Paleonet: Announcement: A marine paleoecology field course (7/22–8/30/2013), Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, British Columbia, Canada

[Kowalewski,Michal]

Dear Colleagues,
We are thrilled to announce a new project-driven graduate field course on Paleoecology of Marine Environments (July 22 – August 30, 2013) at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (BMSC) in British Columbia, Canada.  The goal of the class is twofold: first, to expose promising young paleontological researchers to experimental and field ecology, giving these students the opportunity to work with modern organisms and environments; and second, to collect enough data and results to produce publishable research, enabling students to produce additional peer-reviewed papers prior to graduation.
Bamfield is in a spectacularly beautiful setting on the western coast of Vancouver Island and BMSC has excellent facilities.  Most importantly, Bamfield’s remote setting also provides arguably some of the most pristine ecosystems available for study through a marine lab in North America.  For more information on BMSC, location, facilities, classes, registration, and costs, please see: http://www.bms.bc.ca/university.html
Please note that the application deadline is March 1. Applications should be sent to BMSC, through their registration system: http://www.bms.bc.ca/university/apply.html
The course will consist of two weeks of lecture on ecological theory, biostatistics, and project preparation, followed by four weeks of intensive ecological research.  The class is primarily aimed at early-stage graduate students, but we will consider more senior graduate students as well as motivated undergraduates interested in pursuing research careers.  We strongly encourage students to apply for the class.  Also, we are actively seeking external funding in the hopes of defraying student costs.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would forward this message to any students you have that would be potentially interested in taking our class.  Please note that this course will not be offered in 2014.
The 2013 course will focus on four predefined projects. Note that Bamfield, and Canada in general, has strict environmental protection, and consequently, projects have to be designed well in advance of the class, in order to obtain the necessary permits to perform the research this summer.  As an unfortunate consequence, we are not able to allow students to develop their own projects, although opportunities may exist for developing individual subprojects with the framework of the four predefined projects.  The four projects will be conducted by three- or four-person teams. These projects focus on (1) comparative assessment of vulnerability of prey with variable attachment strategies; (2) ecological fidelity of death assemblages; (3) comparison of methods for assessing marine communities; (4) quantification of predation patterns and processes along a depth gradient.
 If you are interested in applying and have any questions, please feel free to contact Lindsey Leighton at: lindseyrleighton at gmail.com<mailto:lindseyrleighton at gmail.com>.
With best regards,
Lindsey Leighton and Michal Kowalewski
Lindsey Leighton
Dept. of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E3

Michal Kowalewski
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32608, USA
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