Biology field course seeks more student interest

Cumberlands’ biology department is planning to teach a field course in central and southern Florida and Andros Island, Bahamas from May 8 through May 22.  The course will be offered to both biology majors and non-majors and will cover topics in subtropical ecology.

Biology majors will focus on the specifics of the various habitats as well as research management and field-work in ecology and the issues of conservation.  Non-major students will learn the basics of habitat, ecology, and the scientific method.

“Field courses give students the chance to get in an intensive period of field-work, and there is really no substitute for that,” said Dr. Renee Yetter, associate professor of biology.

Forfar Field Station, Andros Island, Bahamas
Courtesy community.webshots.com

The course, taught by Yetter, begins with four days at the Archbold Biological Station in Placid, Fla. where students will study Scrub, Bayhead, Dry Prairie, Hammock and Mangrove Swamp habitats.  Students will spend one day at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, Fla. and one day at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Fla.  During the second week of the trip, students will travel to Andros Island, Bahamas where they will study at the Forfar Field Station.

            According to Yetter, the cost of the course will depend on how many students enroll.  If 13 students enroll, the cost will be $2,600 per student.  If 12 students enroll, the cost rises to $2,618 per student.  At most the course will cost $2,752 per student at an enrollment of eight.

            Expenses are broken down between lodging, lab fees, food, travel and credit hours.   According to Cumberlands’ financial planning office, students will only be able to use student loans as financial aid.  If students use their student loans to the cover the cost of the course, the amount of loans they can use for the following fall semester will be reduced.  

“For example, if a student qualifies for a $5,000 loan and they use $2,000 of that toward the summer class, they will only have $3,000 of that loan for the fall semester,” said Karen McKinney, assistant director of financial planning.

            Eight students must enroll in the course for it to be offered, and according to Yetter, as of now not enough students have shown interest.  Yetter and the biology department are considering other options for the field class.  

            Yetter said that one option would be for the department to offer a field course in Appalachian ecology.  The course would focus on Appalachian habitats and the affects of coal mining on biodiversity. 

            Yetter is also considering teaching the Florida/Bahamas field course during a spring semester.  Students would then study in Andros Island during spring break and in Florida over a four-day weekend.  Students would then be able to use financial aid to cover the course as if it were a regular course because the class would take place in the same time frame in which financial is regularly offered.  
             Update:  The class did not receive enough interest from students and will not be taught this summer.  The biology department is deciding whether or not to offer the course in spring 2012.