Research Topics

Student Presentations

Students will develop and share, via Powerpoint presentation, special knowledge on topics such as:

• The geological origins of Baja California
• Biogeography of Baja's flora and fauna
• The indiginous people Baja
• Baja's Mission Period - culture and development
  
• Common plants of southern Baja, e.g., cacti, figs, legume trees, etc.
• Major pollination guilds of Baja California, e.g., bats, hummingbirds, hawkmoths, solitary bees, etc.
  
• Common terrestrial vertebrates, e.g., birds, mammals, herps
• Terrestrial invertebrates, e.g., insects, arachnids, scorpions, etc.
  
• Inter-tidal invertebrates - non-molluscs
• Inter-tidal invertebrates - molluscs
  
• Fog deserts of Baja's Pacific coast - unusual organisms (e.g., lichens) and their environmental adaptations
• Human impacts on Baja terrestrial environments, e.g., fire management, livestock grazing, development, etc.
• Human impacts on the Sea of Cortéz, e.g., resulting from shrimp trawling, over fishing, harvesting of sea turtles and their eggs, diversion of the Colorado River, etc.
  
• Insect associations with plant resins
• Biology of desert figs and their pollinating and non-pollinating fig wasps
• Desert physiology - plant and animal adaptations
  
• A "survival guide" for deserts
• Biography of John Steinbeck
  

Further details on student presentations can be found on the Course Schedule page under Week 1. Note, in particular, that topic selection and scheduling of presentations is on a first come first served basis, and that each presentation is to be accompanied by a class reading assignment

Student generated "field guides"

• Each student will format their Powerpoint presentation so as to constitute a mini "field guide" on their selected topic
  
• To better share knowledge with the class as a whole, these field guides will be organized into a course field guide, which will be posted on the course web site
  
• Each student will also receive a printed copy of this field guide for reference during the Baja field trip