Earlier this fall, 26 students enrolled in Plant Communities and Taxonomy or Introduction to Mammalian Ecology and Diversity got a chance to visit, learn about, and experience an entire new ecosystem far from campus. This multi-day field experience took students to North-Central Minnesota to experience Itasca State Park and the headwaters of the Mississippi River, as well as to the Deep Portage Learning Center near Hackensack. As the experience combined both mammalogy and plant ecology, Dr. Moni Berg-Binder and Dr. Ben Pauli were able to teach lessons about bat ecology, lead hikes in which students did plant and mammal identification, cross the headwaters of the Mississippi River, experience old-growth forests in Itasca State Park, and visit two different bogs. Students majoring in environmental biology who are exploring both the terrestrial and aquatic ecology of the Mississippi River watershed were able to see their classroom learning come alive.
Students see classroom learning come to life in field experiences
