Environmental Monitoring and Analysis for Undergraduate Investigative Laboratory Instruction in Environmental Biology

生物系最近修订了其生物学学士学位课程，包括环境生物学的浓度，并纳入实地实习/研究的组成部分。为了支持新的专业方向，本系正在重组其生态学课程，开设新的环境生物学高级课程，包括生物监测和水污染课程。修订后的生态学课程强调采样、数据收集、分析的原则，并在Bridgewater的Carver池塘进行为期6周的调查，使用连续记录的现场水质探头。这个演讲作为当地生态系统动态的背景数据库，学生们用它来研究卡佛池塘内外生物群落的变化模式。生物监测和水污染这门新课程要求高年级学生对当地河流系统中鱼类和大型无脊椎动物群落的压力指标进行为期一个学期的实地和实验室调查。本项目利用新设备支持修订后的生态学课程的研究性本科实验室体验和生物监测课程的生态系统压力调查。支持这些本科生研究经历所需的主要设备包括用于数据采集和图形分析的带有TAOS操作系统的单通道自动分析仪II连续流量自动分析仪，Hydrolab记录环境探测仪以连续监测当地池塘中发生的水质变化，以及用于改进流量测量的多普勒流量计，用于负载计算。

The Biology Department has recently revised its Bachelor of Science degree program in Biology to include a concentration in Environmental Biology and to incorporate a field internship/research component. To support the new concentration, the department is restructuring its course in Ecology developing new upper-level courses in Environmental Biology, including a course on Biomonitoring and Water Pollution. The revised Ecology course emphasizes the principles of sampling, data collection, analysis, and presentation in a 6-week investigation of Carver Pond in Bridgewater using continuous recording field water quality probes. This presentation serves as the background database of the dynamics of a local ecosystem that students use to study patterns of change in biotic communities within and surrounding Carver Pond. The new course in Biomonitoring and Water Pollution involves upper-level students in a semester-long field and laboratory investigation of stress indicators in fish and macroinvertebrate communities of a local river system. This project makes use of new equipment to support the investigative undergraduate laboratory experience in the revised Ecology course and the ecosystem stress investigation in the Biomonitoring course. The major equipment items needed to support these undergraduate research experiences include a single-channel Auto Analyzer II Continuous Flow Autoanalyzer with a TAOS Operating System for data acquisition and graphical analysis, Hydrolab recording environmental sondes to continuously monitor water quality changes occurring in a local pond, and a Doppler flow meter for improved discharge measurements for loading calculations.