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Coastal Biodiversity & Conservation 2009

Dr. Brian Starzomski

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photo courtesy of http://www.pewmarinefellows.org/
Dr. Tom Okey

Dr. Starzomski writes:

"Coastal Biodiversity & Conservation 2009 was co-instructed by Dr. Tom Okey (West Coast Vancouver Island Aquatic Management Board and University of Victoria) and Dr. Brian Starzomski (University of Victoria), with TA Christine Gruman and instructor Sarah Patton, from late July to early September. Excellent and motivated students came from all 5 of the Western Universities, plus McGill University and Wageningen University (The Netherlands), to spend time exploring and otherwise mucking around in the marine, intertidal, and terrestrial environments of the west coast of Vancouver Island.

In the classroom, students confronted theoretical and empirical examples of how to measure and understand coastal biodiversity, as well as practical examples of how to approach its management and conservation. The beauty of a field-base course, however, is that classroom knowledge doesn’t have to be left there or on paper. We were able to put into practice in the field our lessons from the lectures (this included running from the library one day to follow a feeding humpback whale around Trevor Channel, thanks to the keen eyes of librarian Sarah Tyne) This and other biological events symbolized the opportunities that nature provided during this BMSC course. On numerous early mornings, the students could be found measuring intertidal biodiversity in Barkley Sound, embarking on a fieldtrip to examine invertebrate biodiversity at 30m in the canopy platforms of old-growth Western Redcedar, and navigating fog on Pacific Rim National Park beaches while searching for shorebirds. The course finished up with excellent presentations of student field projects, topped off with fresh cookies baked by TA Christine Gruman, and Chicken-of-the woods mushrooms cooked up by Dr. Starzomski after a fortuitous fieldtrip to the Mother Bog."

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100 Pachena Rd, Bamfield, BC
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