Marine Biology Laboratory in Hawaii
The Rollins College Biology Department regularly offers Biology 385F,
Marine Biology Laboratory, Central Pacific. This 18 day 
field biology experience is a study of tropical Pacific Ocean ecosystems.
The prerequisite for this laboratory course is Biology 284, a introductiory
lecture course in Marine Biology. Biology 385F is held in Hawaii between
the end of December and the beginning of Spring semester in January. The
class is limited to 12 students.
For most the course we are based at the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Institute
of Marine Biology (HIMB) located on Coconut Island, a small island off the
northeast coast of Oahu. The final three days of this laboratory course are
held on the big island of Hawaii. HIMB consists of several buildings containing
both laboratory and living accommodations. During our stay at HIMB, we will
live on Coconut Island in the housing facilities provided by the lab. The
final week of the course is held in Kona-Kailua on the big island of Hawaii.
The major emphasis of the course is the ecology of tropical marine systems
of the Central Pacific Ocean. After mastering the basic subject matter of
Marine Biology in the Fall Semester, students apply their skills to the study
of Pacific marine ecosystems found in Hawaii. Studies at HIMB consist of comprehensive
in-field ecological survey and analyses of representative tropical marine
ecosystems around the island of Oahu including coral reefs, rocky intertidal,
mangrove communities, and estuarine areas. On the big island of hawaii we
will study the effects of recent volcanic eruptions on marine ecosystems.
We will tour the island and Volcanos National Park to learn more about the
development of the Hawaiian Islands. We will observe the behavior of the
humpback whale population that winters between Hawaii and Maui. We will
snorkel the reef at Kealakekua Bay and perform transect analysis of rocky
intertidal and coral reef ecosystems near Kona.
Two Rollins faculty members lead the course, Dr. Kathryn P. Sutherland
and Dr. Fiona M. Harper. Dr. Sutherland is a coral reef biologist who studies
diseases of corals and specializes in both field monitoring of coral reef
communities to determine change in community structure over time and laboratory
studies of coral pathogens utilizing microbiological and molecular techniques.
Dr. Harper is an evolutionary marine biologist whose research focuses on
the evolution of intertidal marine invertebrates, in particular sea stars
and mussels. She combines studies of morphology, molecular biology, and gamete
interactions to address questions of how speciation occurs in broadcast-spawning
marine invertebrates and how mechanisms of sperm and egg recognition evolve.
Click here to view pictures from the 2003 class