

Wednesday, May 25

Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve

 

Thursday, May 26      

Hutcheson Memorial Forest: exclosures, long term monitoring

            Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Raptor Trust                      387

 

Friday, May 27

            Practical Exam

            Island Beach State Park                                                                      44