3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

The breathtaking beauty and unfettered access to the soaring Mauna Kea, the highest mountain when measured from the ocean floor, and home to the Big Island’s eight major climate zones, from desert to alpine, inspire countless superlatives. The volcanoes of the Big Island of Hawai’i are one of the premier examples of active hotspot volcanism in the world and are by far the most accessible. This location offers an unparalleled opportunity to observe the planetary processes of destruction and creation through Hawai’i’s geology and tropical ecology. This field course explores the unique marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats of the island, interconnections between the geology and the ecology and the integrated management of natural resources from volcanic mountain tops to the biodiversity of the coral reef. The primary goal of this interdisciplinary course will be to provide a solid foundation in field science for both geologic and ecologic methods. Specifically, we will examine the geological development of hot spot generated Hawaiian ocean islands, we will describe the biological development of the ecosystems on the islands, and we will examine the interaction between humans (landscape use and introduction of exotic species) and the island environments (major biomes and anthropomorphic systems). As a field course, natural communities will be a major emphasis. On land, focus will be placed on the tectonic development of the Islands and of the origin, evolution, and ecology of flora and fauna, and the reasons for the concentration of threatened and endangered species in Hawai’i. In the marine environment, emphasis will be placed on the ecological processes that maintain biodiversity, community organization, and the impacts on coral reefs. Prerequisite: AS.420.601 - Geological Foundations of Environmental Science or permission from the instructors.