What are those environmental students running around campus for?
Imagine that it's late summer on the Orillia campus, and you've just finished unpacking most of your belongings in your new bedroom. Eager to explore the university and settle in, you exit the residence building, and walk out into the fading evening light. As you approach the main doors of the academic building, taking in the sleek, glassy exterior that surrounds them, your eyes fall upon the wooden bridges that extend out towards the road. Between these bridges are water features, rife with tall, grassy plants, their deep green bases giving way to distinctly flaxen yellow tops. Interspersed among them, the dark leaves of young, but maturing oak trees whistle gently in the wind, illuminated under the streetlamps. It is a lovely scene, and as you take it in, you notice something rustling amongst the bushes.
Is it an animal? A bird, perhaps?
You lean closer, hoping to see something interesting.
What you find is indeed interesting, but certainly not what you expected.
A student pops up, seemingly out of nowhere, excitedly shouting "I found one!" Instantly, they are joined by two more students, who enthusiastically interrogate the first.
"Which one is it?", one asks, hastily scribbling away on a bright yellow notepad.
"How many are there?", the other asks, crouching down with a magnifying glass in hand.
"How big is it?"
"Can I see it? I want to see it!"
"Did you already get a picture?"
Mildly startled, but intrigued as to what could possibly garner such a lively response from this group, you peer over, only to see… frogs? Are those frogs? Taken aback, you head inside, wondering who those people are, and why they were getting so worked up over a bunch of slimy amphibians.
Those people were (very likely) Environmental Sustainability (ENSU) students partaking in a field school project. Field School I & II are mandatory classes for 3rd and 4th year students of the ENSU HBASc program. I asked veteran Field School I instructor Chase Moser to elaborate on what types of research ENSU students conduct here on campus at the end of the summer.
The Field School I course uses the campus primarily in two ways. The first is for skill-building exercises. Students are able to go outside and use the campus to conduct quick studies to answer certain research questions about local biological communities. Hand-held bug nets, alongside simple, brightly coloured paper plates, have been used to catch or attract various types of insects. These could then be examined up close, using a hand lens or a dissecting microscope, to identify what sorts of species are present, and where. These findings can then be used by students to make informed speculations to answer questions real-world scientists are constantly asking, such as those relating to community composition, distribution of species, and much more.
The second way they make use of the campus is through conducting independent research projects. After getting some valuable, hands-on experience, students are given the opportunity to design their own project and carry out an independent idea to fruition. Some students will choose to conduct this major full-term study using data gathered from campus. An example from this year is that one group chose to look at biodiversity patterns in the Farm Lab and contrast it with naturalized meadow habitats in other parts of the campus.
After two years of theory-based study focusing on topics such as environmental science and philosophy, geography, and biology, students are able to apply their skills in a hands-on, practical way to the upper year field school courses. "The resounding lesson", as Chase puts it, "is that there is a lot to discover if you're out there to look". Simple lessons can be learned from campus that apply to many other local habitats. Last year, Chase recalls having found a family of meadow voles while his class was out looking for insects. "Just a few weeks ago, we found the largest northern leopard frog I've ever seen in my life while exploring the Farm Lab". He considers providing students with both the time and a setting in which they can discover fascinating natural components such as these to be critical to the learning process. "When people are curious and form connections with the plants and animals that exist around them, they gain an appreciation for their surroundings and can become passionate about wanting to understand and protect the environment."
Chase believes that being able to conduct a large portion of these courses on campus is an excellent opportunity, because there are a variety of habitats to work with right outside the classroom. Some are more naturalized, with certain sections analogous to what you would find in dense local woodland settings, such as Copeland Forest. Others have clear human interference, which can serve as an ideal contrast for many types of studies.
For 4th year student Olivia Vaughan, who is currently enrolled in Field School II, the ability to conduct sampling on campus boasts different types of benefits. She considers it "very helpful to be able to study outside on campus". Although she has a vehicle, she knows many students don't, and believes it is an excellent opportunity for those who may have a harder time getting to off-campus, at times remote sites, to be able to conduct research right outside the academic building. Olivia also considers it accessible and convenient to work directly on campus. The field school classes are fast-paced, with essentially all of the data students will work with for the remainder of the term being taken from experiments conducted in the last two weeks of August. Sampling on campus saves time that could have been spent driving to, or hiking through another site. This means that when there may have only been time for five quadrats (a fancy ecology term for movable square plots) at Scout Valley, ten could be analyzed on campus, contributing to the overall dataset and reducing possible bias caused by a small sample size.
"I've learned the value of knowing what your site will look like before you arrive", she says. Dense brush, unexpected deep sections of mud or water, and other various unknown factors can make effectively sampling in a short period of time with limited equipment extremely challenging. Luckily, being on campus so often, Olivia knows exactly where to go to seek out answers for her research questions, what the terrain will be like, and in turn, what she will need to bring.
Olivia's on campus project was to look at morphological differences in dandelion characteristics between mowed and unmowed sites. Her group considered factors such as plant height and leaf diameter when analyzing possible statistically significant differences between the two types of sites. These sorts of studies, while simple, can elucidate crucial, recurring questions in ecology, such as how various types of human disturbance can influence plant growth and dispersion.
Chase wants students to understand that interesting natural findings do not only exist in other places. The Amazon, or Serengeti, as notable examples, are not the only places in the world with dynamic living systems. Recently, Chase and his students noticed an injured insect by one of the buildings on campus. They were able to identify this as a unique, predatory wasp known as an organ pipe mud dauber. These unusual creatures construct nests out of mud, from which they emerge to prey upon spiders. These spiders become paralyzed as a result of their interaction with the wasps, who then bring their catch back to the nest and seal them away until the wasp larvae are ready to feast. Yikes!
With all this in mind, the next time you see some dedicated natural explorers hopping around campus with their odd tools and funny notepads, you may consider stopping by to say hi. Perhaps they've found something fascinating, curious, or gained a new outlook on ecological happenings in our shared backyard.
*Some quotes were edited for clarity.