Students interested in tropical biology and evolution traveled to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands this past Intersession. The class of 22 students, which was open to all majors, took place on campus from Jan. 4-5 and in Ecuador from the 6th to the 17th. The class was led by instructors Dr. Greg Ball, Dr. Richard Shingles and Professor Farrah Madison.
The two-week course was split between touring Quito and Coca, two major cities in Ecuador, and hiking in the Amazon and Galapagos. This allowed for the participating students to experience not only the diversity of animals within the habitats of the Galapagos but also to get a taste of the history and culture of Ecuador.
In addition to their time in the Ecuadorian cities, students traveled by boat around the Galapagos Islands and stayed at Sacha Lodge on the Napo River.
Sophomore participant Cara Schulte was particularly impressed by Galapagos’ diversity of animal species.
“We saw penguins, sharks, sea lions, blue footed boobies and marine iguanas,” Schulte said. “It was amazing.”
Students also snorkeled and bird-watched on the islands. They were instructed to pay close attention to the idea of evolution when studying the relationship between the animals and their habitats.
“We focused a lot on how the animals we saw had evolved and adapted to their respective habitats, since the amazon and Galapagos have extremely different climates and thus extremely different wildlife,” sophomore Ellie Kuivila said.
Students were required to keep a field notebook with these kinds of details. The final grade for the class was based off of this notebook, as well as class participation and a final paper due in late January.
Both Schulte and Kuivila thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
“I’m a little obsessed with Darwin and his book, Voyage of the Beagle, which includes his trip to the Galapagos in the 1800s,” Schulte said. “It was absolutely incredible to relive some of the experiences he wrote about in the book.”
“It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience in a truly unique part of the world,” Kuivila added.
