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| Our group (and a reed beech tree) enjoying a day of class on the Inland Pack Track. |
We wrapped up our NZ Ecosystems course with Terrestrial Ecology and Terrestrial Research, spending two weeks on NZ's West Coast and in Arthur's Pass. Professor Dr. Foster from Messiah College spent week one with us. Together he helped us accomplish the task of what he calls "breaking down the green wall" so that the forest is no longer a mass of green vegetation, but rather a collection of individuals we've been able to become acquainted with and call by name. And with fun names like
kawakawa,
kahikatea, and
kamahi, who could resist?
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| Week one of our West Coast trip with Dr. Foster. |
We visited a number of beautiful places during the course of week one. The Nikau palm-dotted landscape of Punakaiki, accompanied by the famous "Pancake Rocks" is a favorite of mine. We encountered more birds on the Inland Pack Track than we have with any other group! There were weka, bellbirds, tomtits, silvereyes, brown creepers, fantails (including a rare black phase fantail), gray warblers, and a friendly NZ robin that stuck with our group for 15 minutes or so. Fox Glacier offered fantastic icy turquoise sights and an opportunity to see how glacial activity has dramatically shaped the landscape of NZ. From there we went to stay at the
marae at Bruce Bay, which you can always rely on to have beautiful sunsets. We also saw Hector's dolphins from the beach! At Lake Matheson we were treated with heaps of brilliant blue mushrooms and gorgeous reflections of the mountains in the lake. Chad, one of our students from Bethel University and honorary entomologist of the semester, also discovered a really neat stick insect. We ended the week with a field identification exam and a bonfire on the beach.
For part two of the trip, we stayed in Arthur's Pass. Our research professor was Iggy Menzies who recently completed a doctoral study at Victoria University in Wellington. His enthusiasm for caterpillars, scientific exploration, and sharing his passions with the students made the week a success. The students, divided into 4 groups, designed and carried out field research on a topic of their choosing. Their studies ranged from leaf-boring caterpillars, to epiphyte diversity and cover, to mushroom diversity. Despite the rainy weather, the students all ventured out into the field to collect their data over the course of two days. One of the benefits of being in Arthur's Pass is that there are a few locations you can encounter the occasional blue duck, an endangered species. Seven of us were able to see one on a popular hike to a waterfall in the area.
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| Research Week in Arthur's Pass. Top Right: Blue duck seen at Devil's Punchbowl |
It has been such a joy to see the students learn the names of the living things around them and become inspired to apply the skills they've acquired through the course to the forests back home. It makes such a difference to be able to walk through the forest and see and name individual species rather than becoming enveloped by the green wall. I hope that in our swift-approaching return back to the USA, we all would be able to develop a greater sense of home by becoming familiar with trees, birds, shrubs, frogs, and butterflies we share it with.
-Kristen Listor, Student Life Coordinator
