Ocean S.T.E.A.M.™ - Introduction to Marine Biodiversity

Come and explore the Bay of Fundy seashores with students who share your interest in marine life. This hands-on field course will introduce participants to the creatures hiding under the rocks, beneath the seaweed, in the mud, and in the water column. What you collect is what you will study back in the lab. The first part of the course will concentrate on collecting, observing, identifying and classifying diversity of local invertebrates and taking environmental measurements. The second part of the course will ask students to pull the basic information together to get a better understanding of which animals live where and why.

Example Career Connections: Research Technician, Conservation Officer, Environmental Planner, Science Educator

Narrative Schedule

Day 1
Introduction. Orientation.
(supper)

Registration opens at 4:30 p.m. at Anderson House, on the Huntsman Upper Campus with check-in and room assignment. Supper is served starting at 5:30 p.m. and the group will eat together. After supper, there will be an introduction to the program, instructors, participants, general safety and other Huntsman rules followed by a tour of the campus and teaching labs.


Day 2
Research vessel oceanography trip. Plankton. Intertidal biodiversity. Invertebrate classification.
(breakfast, lunch, supper)

After breakfast, we will head down to the St. Andrews Town Wharf where the Huntsman Fundy Spray Research Vessel is docked. After a short safety talk, we will head out to sample the offshore environment. Using a series of nets and drags, we will collect subtidal invertebrates and use probes to record oceanography data. The boat trip is about two hours. This will be the first ecosystem exploration and collecting trip. Back in the lab, we will use the compound microscopes to look at our plankton samples from the boat trip. After lunch, we will walk to the Lower Campus where we will explore the intertidal zone. Low tide is at 1:14 p.m. and as the tide recedes, it exposes a unique environment where only the hardiest animals can survive. What we collect we will bring back to the lab to key out and identify. Supper is at 5:30 p.m. and we will finish the day creating biological drawings of the subtidal invertebrates we collected while on the research vessel.

Day 3
Tour of Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium. Muddy shore biodiversity. Phylum Echinodermata. Seaweed.
(breakfast, lunch, supper)

We will start the day in the lab studying a uniquely marine phylum – Echinodermata. These animals have spiny skin, radial symmetry, lots of moving parts, but no brain. We will tour the Fundy Discovery Aquarium to view the local animals on display. After lunch, we will head to Pottery Creek to dig in the sediments to see what strange and wonderful creatures live below the surface. We will finish the afternoon with a presentation on marine mammals and seabirds in the Bay. Supper is at 5:30 p.m. and after we will be back in the lab to study seaweeds.

Day 4
Invertebrate behaviour experiments. Invasive species survey. Art connections. Data analysis.
(breakfast, lunch, supper)

We will start the morning in the lab recording how specific invertebrates react to minor changes in environmental conditions. These experiments will help pull together information from the first two days. After lunch, we will go out to the shore and participate in a mark/recapture program to help monitor the invasive green crabs. As we leave the shore, we will pick up whatever marine debris we find. We will use the time in the evening to prepare PowerPoint presentations of the invertebrate behaviour experiments.

Day 5
Introduction to fish. Tour Huntsman Taxonomy Lab. Zonation data collection. Data analysis.
(breakfast, lunch, supper)

This morning, we will turn our attention to the form and function of fish, including a look on the inside!
Then we will meet some of the Huntsman Taxonomy & Biodiversity professionals – people who identify creatures for a living! They will also show us some of the weird and wonderful fish that have amazing adaptations to the ocean depths. After lunch, we head out with transect lines and quadrats to count and measure where animals live on the shore. This is a major project and we will follow methods scientist use on a regular basic to document and monitor changes in the environment. We will spend the evening creating a poster of our results. Today we will also try our hand at silk screening our own t-shirts.

Day 6
Presentations – Invertebrate behaviour experiments & zonation. Clean lab. Group photo. Depart ☹
(breakfast)

Our last morning and we are all curious to hear what everyone has learnt. Informally students will present the results of their invertebrate behaviour experiment, as well as their interpretation of the zonation patterns. Lastly, we will put on our new t-shirts and take a group picture before the final farewell as we go our separate ways.