Fall 2006
Fully Enrolled

SCIE 637
The Natural History of Autumn

Hammerson,Geoffrey

10/13/2006 - 10/17/2006
Note: Special Schedule 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

Science Tower 137

Special Schedule: Saturday - Wednesday, October 16-20

This field course focuses on ecological interactions and life history events characteristic of autumn. Our study topics include acorn ecology, seed dispersal by fruit-eating birds, fall wildflowers, color change and abscission of leaves, food storage and pre-winter behavior of mammals, migration of hawks and waterfowl, autumn activities in vernal pools, and the evening insect chorus. Autumn will be highlighted as a period when most organisms make dramatic shifts in the mode and tempo of life processes.

Course requirements include an individual field project and weekly written reports that detail our class field studies. Assignments emphasize objective observational procedures and the reporting of first-hand field observations in a scientifically useful manner.

To allow opportunities for daytime and evening observations, our meetings are divided between Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. On a few occasions, we meet on Thursday evening and Sunday morning of the same week.

This course entails a substantial amount of long-distance walking and physical exertion, usually in hilly terrain lacking comfort facilities.

Enrollment is limited to 14 students.


Geoffrey Hammerson (B.S. University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. University of Colorado, Boulder) is a research zoologist at NatureServe and is author of more than 70 reports and publications, most recently, The status of the world's land and marine mammals: Diversity, Threat and Knowledge . (Science, 2008). Click here to read an article about Geoff and his GLS courses.

ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Consent of Instructor Required: No

Format: Seminar

Level: GLSP Credits: 3 Enrollment Limit: 15

Texts to purchase for this course:
Geoffrey Hammerson, CONNECTICUT WILDLIFE: BIODIVERSITY, NATURAL HISTORY, AND CONSERVATION (University Press of New England), Paperback

READING MATERIALS AVAILABLE AT BROAD STREET BOOKS, 45 BROAD STREET, MIDDLETOWN, 860-685-7323

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