Wetland environments announcements

Wetland Environments
Announcements

May 6: The final exam is now available. Please submit your answers by the deadline.
April 30: The end of April and the last week of classes for the spring semester! On-campus students will present their group projects to the class. All group projects are due by the end of the week. The final exam will be available at the beginning of next week (due on May 10).

April 23: Our field trip this past weekend was quite successful--warm and dry, but exceptionally windy conditions. Water levels were high to overflowing in all wetlands we visited.

Shallow pothole in the wet meadow on Nature Conservancy land at Cheyenne Bottoms.
Western massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus tergeminus) in wet meadow on Nature Conservancy land at Cheyenne Bottoms. A rare observation; snake was too cold in morning to move quickly.
Heavy equipment for disking cattail thickets in the state wildlife area, Cheyenne Bottoms.
High salty water washes over a ford, Big Salt Marsh, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
New observation tower at the southern end of Little Salt Marsh, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. The following panorama was taken from this tower.

tropical

subalpine

group projects

April 16: More wild April weather this past weekend in Kansas with heavy rain and snow statewide. Rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands are full of water! However, we should have warm, dry weather for our field trip this coming weekend. Our subject this week is wetlands of central Kansas--see Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira NWR.
Field trip: Meet in the parking lot north of the recreation building, next to practice athletic field, at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. Bring a sleeping bag, towel, clothing and personal items for an overnight stay at Camp Aldrich. We will eat dinner at a restaurant in Great Bend (students pay individually). Breakfast and lunch on Saturday will be provided. We should return to ESU campus late afternoon Saturday.
Field geology: This week is the deadline for scholarship applications--see scholarships.
April 9: After an exceptionally warm early spring, Kansas had a hard freeze (15-20°F) over the weekend--setting many record low temperatures. All flowers and fruit trees are done for, and the winter wheat crop is in jeopardy. Nonetheless, there is abundant surface water in normally dry western Kansas this spring. This is good for hundreds of playa wetlands! Such is life on the Great Plains.
We continue our regional review of wetlands, this week for the Gulf of Mexico coastal region of the southern United States--see Florida Everglades, Mississippi Delta, and South Texas. Also see miss_delta.pdf and texas.pdf (via FTP). Continue working on group projects.
April 2: Moving into the month of April, spring flowers are in full bloom, and already some trees are leaving out on campus. Although mid-winter was seasonally cold, late winter was relatively warm with lots of rain during the past 10 days, and vegetation has responded early. Our regional focus this week is the Great Plains--northern Plains and central Plains. All group projects should be finalized this week--see current list.
- L. Bird & J. Stevenson -- Arkansas River wetlands, Kansas.
- S. Doherty & D. McCullough -- Bull Shoals Lake, Arkansas.
- D. Geller, B. Graves & L. Kuss -- Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, Utah.
- G. Manders, J. Mueller & R. Vallimont -- Tar Creek superfund site, Oklahoma.
- K. Moore & T. Ringler -- Wetland flora and fauna of Tierra del Fuego, South America.
Field geology: This week is the deadline for the initial fee deposit. All students should arrange for a medical exam and health insurance prior to the start of the course--see syllabus for complete details. Also note upcoming deadline for scholarship applications.
Mar. 26: Welcome back from spring break! Lectures for the remainder of the semester are devoted to wetlands in different parts of the world. We begin with a look at the Baltic region of northern Europe.
Students should begin working on group projects now. Some groups are formed and active already (see below). Other students still need to establish group membership and topics. Contact your instructor for advice. See also additional wetland resources for the course.
Mar. 14: As part of her lecture yesterday, Dr. Hansen prepared a list of online resources dealing with landscape conservation in general and wetland environments in particular. Students should check out the following sites. See also additional wetland resources for the course. Some of these could be useful for group projects coming up after spring break.
- Sustaining riparian landscapes, from the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service--see riparian landscapes.
- Restoring natural landscapes with people in mind, from the U.S. Forest Service--see restoring landscapes (pdf file).
- National Wetlands Mitigation Action Plan, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office--see migtigation action plan.
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Teaching Units - Exploring Local Wetlands--see Great Barrier. This is a site for 5th through 8th grades, so it’s good for secondary education students, and it’s where the role-play activity comes from.
- Izaak Walton League of America, Clean Water programs--see IWLA.
- Why Landowners Restore Wetlands: Summary of a National Survey--see Iowa State (pdf file).
- Wetland Breaking News: listing of many stories and articles about wetlands, from the Association of State Wetland Managers organization--see ASWM.
- The World Conservation Union’s webpage on Wetlands and Water Resources around the world--see IUCN.
- Pharmaceuticals in the water, called Drugging Our Waters--see onearth, the magazine of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Mar. 12: We have a guest lecture by Dr. Ellen Hansen (geography) this week on the subject of wetland preservation. Spring break next week! Following spring break we will review wetlands in several geographic and climatic circumstances around the world, and work on group projects. All exercises are due at this time--none will be accepted after spring break.
Field geology: the deadline for the initial deposit is coming up in early April. Students should make arrangements for a complete medical examination prior to the course--this is a requirement for participation. See field geology syllabus for complete details.
Mar. 5: The mid-term exam is completed and the class did quite well overall. Results ranged from 80% to >100%; the median score was 94%. Excellent performance! Results have been returned to students individually. We will review the exam and previous lab exercises in class on Wednesday.
Our focus for the next two weeks is human impact on wetlands. Reading this week includes management and policy as well as FW best management and streamside management . The exercise is based on EPA showcase watersheds.
Note: ALL exercises are due before spring break. No exercises will be accepted after spring break.
Feb. 25: The mid-term exam is now available. Please follow instructions; turn in your answers by the deadline. Note: on-campus students will not meet this week.
Seminar this week: John Moylan, 2007 Jahns Distinguished Lecturer from the Geological Society of America. He will speak on "Geologic influences on mid-continent dams" @ 3:30 pm, SH 123, Wednesday, Feb. 28th. This subject is particularly relevant to this course because of wetlands associated with dams and reservoirs.
Feb. 19: Our subject this week is wetland vertebrates; we have a guest lecture by Dr. David Edds (biology), who is a fresh-water fish specialist. See FW wildlife, wetland wildlife II, and mink.pdf. The exercise this week is wetland animals II.
Mid-term is coming soon! The exam will be placed online next week (Monday), and your answers are due by Thursday, March 1st. The exam will cover reading and exercise materials through this week.
Feb. 12: We continue the theme of wetland biology with a focus on invertebrate wildlife presented by Dr. Eddy. See also wildlife.pdf and the exercise on wetland animals I.
Field trip: All students in Kansas are expected to participate in the class field trip, April 20-21st. The special fee for students staying at Camp Aldrich is $15. Make checks out to ESU field geology c/o J.S. Aber. Students should be prepared to pay for their own dinner, Friday evening. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on Saturday.
Distance-learning students please confirm whether you plan to attend. Out-of-state students may conduct your own trip to a local wetland site; send a summary of what you saw and learned.

Revised student roster (ver. 2.0).

Feb. 6: The list of wetland plants passed out in class today can be found online at the National Wetland Inventory--see 1996 national summary (pdf file). This link has been added also to the wetland vegetation exercise for this week.
Feb. 5: Our subject this week is wetland vegetation with a guest lecture by Dr. Eddy (biology). See wetland vegetation and FW vegetation. Also download water_plants.pdf and wet_veg.pdf files, which you can open with Adobe Reader. The exercise on hydric soils is due this week, and we begin an exercise on wetland plants.
Note: obtain the pdf files via FTP. On-campus students may use the GSA lab (SH 16) for this purpose. Contact your instructor (JSA) for the necessary password. See GSA lab assistant, Ben Landis, for help.
Jan. 31: The wetlands sources webpage has been updated. This would be a good place to explore for potential group-project topics.
Jan. 29: We focus this week on soils of wetlands. See FW soils, mineral soils and organic soils, as well as course lectures on soil history and wetland soils.
The exercise on Neosho River flooding is due this week, and we start an exercise on hydric soils.
Seminar this week: "What the heck is a phreatophyte?" National Ground Water Association's Darcy Lecture will be given by James Butler, Senior Scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey. Wednesday, 3:30 o'clock, SH 123, reception to follow. This subject deals with surface and ground water interactions and is particularly relevant for this course; attendance counts toward class participate.
Upcoming seminar: Geological Society of America's Jahn's Distinguished Lecturer, John Moylan, will present "Geologic influences on mid-continent dams" on Wednesday, February 28th. More details to follow.
Jan. 25: The initial student roster for the course is now available. Please send any corrections for email addresses. Feel free to contact other students, on campus and distance learning, about the subject of wetland environments.

Student roster (ver. 1.0).

Jan. 22: Our focus this week is wetland hydrology. See FW hydrology, as well as canals and flooding. The hydro data exercise is due this week, and we start an exercise on flooding.
Seminar: We are hosting a guest speaker from the University of Kansas Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets--see CReSIS, who will present a lecture on global climate change this Thursday, Jan. 25, in Plumb Hall 316 at 2:00 o'clock.
Jan. 15: On-campus students will meet for the first time this week, Tuesday at 1 o'clock in SH 128. Our main lecture deals with wetlands and peatlands, and our first exercise is an introduction to hydrologic resources.
Contact your instructor for the necessary FTP password. Students may use the GSA lab (SH 16) for this course. Check with lab assistant, Ben Landis, for help with using computers and FTP.
Jan. 10: Regarding the summer session and fall semester of 2007, your instructor's schedule was somewhat uncertain because of several pending applications for research projects. The schedule is now resolved as follows. GO 547/747 Field Geology will be taught May 29-June 29. This course is required for all B.S. and B.S.E. students in earth science.
Your instructor received a grant for field study in Slovakia with Juraj Janocko. We will investigate geomorphology in the Tatry Mountains, which are part of the Carpathian Mountain system of central Europe. This work will take place mid-July through the end of August. See SAIA program.
In fall '07, the following courses will be offered. Note these courses begin the week of Sept. 4th (following Labor Day).
- ES 351 Intro to Geospatial Analysis.
- ES 546 Field Geomorphology.
- ES 771 Remote Sensing.
Jan. 8: The spring semester begins this week! All students should be in contact with your instructor via email at this time. First on-campus session will take place next week on Tuesday. Introductory reading assignments include FW introduction (only) and FW wetland trends.
Startup schedule: The spring semester is coming soon! All distance-learning students should be in contact with your instructor beginning Jan. 8th, and the first on-campus class session is Tuesday, Jan. 16. Review the course syllabus, schedule and requirements.
Note: Your instructor will be out of town and away from email, Dec. 28 to Jan. 7. Please do not send any messages during this period.
Welcome! Wetland environments will be offered in the spring semester, 2007. A preliminary syllabus and tentative schedule are available at this time. For more information about course content and format, please contact J.S. Aber, e-mail: jaber@emporia.edu.

	Shallow pothole in the wet meadow on Nature Conservancy land at Cheyenne Bottoms.
	Western massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus tergeminus) in wet meadow on Nature Conservancy land at Cheyenne Bottoms. A rare observation; snake was too cold in morning to move quickly.
	Heavy equipment for disking cattail thickets in the state wildlife area, Cheyenne Bottoms.
	High salty water washes over a ford, Big Salt Marsh, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
	New observation tower at the southern end of Little Salt Marsh, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. The following panorama was taken from this tower.