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A Trek through the Taxa

5/24/2016

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Taxa are the many different groups biologists use to classify living things. Some are large – like Animalia, the animal kingdom – and others are smaller – like Callinectes, the genus to which the Atlantic blue crab belongs.  At Chincoteague Bay Field Station, students can experience all types of organisms from across many different taxa found right here on the Eastern Shore.
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Class: Reptilia

Reptilia is a class of vertebrate animals that lay their eggs on land. Examples include birds, lizards, snakes, and turtles. When trawling along the bottom of Mosquito Creek, students from Titusville Middle School found a diamondback terrapin, the only turtle species in North America that lives in brackish water. Students took turns holding and taking pictures with their new reptilian friend before releasing it back into the water.

Kingdom: Eubacteria

Eubacteria is a domain that contains many varied types of single-celled organisms. Some produce their food through photosynthesis, some consume other organisms, and others are decomposers, which recycle nutrients in an ecosystem. Sam, one of CBFS’ educators, showed a bacterial colony to a group of eighth graders from Allen Middle School during their Maritime Forest trip, where students split up into groups and looked for other types of decomposers in the ecosystem.
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Phylum: Mollusca

The phylum Mollusca is comprised of soft-bodied invertebrates that excrete a hard shell from their mantle. In their live organism lab, students from Danville High School were surprised to find that squids are part of this phylum. One student said, “I had never seen one of those before. The texture of it and the squishiness of it was really odd to hold in real life.”

Informal Division: Angiosperm

Scientists are constantly discovering the way different organisms are related to each other. That means there can be some debate in terms of how to classify types of life. Angiosperms, or flowering plants, were once considered a phylum, but are now just a handy way to categorize plants with flowers. Salt Marsh Cordgrass, which can be found all over the area’s marshes, is a part of this informal classification. (Yes, cordgrass has flowers. They’re just very small!) Students from Green Acres School explored how the grasses turn into peat when they visited Chincoteague’s marsh ecosystem.
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Species: Homo sapiens

However, the H. sapiens species also has a remarkable ability to make connections to other orgasms and each other. Fourth and fifth graders from Evangelical Heights Christian Academy discussed these connections around a campfire on their free night. Of all the organisms that call the Eastern Shore home, humans have the greatest impact and capacity for learning.
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Let's Get Hands On with Marine Biology

5/23/2016

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The Marine Biology course taught by Dr. Wendy Ryan of Kutztown University is one of a kind. The students spend upwards of 70% of their time out in the field gaining practical experience.

The course runs over an intensive 3-week period and these students are taking advantage of those credits! 13 weeks of material into 3 weeks? Time does fly when your having fun!

Students come from across the Mid-Atlantic region from universities including Kutztown, Bloomsburg, Slippery Rock, Shippensburg, Lock Haven, and Wilkes. College courses at CBFS are open to students from all universities. 
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Stop and Smell the Bay

5/19/2016

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​Evangelical Heights Christian Academy

Evangelical Heights is located in the surrounding Greater Pittsburgh Area. The 32 students accompanied with their 29 chaperons experienced a lot at the Field Station and took home a wealth of knowledge!

The students hiked through Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, exploring the maritime forests Wednesday morning and in the afternoon they crossed through the intertidal zone to learn about the changing of the tides and organisms like the periwinkle snail and native grasses. Wednesday night the group reflected on the adventure-filled day by the campfire. To wrap up their experience, morning  was spent learning about barrier island formation on the dunes of Wallops Island. Students had time to collect tokens like whelk shells and five keyhole urchins to remember their trip. 

Do you know the difference?
Sand Dollar vs. Five Keyhole Urchins
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​
<Sand dollar has no holes. 



Five keyhole urchin has exactly that, five holes.>
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We asked Jeff Bogaczyk, Director of ​Evangelical Heights Christian Academy for a little more than three years, what he learned from this trip. Here's what he told us:

“I learned a lot from this trip about the environment, for 40 years you travel through this and now of course having been here for a long time you know about the ponies and stuff and have some historical background. I learned some of the other environmental issues, tree species, and indigenous species. And I got the opportunity to see some things I wouldn’t have by just passing by.”
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​He also mentioned what he thought the students took from the trip. “The students really expanded their horizons and learned about different ecosystems, how they form and how to protect them. The students get hands on and actually get in the water."
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More Photos from the trip!
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Danville Area High School Gets Hands On 

5/17/2016

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Monday morning Danville Area High School accompanied Educator Kirstie and Captain Jimmy aboard the Flatfish Research Vessel to test water quality and collect a variety of marine organisms using an otter trawl. Students learned about the chemistry of water, utilizing instruments including a forel ule, secchi disk, van dorn, and current cross.

As the tide came in during the afternoon, students paid a visit to the intertidal zone.  The class learned about tide trends and forces and intertidal adaptations along the shoreline. They also used the sieve boxes to collect benthic organisms such as marine worms, small crabs, and other small invertebrates.  

To view more photos from Danville Middle School's Trip, visit our Flickr!
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On the left, Casey Donahoe, a Danville High School Junior, makes observations about sand from the bottom of the creek collected using a benthic grab. "The best part of the trip is being able to experience and learn about these different ecosystems and organisms in a hands on environment," said Casey when asked about her favorite part of her 4-day experience at CBFS. ​
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Snails and Blue Crabs and Flounders, Oh my!

5/16/2016

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Students come into contact with a variety of organisms when they experience a lesson on the different intertidal zones.  When exploring the littoral and sublittoral zones, a group of eighth graders from Allen Middle School found a plethora of periwinkle snails, which use vibrations in the water to sense high and low tides. “We’re using vibrations to get the snails to come out of their shells,” said Katie, Maddie, and Skylar as they hummed to the snails in their hands.

Sieve boxes allow students to go even more in depth. While shaking out sediment, many groups found blue crabs, one of which was so large it may have eaten other organisms the students were trying to collect.

Students also use a seine net to catch other animals. A “Godzilla line” of students with interlocked arms, stomping feet, and bellowing screams chase small fish and shrimp into the net. Occasionally, however, they’ll net something larger, like this flounder that was larger than a dinner plate! Of course, it's catch and release here at the Field Station so after the students made observations about the fish it was carefully released back into Tom's Cove.
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Young Scholars Learn the Impact of Marine Debris

5/13/2016

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Dogshead
Student with trash
Bag of marine debris
Today, a group of fifth graders from Young Scholars of Central PA Charter School on one of CBFS's school programs learned the importance of the phrase "leave nothing but footprints." In just one morning, they collected five bags of trash from along the shore of Wallops Island.

According to National Geographic, there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Despite having few visitors,
Wallops Island is littered with marine debris. Students learned that this debris was came to Wallops by ocean currents, which can carry trash for miles creating "trash islands" — large clusters of waste that collect in the ocean. These currents have been known to carry trash from as far away as Texas to the Eastern Shore!

Marine debris can be harmful to all sorts of marine life, including turtles, which mistake plastic bags for jellyfish — their favorite food. The students witnessed the negative effects of this debris firsthand, as they found a dogfish ensnared by fishing line.  Jackie, the CBFS educator for the day, said “This is why we need to get everybody on board, and say ‘Hey guys, let’s clean up after ourselves when we go to the beach. Let’s make sure it gets into the trash or recycling.’”
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  • HOME
  • University & Research
    • SUMMER COURSES >
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      • STUDENT RESEARCH
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  • ROAD SCHOLAR
    • Bicycling the Eastern Shore of Virginia
    • Birding Virginia's Eastern Shore
    • Discover the Islands of Virginia's Eastern Shore
    • Kayaking the Eastern Shore
    • Share a Marine Science Adventure with your Grandchild
  • OTHER PROGRAMS
    • SCHOOL PROGRAMS >
      • GENERAL INFO
      • CLASSES
      • FAQ
      • FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
    • FRIDAY ADVENTURE SERIES >
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