COURSE INFORMATION:

Students are enrolled in 4 credits of BIOL 341: General Ecology (Lecture and Lab)


PROGRAM INFORMATION:

This combined lecture and lab course in Ecology is a Biology core course and is required for Marine Biology majors. The lecture portion of the course will focus on fundamental ecological concepts and terminology. The main incentive for the study abroad is to offer the lab in a tropical setting. The format of the lab consists of natural history labs, independent research , and class field experiments. A wide variety of habitats will be examined including coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass meadows, wet and dry caves, tropical rain forest, and cloud forest.

Field work will require hiking in extreme high heat and humidity, and snorkeling.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS:

-Students must have an overall GPA of 2.5
-Students must already possess a valid passport, or be able to obtain a valid passport

PROGRAM DIRECTOR:

Dr. Craig Plante
Department of Biology
plantec@cofc.edu
843-953-9187

Dr. Plante is a tenured professor at the College of Charleston in the Biology Department. He has taught General Ecology (and lab) for 20 years. He also has taught Introductory Biology, Oceanography, and Environmental Studies to CofC undergraduates. He also directs the Graduate Program in Marine Biology and has taugh graduate classes at CofC, including Marine Ecology, Benthic Ecology and various seminar courses. His research focus is microbial ecology. Dr. Plante has directed this program to Panama the past several summers.

Note: For questions regarding on-site program details and course content, please contact Dr. Plante. Any inquiries regarding application processing, billing, or scholarship opportunities can be directed to the Center for International Education (contact information listed above).

*A minimum number of participants is required for all study abroad programs to run