Extra Credit

Field Trip

 

Find and sign up for a guided tour of a local environment with a professional naturalist. The tour should be at least one hour. Select a trip that focuses on a subject or habitat different from the ones we covered on our class field trips. Check with me first to verify appropriateness. Obtain and submit a receipt or other documentation of the tour. Take notes in your field notebook while on the tour. Type a report of your trip as follows. Both parts of the report as described below must be completed for course extra credit (20 points total).

 

á      The report must be typed (word processed), using a 10–12 pt font and 1–1.5 line spacing.

 

á      Part 1: 2–3 pages. Write a narrative of the tour. Include the date, time, location, tour agency, and name of your guide(s). The narrative should have notes from regular time intervals, descriptions of the habitats explored, lists of plant and animal species seen with comments on their abundance and niche, and any musings you care to express.

á      Part 2: 2 pages. Write a brief natural history report on an organism you observed on your tour. Select one creature that particularly caught your attention and look up some reference background material on its biology. Use and cite at least two references other than a textbook or encyclopedia. Do not just cut and paste something from a web site! Summarize your findings of significance to you about its taxonomy, ecological relationships, behaviors, and impacts and/or interactions from human societies.

á      Possible sources for naturalist tours:

á      Audubon Society — Santa Clara Valley: http://www.scvas.org/

á      Bay Nature: http://www.baynature.com/

á      California Native Plant Society — East Bay Chapter: http://www.ebcnps.org/

á      California Native Plant Society — San Francisco Chapter: http://www.cnps-yerbabuena.org/

á      California Native Plant Society — Santa Clara County Chapter: http://www.stanford.edu/~rawlings/blazcon.htm

á      California Native Plant Society — Santa Cruz County Chapter: http://www.cruzcnps.org/

á      Elkhorn Slough Safari: http://www.elkhornslough.com

á      Golden Gate National Parks: http://www.nps.gov/goga/parknews/

á      Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District: http://www.openspace.org

á      Monterey Bay Whale Watch: http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com

á      Oceanic Expeditions: http://www.oceanic-society.org/pages/wwd.html

á      Pelican Network: http://www.pelicannetwork.net

á      Sanctuary Cruises: http://graywhale.org

á      San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge: http://www.fws.gov/desfbay/

á      Sempervirens Fund: http://www.sempervirens.org

á      Shearwater Journeys: http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com

á      Sierra Club — Loma Prieta Chapter: http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/

á      Sierra Club — San Francisco Bay Chapter: http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/