Aquatic Habitats
ONSITE | Thursday, July 7, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Instructor: Tom Southard
$85 Non-member**
(**Arboretum Members receive a 10% discount on all classes. Become an Arboretum Member!)
BRN Elective | NCEE Criteria II (5 hours)*
Course Capacity: 12
Many insects spend their egg and larval stages in local streams, ponds and rivers. This immersive field experience starts at Willow Pond, the Arboretum's new outdoor educational center, and ends at an area set aside for research at Bent Creek. You'll get plenty of feet-in-water and hands-on-nets time with class, designed with Citizen Science data collection in mind. Learn to identify and understand Benthic Macroinvertebrates that spend most of their lives in or on the water. Studying their life cycles and sampling various parts of a watershed can tell us about the health of our local and regional water ecology. Students should come equipped with curiosity, a hand lens and a bag lunch. Come dressed appropriately for light hiking and stream research. Boots or waders are a must.
Tom Southard has a degree in plant science and forestry from Rutgers University. Prior to moving to the mountains in 2010, he worked extensively in stream assessment, aquatic ecology education and stream habitat restoration with the South Branch Watershed Association based in Flemington, N.J. He is also a volunteer stream monitor for sites in the French Broad River Basin and at the Arboretum.
*Upon registration, participants will be asked to identify if they are seeking certificate credit through Arboretum certificate of merit programs or NC Environmental Education. Responses will prompt further communication regarding requirements and reporting for credit.
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- In the event of inclement weather or other emergent circumstances, the instructor will be in contact with students to arrange an online session as an alternative to meeting onsite.
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