Sunday, March 11, 2012

Marine Ecology

SoPac:

We've just finished our Marine Ecology course with Dr. Laurie Furlong from Northwestern College. The week was jammed packed with marine mammals, limpets, chitons, and even a sea horse!

Kaikoura's tidepools are pretty fun to poke around so we took advantage of our remarkable surroundings by getting out amongst the algae and crabs to see firsthand what we talk about in the classroom.  In fact, the intertidal zone was our classroom!

Seeing what we can see

Caleb (Eastern) learning about a sea star from Dr. Furlong

Imagining what useful adaptations the creatures have taken on to deal with their unique environment. 

To top it all off, we all hopped on a Whale Watch boat and headed out to see some sperm whales just off the coast of Kaikoura.  We went out for the whales, but got to see some dolphins and albatross along the way.  Not too shabby.

Marine is the first portion of our New Zealand Ecosystems course. In the second portion, we study the terrestrial ecosystem.

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