[Coral-List] Summer course in coral reef ecology at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research

[Samantha de Putron]

Places are still available for this summer's coral reef ecology course at 
the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. Scholarship and financial aid 
available. Application deadline April 15th.

Summer Course in Coral Reef Ecology

The Bermuda Biological Station for Research is pleased to announce a course 
in Coral Reef Ecology. Course instructor: Dr. Samantha de Putron. Course 
dates: 9-29 July
Location: Bermuda
Qualifications:  Open to undergraduates and graduate students with strong 
academic credentials.  The course is open only to divers.
Additional details: http://www.bbsr.edu/Education/summercourses/cre/cre.html
Scholarship and financial aid available

Course summary:
The Coral Reef Ecology course at the Bermuda Biological Station for 
Research is comprised of lectures, required reading, laboratory exercises 
and field surveys.  The lectures cover a broad range of relevant topics in 
coral reef ecology that are supplemented by readings from the primary 
literature with attention given to active areas of research. The course is 
divided into 24 lectures, 9 field trips (4 hours each), 5 lab sessions (4-5 
hours each), 3 evening lab discussion sessions, a morning written exam, an 
afternoon of oral presentations and an afternoon discussion session/debate 
on a current topic. An additional 10-15 hours is taken to complete the 
working-group analyses and presentations.

The course is aimed towards upper undergraduates and graduate students.

The lab work is focused on training in practical techniques:
• separation of coral tissue from skeleton
• fractionation by centrifugation
• enumeration of zooxanthellae with a haemocytometer
• chlorophyll analysis
• determination of coral surface area
• coral growth determination using a buoyant weighing technique

Various field techniques and subsequent lab analyses are used repetitively 
at different sites so that each student has the opportunity to become 
familiar with the following methods:
• video-taping of reef transects to assess community structure
  • quantification of reef fish community structure using a visual census 
method
• quadrat sampling of reef algae, sorting, identification and dry weight 
biomass estimation
• quadrat sampling and measurement of juvenile corals to construct 
size/frequency curves
• quantification of parrotfish feeding rates and social interactions

The laboratory and field work are synthesized as final oral presentations 
that are based on a typical format for presenting scientific results to an 
audience and so are designed to provide experience in communicating science.

For further information please contact:

Gerry Plumley at plumley at bbsr.edu
or
Samantha de Putron at sputron at bbsr.edu




-----------------------------------------------------------
Dr Samantha de Putron
Assistant Research Scientist

Bermuda Biological Station for Research
Ferry Reach
St Georges
GE 01, Bermuda
Tel: (441) 297 1880 ext 261
Fax: (441) 297 8143
Web: www.bbsr.edu