The
Marine Science Consortium is a nonprofit educational corporation comprised of
regional universities and colleges. The Consortium is dedicated to promoting
teaching and research in the marine sciences. The corporation maintains marine
stations where both field and laboratory investigations of coastal ecosystems
are conducted under the supervision of university faculty and qualified marine
education instructors.
The
Consortium is ideally located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia between the
Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Nearby barrier islands are biologically
diverse and geologically dynamic. Many of the islands and marshes remain
undeveloped and area waters have sustained fishing, crabbing, and oystering for
generations. Additional resources within the area include Chincoteague National
Wildlife Refuge, Assateague National Seashore, and NASA Wallops Island Flight
Facility.
During
our stay we will be take advantage of the corporation’s 40 foot platform-type
monitor vessel used in the tidal creeks and back bay areas for trawling and
sampling. For offshore work, the Consortium owns and operates a 50 foot
research vessel. The Wallops Island facility will also provide us with a
laboratory classroom with microscopes and salt-water aquaria, dormitory
housing, cafeteria, recreation areas, marine science library, and a nature
trail. The Consortium’s oceanographic field equipment and environmental
collecting and monitoring instruments, as well their instructional staff is
also available.
The
Marine Science Consortium is also home to a variety of marine research
opportunities including The MSC Coastal Dolphin Survey project which was
initiated in 1997 as a partial response to the National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) recognition that the status of the coastal migratory stock of
the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (MBD), Tursiops
truncatus, was depleted. To learn more about the Marine Science
Consortium (MSC) at Wallops Island click here.
Sampling efforts off the Virginia coastline yield a large clear-nose skate.
Students collect data on the distribution of organisms inhabiting salt marshes.
Water sampling off the coast of Virginia provides data to compare with other
sites.
Students conduct vertical water column profiles for light, salinity, temperature
and dissolved oxygen.
Time out for a journal entry during a beach walk on Assateague Island.