Environmental and Natural Resources

A course focusing on the structure of the juncture of rivers and oceans, the animals that live there, how they are adapted to the highly variable but not necessarily unpredictable conditions of water depth, direction of movement, salinity, temperature and water chemistry. Estuaries serve also as corridors for the exchange of nutrients, energy and pollutants between inland areas and the ocean. Estuaries and the coastal environment are where most of us live and work and we are the largest single impact on estuarine and coastal ecology. These impacts, how coastal environments are being changed by them, how we measure these changes and what can be done to mitigate these impacts will be examined by students through individual and team projects, debates, and presentations.