Course Offering - Itasca Field Biology Program
Arctic Field Ecology
"Integrating research, teaching, and traditional ecological knowledge"
29 June - 21 July 2003
There is an information packet you can download at:
http://muskox.com/acrobat/2003app.pdf
One section of Arctic Field Ecology (University of Minnesota, EEB 4842,
5 semester credits) is being offered this summer (29 June - 21 July
2003)
This is an exciting field ecology course that involves a
multidisciplinary team of ecologists and Inuit collaborators. It is a
once in a lifetime experience focused on the excitement of discovery in
the remote tundra wilderness of the Arctic.
This summer the course will investigate ecosystem variation from
treeline near the mouth of the Mackenzie River to a research camp on
Prince Patrick Island in the Canadian Arctic. We will visit two
northern research sites on Banks and Prince Patrick Island by air
charter and have a kayak trip along the Thomsen River on Banks Island.
We will integrate our course work with a major field study looking at
the interaction of vegetation, climate, and soils in frost-boil
formation (http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu/cryoturbation/). We camp along
the way, interact with scientists at the research sites, and meet with
local people to learn about their knowledge of the region.
Our goals are that each student:
-Learn about current ecological research issues in the Arctic.
-Learn about arctic vegetation, soils, wildlife, ecosystem processes,
and natural history.
-Learn new sampling and analysis techniques.
-Generate his or her own research ideas.
-Understand the common ground between Indigenous and western views of
the Arctic.
-Gain new understanding and appreciation of the arctic landscape.
The course is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the
International Institute for Tropical Forestry, and the University of
Minnesota Itasca Field Biology Station. It is open to undergraduate and
graduate students and is an exciting introduction to the Arctic and to
field research in the natural sciences.
Course cost is $3300.
There is an information packet you can download at:
http://muskox.com/acrobat/2003app.pdf
For more information contact one of the instructors:
Bill Gould
wgould [at] fs.fed.us
International Institute of Tropical Forestry
787/766-5335 ext 209
Grizelle González
ggonzalez [at] fs.fed.us
International Institute of Tropical Forestry
787/766-5335 ext 112
Andrew Borner
ftapb [at] uaf.edu
University of Alaska at Fairbanks