Biology 172-A: Special Topic in Biology for Nonscience Majors: The Biology of Mussels and Other Freshwater First Foods

Freshwater mussels and Pacific Lamprey are of conservation interest in the Pacific Northwest for their ecological services like water filtration, contaminant removal and sequestration, and trophic level connections, and are also recognized as First Foods for their significant cultural importance to PNW Tribes. This course will include lectures and discussions in biology and ecology, socio-cultural and political aspects of conservation, and ecosystem services. The course will also cover field research techniques and note-taking, data interpretation and visualization, and science communication. There will be a required 3-day camping field trip as the laboratory component of the course. The trip will be scheduled for the last weekend of September (Sept 27-29). This lab field trip will cover snorkel or wading field surveys to determine freshwater mussel presence/absence, population demographics, and reproductive state assessments. Students will collect data during the field trip to analyze during lecture periods later in the semester.