Hit the beach: Summer courses give students the chance to study marine ecosystems

When it comes to learning opportunities, some of the most life-changing are hands-on. In this case, those hands held a kayak paddle or pulled in trawling nets from the bay and gently handled crabs, fish and other marine life.

This summer was the first since Binghamton University became a member institute of the Chincoteague Field Station on the Virginia coast, giving students an opportunity to explore coastal environments and ecosystems that they otherwise may not have. A nonprofit organization, the station is located on Wallops Island with access to the Chincoteague Island National Wildlife Refuge, famous for its wild ponies, and other parts of coastal Virginia. Member universities send faculty and students both to teach and take marine science courses there every summer.

Six Binghamton students took courses at Chincoteague over the summer, according to Biological Sciences Lecturer Christopher Smyth. They lived on the field station campus together during that time, completely immersing themselves in their courses for three weeks.

Some, such as Mary Regelski and Andre Wigley, had already established an interest in marine-related topics.

Wigley, a biological sciences major, is staying at Binghamton for an extra semester to complete more marine sciences courses in advance of graduate school — part of the reason he opted for two consecutive classes at Chincoteague in invertebrate zoology and marine ecology.

“You would learn about a group of organisms and then you would go out into the field, collect them and look at them in class, which is really cool,” he said. “You have access to the lab for the entire duration.”

Wigley is interested in malacology, the study of mollusks, and has been collecting shells since a third-grade visit to Florida’s Sanibel Island. He plans on pursuing this field in graduate school, he said.

Regelski, a junior majoring in biological sciences and environmental science, wasn’t sure about her future career trajectory when she enrolled in Chincoteague’s marine ecology course. Her perspectives began to shift during her time in the field, kayaking through the marsh and trawling and seining for wildlife in the bay.

“It puts you right in the field,” Regelski said. “I have always loved marine sciences and marine life, but you can’t really get that firsthand experience in Binghamton. This experience solidified the fact that this is definitely something I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Hailey Jurenko and Nicole Luparello, both senior biological sciences majors, ended up in the same class in conversation biology. They didn’t consider themselves future marine biologists —Luparello is on the physical therapy track — but saw the summer course as a chance to further explore a fascinating field.

“The best part of the course was 100% getting to go out into the field each day. It could get hot and buggy at times, but I got to learn various techniques to measure population densities and biodiversity, and then how to analyze that data,” Jurenko said. “The course changed my perspective in terms of human impact on our climate, and how much cooperation between people of all different careers it takes to conserve biodiversity and help wildlife.”

Small class sizes allowed students to forge connections and help each other out on assignments, Luparello said. That support was crucial, given the intensity of the short-term classes; time was spent largely in the field, the lab or the classroom, although there were opportunities to explore the area as well. Jurenko and Luparello hit the beach with the Frisbee on occasion.

While Luparello still plans on a career in physical therapy, she could see herself someday volunteering for organizations engaged in conservation biology, she said.

“I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time,” Wigley noted. “It’s incredible how much knowledge was pumped into my head.”