SYLLABUS 2003: BIOLOGY
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

NOTE: The topics indicated on this syllabus are intended but not necessarily guaranteed. Topics covered in any field course are, by necessity, opportunistic. During the 20 years that this course has been conducted, we have encountered Havard oaks, sand dunes, giant sequoias and at least one snake on every trip. On the other hand, we have observed ring-tailed cats during 7 of the trips, at least one bear five different years (one walked through our campground), Gila monsters in the field on only five trips and either more than 25 snakes or all the desert wildflowers in their most bountiful blossoms only once (each in different years).

The fundamental goal of this course is to provide students the opportunity to experience some of the major biomes and communities of the American Southwest. Emphasis will be placed on the physical and floral elements that characterize terrestrial communities, the physical and biotic features of marine intertidal communities, and some general characteristics of a few lentic and lotic (freshwater) systems. Faunal elements are not ignored, but are developed when and if they are encountered. In a typical year, we usually observe or examine a few species of freshwater fishes (and several marine species in the Monterey aquarium), 10-15 species of amphibians, 25-35 species of reptiles, 40-50 species of birds and 20-30 species of mammals.

Two additional course aspirations include an introduction to the landforms and basic geology of the localities visited and brief considerations of native American cultures of the region. The latter includes both prehistoric cultures (Piutes [Owens Valley], Anasazi [Mesa Verde], and Eastern Pueblo [Bandelier NM]) and those with an historic perspective (Chiricahua Apache [Chiricahua Mountains], Navajo [the Navajo Nation].

Finally, instruction or demonstration, although not continuous, is frequent. Anytime, day or night, that a 'discovery' is made, something will usually be said about it. While traveling, limited reviews or brief introductions to topics are often given over CB radio. Your instructor is well aware that every person on the trip deserves adequate and ample opportunities for solitude, study, relief and/or recreation to avoid an over-saturation burnout. It will be provided. A final caution: almost, but not all, of the topics below refer to reality; a few are fantasy. It makes the trip interesting!

SUN May 11
FT. WORTH,TX
Prairies and Cross Timbers
Common spring flora (brief stop)
Basic Rock Types (CB mini-lecture)
Geologic Time (CB mini-lecture)
Rattlesnake roundups (CB mini-lecture)
Synclines: Central Texas Cretaceous and Pennsylvanian systems
The Permian Basin
Petroleum Geology (Midland: Permian Basin Museum)
Reconstruction of a Permian Reef (Museum)
Permian Marine Paleoecology
Water and vegetation: the sizes of mesquites and creosote bushes
MONAHANS SANDHILLS
Dune flora and fauna (Nature walk)
Geology of the Monahans Sandhills (READING AVAILABLE)
Sandhills fauna (around the campfire)

MONDAY May 12
MONAHANS SANDHILLS, TEXAS
Wickett Trees
Creosote bushes (Larrea tridentata) revisited
Introduction to the Four American deserts (CB mini-lecture)
Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mohave and Great Basin
Evidence of overgrazing?
A brief visit to the bottom of Carlsbad Caverns
The Sacramento Mountains and Lincoln National Forest
The Tula Rosa Basin - A Horst-Graben System
Introduction to Conifers - pines, firs and Pseudotsuga menziesii
Descending the horst (yee hawww), the tunnel and Mormon tea
OLIVER LEE STATE PARK: A slice of the Chihuahun desert

TUESDAY May 13
The geology of gypsum: White Sands National Monument
Visitor Center orientation
Cryptic coloration
A walk in the dunes and four-wing salt bush
Ascending the horst and alluvial fans
The Rio Grande at Las Cruces
Cinder cones on the horizon
Short-grass prairie at the Continental Divide
Bolson, playa and a drive across one
Chochise's legend and head
Walnuts, Pistachio nuts, and Bowie, Arizona
The Wilcox playa: a dry lake that sometimes floods a city
Spring rains, snakes on the road and very large kangaroo rats, keystone species
CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
Night visitors: ring-tails, whip-or-wills, and a sometimes bear

WEDNESDAY May 14
CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA
Bird-watching in desert riparian woodlands
Foraging strategies
Gypsum seams in a fossil lake
A hike down from Masai Point, including:
Basic Geology of Chiricahua
Pyroclastics, welded tuffs and the Chiricahua rhyolites
Weathering and tower formation
Certain fauna: spiny lizards, cactus wrens
Sometimes fauna: Rattlesnakes, horned lizards and rachet owls
Certain flora: (Save a page or two for this one)
Gymnosperms: Pines, cypresses, junipers and kin
Bear grass: a misnomer
Pine drops: a saprophyte
Oaks and oaks and more oaks

ON TO TUCSON
Search for the first Saguaro
Palo Verde - the state tree of Arizona
SONORAN DESERT, ARIZONA
An afternoon walk through the desert
Life and death of the Saguaro
Nursery trees
Cactus wood
Oil from the jojoba
Acacias: catclaw and others
Opuntia, Cylindropuntia, Ferrocactus and other spiny things
A desert dry wash
Blacklighting for scorpions (if Britton remembers to bring the light)
GILBERT RAY CAMPGROUND

THURSDAY May 15
ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM, ARIZONA
Convergent evolution: Cacti (New World) and euphorbs (Old World)
Desert fauna: up-close and personal
Hummingbird exhibit and main aviary
Other topics
Behind-the-scenes tour at the Desert Museum
TUCSON TO JOSHUA TREE
Saguaro National Monument
Gila River floodplain: the flood of 1993
Colorado River basin - Harsh Sonoran-Mohave transitions
Smoke trees and ironwood
The Colorado: A controlled river (sometimes)
California canals
Desert Bighorns (rare encounters?)
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL MON (COTTONWOOD SPRINGS CAMPGROUND), CA
Moth pollinators at Cottonwood Springs
Snakewatch I - observe if encountered, but do not touch or handle
Night stalkers in the desert: a stroll to Cottonwood Springs

FRIDAY May 16 A very full day, today!
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL MONUMENT, CA
Plutons, Batholiths and Intrusive Igneous Rocks
Faults
Ecology of hot-desert vegetation
Indicator plants - Princes' Plume
Oasis Ecology (Cottonwood Springs)
Low-desert ecology (Smoketree Wash)
Large lizards
Cholla Gardens (a unique strategy for vegetative dispersal)
High-desert ecology - Joshua Tree Community
Metamorphic Rocks - Gneiss
The San Andreas Fault from a high desert overlook
Snakewatch II - observe if encountered, but don't touch or handle
Visitor Center Stop
Edwards Air Force Base and desert playas
MOUNTAINVIEW RV PARK AT TEHACHAPI PASS

SATURDAY May 17

MOUNTAINVIEW RV PARK
Sailplane rides (Not part of the course: voluntary)
Oak savannahs
Alternative energy sources: fields of windmills
Southern Central Valley
California chaparral and foothills communities
Rocky Shore at Los Osos: Causes of Zonation
An experiment in predator avoidance (tides permitting)
PISMO STATE PARK, CA
Morro Bay Tidal estuary: An example of soft shores
The ecology of coastal resort communities

SUNDAY May 18
MORRO BAY AND MORRO ROCK, CA
A sandy beach community near Morro Rock
A visit to the Museum and rookery at Morro Bay
Peanut butter and graham crackers: Exotic terrains along Big Sur
Wash clothes
PFEIFFER BIG SUR STATE PARK, CA

MONDAY May 19
PFEIFFER BIG SUR STATE PARK, CA
Ecology of a Coastal Redwood Forest
Acorn Woodpeckers, Banana Slugs and the elusive newts
POINT LOBOS, CA
Kelp forests, sea otters, harbor seals and ground squirrels
An exposed Rocky Shore and a fossil stream bed
Ecology of a cypress grove (time permitting)
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM, CA
Many exhibits, but focus especially on:
Kelp forest
Community dioramas of other subtidal Monterey Bay habitats
SUNSET BEACH STATE PARK, CA

TUESDAY May 20
SUNSET BEACH STATE PARK, CALIFORNIA
Ecology of a freshwater coastal marsh (cattails, red-winged blackbirds)
Ecology of an exposed sandy beach; special herp (maybe)
California earthquakes: lateral faults, ground creep and other topics
San Luis Reservoir: water for central valley agriculture
Central valley farmlands revisited
Foothills communities revisited (NOTE: upon ascent into Sierra Nevada,
students are strongly urged not to attempt to read in the vehicles.
Winding roads and reading often induce car sickness. You will be provided uninterrupted
time for study upon arrival at Giant Forest.)
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK (GRANTS GROVE), CA
Except for dinner, there will be no mandatory group activities upon arrival

WEDNESDAY May 21
EXAM 1: Approximately 8:30 A.M.
1:00 p.m. HIKE IN THE GIANT FOREST (by the TCU zombies)
Giant Redwood (Sequoia) ecology
Associated conifers and vegetation
Meadow ecology
Maybe a bear (they have been seen on this hike)
Douglas squirrels, Steller's jays, Clark's nutcracker, Brewer's Blackbirds
GRANTS GROVE

THURSDAY May 22
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, CA
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (unlikely due to heavy snowfall on Tioga Pass)
No specific agenda will be provided today, due to the uncertainty of route.
Alternative agendas will be discussed the morning of departure, depending upon the direction we must take.
MAMMOTH LAKES (NATL FOREST CAMPGROUND)
A brief discussion of the Mammoth Lakes caldera and the tectonic history of this region will be given around the campfire.

FRIDAY May 23
MAMMOTH LAKES CAMPGROUND, CALIFORNIA
The plight of Mono Lake and California Gulls (time permitting)
FISH SLOUGH AND PIUTE PICTOGRAPHS
Introduction to Great Basin Desert ecology
Piute Indian petroglyphs, zebra-tailed lizards and other reptiles
BRISTLECONE PINE FOREST, CA (if accessible)
Soil types and dendrochronology
Great Basin to Mojave transitions
Joshua trees revisited
Pinyon-juniper woodlands
DEATH VALLEY (either MESQUITE SPRINGS or FURNACE CREEK), CA
Grabens and horsts: double faulting
Sand dunes (time permitting)

SATURDAY May 24
DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
Bolsons and playas revisited
Pluvial conditions in the Death Valley basin
The pupfishes of Salt Creek
A possible fate of Death Valley
Hot-desert vegetation ecology
Devil's Golf course (time permitting)
Bad Water: lowest point in the contiguous United States; brine water biota
Artists palate drive
TOWARD LAS VEGAS AND BEYOND
Basin and range topography; desert pavement; more Joshua Trees
Geologic Perspective on the Colorado Plateau
The Virgin River Gorge: Ascending the Colorado Plateau
ZION CANYON CAMPGROUND SPRINGDALE, UTAH

SUNDAY May 25
ZION NATIONAL PARK
Navaho Sandstone: The Great Mesozoic desert
Waterfalls, desert varnish and characteristic slope vegetation
Virgin River Narrows Trail: marsh, hanging gardens, riparian woodlands and dippers

ZION NATIONAL PARK, UTAH
Parthenogenesis
Effects of wind: arches and checkerboard mesa
Mesozoic stratigraphy III: aeolean dunes (Navaho Sandstone) to marine carbonates (Carmel Formation)
BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK
The Grand Staircase
John Wesley Powell and the Grand Canyon Expedition

MONDAY May 26
BRYCE CANYON MORNING HIKE
NORTH RIM, GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA
John Wesley Powell and the Grand Canyon Expedition
Abert squirrels
Kaibab mule deer populations
Origins of the canyon
Canyon stratigraphy observable from the North Rim

TUESDAY May 27
NORTH RIM AND CAPE ROYAL, GRAND CANYON
Local travel
Pinyon-Juniper community vegetation
Cape Royal canyon stratigraphy
2ND NIGHT AT THE NORTH RIM

WEDNESDAY May 28
JACOBS LAKE - FORESTRY SERVICE VISITORS CENTER
MARBLE CANYON (overlook stop, construction permitting)
Limestone and sandstone, but no marble in sight
Water flow through the canyon: control and consequences
GLEN CANYON DAM, UTAH
Consequences of impoundment: the Dam and Canyon ecology
Large lake fishes
Hydroelectric power
NAVAJO RESERVATION
A brief primer on Navaho culture
Origins - nomadic hunter-gatherers
Brief History (1600's-1900's)
Shepherds and weavers
Dwellings, Superstitions
MESA VERDE NATL PARK, COLORADO
A brief primer on the Anasazi
Meaning of Anasazi
An agriculture-based culture
Basketmakers and Modified Basketmakers
Early Pueblo Period
Great Pueblo Period
Abandonment
Environmental Consequences

THURSDAY May 29
MESA VERDE
BALCONY HOUSE
SUN TEMPLE
CLIFF PALACE
MUSEUM AND SPRUCE TREE HOUSE
DURANGO LODGING

FRIDAY May 30
DURANGO, COLORADO
Exam 2 (about 8:30 a.m.)
Durango
Prairie dogs and beaver dams
BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT, NM

SATURDAY May 31
BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT, NM
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
Shopping stop
LUBBOCK, TEXAS

SUNDAY June1
LUBBOCK to FORT WORTH