Environment General Courses (ENVIRON)

graduate level, taught in Durham

298.17 Wetland Field Skills
Spring 2004 Overview
Time: Wednesdays 2:00 – 5:00 pm; LSRC Room A211.

Instructors: Dr. James W. Pahl, Instructor
Room A220 LSRC
Phone 613-8007
Email: jimpahl@duke.edu
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00 am - noon

Wyatt Hartman, Teaching Assistant
Room A218 LSRC
Phone 613-8049
Email: whh3@duke.edu

Course Description:

The objective of this course is to introduce the class to basic wetland field skills. These will include the basics of wetland soils, hydrology and vegetation needed to classify, assess and delineate a wetland. The key topics to be covered during this course are listed below. The format of this 3 hr class will be a mix of lecture and fieldwork. The first half of the class will be devoted to introduction and review of important theoretical concepts relating to the topics. The second half of the class will be spent applying the theoretical concepts and knowledge in a field setting. This also implies that students will have to dress appropriately and invest in a field notebook. There will be no required text for this course, however, a suggested reading is indicated below.

1) Tiner, R. W. 1999. Wetland Indicators: A Guide to Wetland Identification, Delineation, Classification, and Mapping. Lewis Publishers, Washington C.C. 392 pp.
2) Mitch, W. J and Gosselink, J.G. 2000. Wetlands. Third Edition. Dover Publications, Inc. New York.

Students will be judged on class participation, problem sets and lab reports. It is expected that, at the end of the semester, students will be able to synthesize the information covered during the semester and apply them toward a final wetland delineation exercise.