Are you interested in learning about biology in the field? We
will explore how biologists test hypotheses in natural
settings. The class consists of three Thursday afternoon field
trips to different habitats. The first meeting (April 1, 1-4
pm) will begin with an introduction in the classroom followed
by a walk through coastal sage scrub in the UCI Ecological
Preserve. On the second date (April 8, 1-5 pm) we will meet at
Little Corona del Mar beach to explore the rocky intertidal.
For the third trip (April 15, 1-4 pm) we will meet at the San
Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary to observe freshwater and marsh
habitats. On each trip, you will learn about the common
organisms. Then we will formulate hypotheses about
distribution, behavior, and other aspects of ecology and
evolution. We will discuss how to test these hypotheses with
observational and experimental methods.
