Tropical And Desert Biology in Australia
Page will be updated as information becomes available. Keep checking back!
New Program for 2010!
Explore the Island Continent of Australia!
Immerse yourself for four days in the beauty and amazing diversity of the Australian tropics while staying at a fully equipped resort field station (El Questro, check it out at www.elquestro.com.au). From there drive south through the center of the continent, the desert outback and arrive at the world's largest monolith, Ayers Rock (www.ayersrockresort.com.au). On the drive south we will stop at an Aboriginal Reserve where you can see first hand the culture of the first peoples of Australia.
To truly get an understanding of the Australian ecosystems, at both the tropical site and the desert site,we will explore and conduct ecology research in the form of field problems. These are one day projects where you will take an observation, ask a question about it, form a hypothesis, discuss what data are required to test the hypothesis, then go out into the field and obtain the data. There is no better way to experience and immerse yourself into any ecosystem than by studying it first hand. We may also have the privilege of joining an ongoing research project in the tropical rain forest.
Do you want a real outback experience taught by experts? This the course! It is being co-taught by Dr. Brian Crother, who has been teaching field courses in Costa Rica and Louisiana since 1988 and has been to Australia, and by Dr. Sean Doody, a field biologist at Monash University in Melbourne, who has been conducting research throught the continent for over 12 years!
Program Dates:
April 15-June 15, 2010
Trip Dates:
May 17-May 28, 2010
Tentative Cost:
3,085 per student
(price subject to change pending Board
approval)
Courses:
Biology 493/593
Special Topics in Biology
4 credit hours in upper level Biology
