EEB 585 Extended Field Trip 2006:
The Wisconsin-Iowa Mississippi River Coast

Seminar Schedule Page

version 3.30.06

Class
Week
Number		 Date
Friday Seminar		 Seminar
Number

Weekly Activity

 
1 January 13  

Introduction & Establishing the Trip Foundation
1.  Introduce ourselves.  Who is going to participate (other students, faculty commitments)?
2.  When will the field trip occur?  Suggested dates: May 7-14 or 7-20. 
3.  Where will the field trip occur, which section of the Mississippi?  See maps, locks and rental sites in web site (prepared by Sonya Krogh and Eric Walsh).
4.  Seminar organization: student and faculty presentations on the environment (e.g. geology, disturbance, water quality) and genotypes (e.g birds, microflora, mammals, plants) determining the phenotypes we will see.  Broad view or focused view?
5.  Trip Themes:  How should we focus our trip observations (e.g. biodiversity, invasive species and disturbance, organismal focus)?  Teams or group effort?
6.  Research Goals:  what activity and product will result from this trip?  how will you be evaluated?  consideration of web site as research observation product.
7.  Sharing the work:  logistics of assigning work to sub-group commitees, what needs doing, etc. (e.g. food and meals; boat rental arrangements; land transportation; small boat navy; financial planning and budgeting). 
8.  Spring semester meeting time and location.  Is Friday 1-3 in Kildee best?  What alternatives are there that will accomodate everyone?
2 January 20   Course Planning:  Seminar and field trip
1.  Report from River site & boat rental committee:  Eric, Jelena, Barbara
2.  Seminar assignments for semester.  Suggested areas from last week:
Environment
   a.  geology, hydrology
   b.  invasion biology, disturbance effects, restoration
Biota
   a.  aquatic biology: insects, plants, crawfish, non-insect invertebrates, plankton and algae, carp and fish
   b.  herpes, turtles, amphibians
   c.  birds: migratory, heron rookeries, songs
   d.  mammals
   e.  plant communities
Logistical sub-topics
   a.  Navigation, water safety, first aid and swimming ability
   b.  permits, trapping
   c.  visit to USGS, Upper Mississippi River Research Center, La Crosse, WI
3 January 27 1 S1:  Birds of the upper Mississippi River, Rolf K.
4 February 3 2 S2:  Ichthyofauna of the upper Mississippi River; Mike C.; species, museum curation of fish, etc.
5 February 10 3 S3:  Herpetofauna of the upper Mississippi River; Eric
Class Moderator:  Rolf K.
6 February 17 4 S4:  Mammals (small & large) of the upper Mississippi River; Jelena
Class Moderator:  Rolf K.
7 February 24 5 S5:  Geology of the Mississippi River Basin, Matthew, John D.
8 March 3 6 S6:  Insects of the upper Mississippi River: aquatic & terrestrial; Jessica
9 March 10 7 S7:  Aquatic organisms of the upper Mississippi River; Chris
10 March 17   Spring Break
11 March 24 8 S8:  Plants of the upper Mississippi River; Claudia
12 March 31 9

S9:  Environment of the upper Mississippi River:  restoration ecology & conservation efforts; Barbara; River hydrology, John D.

13 April 7 10 S10:  Environment of the upper Mississippi River:  Invasion biology, invasive species; Jenniffer
14 April 14 11 S11:  Environment of the upper Mississippi River:  The Human Footprint; barges and boat traffic, urban, factories, power plants, locks & dams, etc.; Kristina
15 April 21 12 Field Trip Logistics 1:  Navigation, water safety, first aid, swimming, permits, trapping, web site prep, equipment, ISU insurance, transportation, and all aspects of field trip preparation and responsibility
16 April 28   Field Trip Logistics 2:  Continued.
17 May 1-7 Finals Week Field Trip Logistics 2:  Continued.  Special organization of "Clean-Up" assignments and responsibilities at trip's end.
  May 12 (Friday) through
May 20 (Saturday)		   Field trip on the Mississippi River, pools 7, 8, 9
©jdekker-2006