Pollution in the Sand 4
June 27 to July 27, 2007
Announcement!
An informational
meeting for Pollution in the Sand 4 will be held on Thursday, February 8th,
12:15 p.m. (Room TBA). Please plan on attending if you are interested in
this course!
Looking for the most intensive scientific experience
of your life? Are you willing to put in 18 hour days to explore the pollution
impact of a fish cannery on a bay along the Baja peninsula? Pollution
in the Sand is a 4 Unit, upper division, team-taught course within the
Honors Program. Students may receive elective credit for majors in Biology,
Chemistry or Marine Science. This year, the course will run from June 27th
to July 27th, 2007. As part of this course you will travel to a field
site in Puerto San Carlos, Baja California Sur, Mexico to study the chemical,
biological, and ecological impact of a fish cannery on Magdalena Bay.
Click here for the
informational handout.
Click here for frequently
asked questions
Click here for the
course application
If you have any questions, please email Dr. Bolender by clicking on
the link at the bottom of this page.
The Students and Faculty of Honors 192 and Honors 157
An upper division team-taught course in the Honors Program for credit in Chemistry, Marine Science, and Biology
Instructors:
Dr. James Bolender, Chemistry
bolender@sandiego.edu
Dr. Michel Boudrias,
Marine and Environmental Studies
boum@sandiego.edu
More and more people are living along
coastlines everywhere in the world. We want access to beaches, bays and
the ocean for a variety of activities. It is thus becoming increasingly
difficult to find pristine coastal habitats. However there are many beaches
along the Baja California peninsula that remain virtually untouched.
There are several coastal ecosystems,
like mangroves, sand beaches, and rocky shores, around Magdalena Bay in
Baja California Sur, Mexico that are only visited by locals. Unfortunately
even these somewhat isolated locales are affected by human impacts such as
overfishing, organic pollution, and non-sustainable uses of resources. This
multidisciplinary course is designed to address some of the fundamental scientific
questions centering on the theme of pollution in the sand. The main goals
of this course will be to: (1) combine lectures, labs, and intensive field
studies to gain a cross-disciplinary perspective on the environmental problems
facing Bahia Magdalena; (2) compare pristine coastal habitats (mangroves
and sand beaches) to impacted sites with similar ecological parameters; and
(3) emphasize interdisciplinary hands-on teamwork to solve real life applied
scientific problems. The coastal ecology portion of the course will present
general concepts of benthic ecology, diversity and distribution of organisms,
and the correlation between abiotic forcing factors and community composition.
The chemistry component will present the concepts and methodologies of qualitative
and quantitative analysis of field samples and explore the water and sediment
chemistry of pristine and polluted sites. The directed research projects,
which will make up the core of this field-based course, will combine chemical
and ecological analyses of samples from both pristine and polluted sites.
This course
will offer a unique opportunity for students in the USD Honors Program since
it will be offered during the July 30 to August 21, 2003 special summer
session. This field-based course is a 4 unit upper division course, with
credit available in Chemistry, Marine Science, and Biology, which will explore
the topics of environmental chemistry, biology, and coastal ecology. During
the three-week period of the course, we will spend 10 days at the Center
for Coastal Studies in Puerto San Carlos, Baja California Sur, Mexico. In
addition to the USD-based lectures and labs, we will benefit from guest lectures
by local experts from the Center for Coastal Studies on the ecology of Bahia
Magdalena, and nearly instant access to various beach and mangrove field
sites. The course will conclude with written and oral research presentations
at both the Center for Coastal Studies and at USD. The course will require
registration by April 14, 2003, and will require an additional site fee for
our stay at the Center for Coastal Studies.
Field Sampling at Las Dunas
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image courtesy of www.andyart.com
Updated, January 19, 2007