The University of Alaska Anchorage is offering a two-week
interdisciplinary field school focusing on coastal ecosystems of
Southcentral Alaska. To apply, contact:
Dr. Frank von Hippel
Assistant Professor of Biology
University of Alaska Anchorage
affvh [at] uaa.alaska.edu
Phone: 907/786-4783
or visit the course web page at:
http://local.uaa.alaska.edu/~afsgc/akearthsys.htm
4-18 August 2001
Selected Topics in Biology: Alaska Earth Systems Field School
Biology 485
3 credits, University of Alaska Anchorage
DESCRIPTION
The Alaska Earth Systems Field School is now annually offering a series
of inquiry-based, interdisciplinary summer field courses. The summer
2001 course focuses on coastal ecosystems in Southcentral Alaska.
Students will learn to understand ecosystems by integrating the
disciplines of ecology and geology to witness their dependence on one
another.
Students will build their own conceptual and numerical models of
ecosystem processes, collect field data, and use those data to test
their models. They will learn techniques for mapping, identification,
description, and analysis, all within the context of current
environmental issues. Students will study the marine system, intertidal
ecology, wetland delineation, wet spruce forest ecology including the
treeline, alpine tundra ecology, and glaciers. Habitats will be studied
in the context of the underlying geology.
SCHEDULE
The course begins in Anchorage at 6:00pm Saturday, 4 August 2001. After
an orientation on the UAA campus the course travels to the Kenai
Peninsula, where we will visit sites where geological processes have a
profound influence on the ecology, such as a site where earthquakes drop
the land and then many years of siltation build it up again. We will
also see the enormous impact of the spruce bark beetle on the spruce
forests of southcentral Alaska, and study the complex effects of fire
and succession on ecosystem change. After spending several days in the
Homer area working on wetland delineation, students will spend a week at
the University of Alaska's field station at Kasitsna Bay across Kachemak
Bay. The field station is located at a stunning site with access to
habitats from the ocean to alpine glaciers and is accessible only by
boat. The course ends in Anchorage on Saturday, 18 August 2001 at 12:00
noon.
TUITION AND FEES
Tuition: $261
Anchorage Lodging (for those who need it): $105
Special Fees: $1100
Total Tuition, Lodging, and Special Fees: $1,466
Special Fees cover food (most meals), lodging in the field including
field station fees, books, accident fee, transcript fee, van rentals,
boat fees, staff salaries, and other instructional costs. Students are
responsible for their own transportation to Anchorage, Alaska.
To apply, contact:
Dr. Frank von Hippel
Assistant Professor of Biology
University of Alaska Anchorage
affvh [at] uaa.alaska.edu
(907) 786-4783
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit the course web page at:
http://local.uaa.alaska.edu/~afsgc/akearthsys.htm