BIO 440 Field Biology of the Desert Southwest
(Same as EVS 440)
Semester hours: 4 (3R, 3L) Offered: PS
Instructor: Platz
A field course designed to allow students to study faunal and floral desert adaptations. Students spend 3 weeks living at a field station in San Carlos, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez. Participants utilize field data to determine how small, ectothermic vertebrates utilize external heat sources in order to thermoregulate, culminating in a paper written while at the field station. Bioinventory activities include collecting, preserving and identifying museum quality specimens; trips to nearby Nacapule canyon, night time and day time visits to local tide pools, snorkeling trips including Isla San Pedro and its sea lion colonies. Participating students should be prepared for warm, sunny weather and time both in and out of the water, kayaking and sailing.
Prerequisite: BIO 212, and IC
Satisfies: Certified Writing, Lab requirement, Population/Ecology/Evolution requirement