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| Students in the Intertidal Ecology and Diversity class get down and dirty at Martinique Beach. (Danny Abriel Photo) |
It鈥檚 not exactly beach weather, but a group of AV俱乐部 students have come prepared, not with towels and sunscreen, but toques, gloves, waterproof pants and rubber boots.
On this day, Martinique Beach on Nova Scotia鈥檚 Eastern Shore acts as their classroom. The 13 students in Allison Schmidt鈥檚 are charged with collecting core samples along the beach and mudflats, taking note of the worms, snails, small crustaceans and tiny bivalves that live in the sand and black mud. They鈥檒l take the samples back to the laboratory at AV俱乐部 and examine what they found using microscopes.
SEE PHOTO ESSAY: Catch up with the Intertidal Ecology and Diversity class at Martinique Beach. Photos by Danny Abriel.
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Sitting on the bumper of a SUV, Heather MacGillivray puts one foot, then the other in brown hipwaders that come up under her armpits. She adjusts the suspenders and gives them a snap.
鈥淪ex-ay,鈥� she says with a grin. In the red dirt on the seat of her pants, she bears the evidence of an earlier field trip.
鈥淲e have so much fun,鈥� says Ms. MacGillivray, a fourth-year biology student. 鈥淚t鈥檚 better than sitting and listening to a lecture. These classes are much more interactive.鈥�
Seaside鈥擲ummer Education and Applied Science Institute at AV俱乐部 in Ecology鈥攑rovides a unique experience, getting students out of the university and into the great outdoors. Offered through the Faculty of Science, the program began with two classes in 1996 and this year has expanded with 10 classes, including , and . (There are still some spaces available in classes scheduled later in the summer; check the .)
Two of the classes鈥� and the 鈥攁re open to non-science majors.
The half-credit classes run Monday to Saturday, over two to three weeks. In that time, students are apt to go on three or four fieldtrips, including some overnight trips. Students in Intertidal Ecology, for example, camped in Annapolis Royal and visited beaches on the Atlantic and Bay of Fundy sides.听 Later in the summer, students in will camp for several nights on Brier Island, where they鈥檒l observe whales, dolphins and seals.
鈥淭hey get to see all the things they鈥檙e learning about,鈥� says Cindy Staicer, assistant professor of biology and an expert on the behavior and ecology of birds in natural and managed forest ecosystems. Dr. Staicer also coordinates Seaside and teaches a class on . 鈥淓veryone who teaches these classes is teaching something they鈥檙e really passionate about.鈥�
Students in her bird class visited Conrad鈥檚 Beach, a sand pebble beach about 15 kilometres from Dartmouth, where they observed a pair of endangered Piping Plovers skittering along the sand and singing a soft, flute-like pipe-pipe-pipe-pipe. At Rocky Run, near Lawrencetown Beach, they spotted a majestic Great Blue Heron nesting in a spruce tree.
鈥淭he students thought it was amazing,鈥� says Dr. Staicer. 鈥淎s well as identifying species they see, they鈥檙e also learning to recognize birds by their sounds. A walk in the woods will never be the same for them.鈥�
Meanwhile, back on Martinique Beach, fingers have turned icy and more than a few students have soakers from the surf running over the top of their boots. But the sight of worms鈥攑ale, fast moving squiggles on the sieve鈥攁lways seem to elicit squeals of delight. Once the students have gathered samples from the sandy beach, they move to the mudflats on the other side of the dunes to do some more sampling.
鈥淎s far back as I can remember, I wanted to study marine biology,鈥� says Tim Lamothe, a fourth-year student from Ottawa, who plops right down in the mud to examine the black glop on his sieve. The mud has a rotten egg smell, indicating the high rate of decomposition by anaerobic bacteria and other small organisms. The rotting organic material provides enormous amounts of food to organisms.
鈥淭his is hands-on learning鈥攊t鈥檚 what we all love 鈥� When you鈥檙e in the classroom, you doubt yourself, so that鈥檚 why this is so important. It refreshes your desire and your tenacity. Hey, I鈥檓 sitting here in the mud, but it鈥檚 great.鈥�
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