WOODROW WILSON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE INSTITUTE RUTGERS 1998

OBJECTIVE

What effect will sea-level rise have on natural shoreline communities?

RESEARCH PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The focus of this web site is on the ecology of shoreline communities and how they will be effected by sea-level rise. Ecology is the study of relationships among plants and animals and their environment, which includes all living and non-living things that influence organisms.  Within any major environment there are many different habitats where plants and animals live. Shoreline habitats include sandy beaches, sand dunes, maritime forests, salt marshes/estuaries, tidal flats and man-made structures such as jetties and pilings projecting from the shorelines.

Plate tectonic forces have had immense influence on the margins of continents, and the edges of the United States are no exception.  The results of plate movement on the West Coast differs greatly from those on the East and Gulf Coasts, primarily because the West Coast is near an active plate margin while the East and Gulf Coast are not.  This group decided to take a look at four different areas for their study: East Coast, West Coast, Great Lakes and the Island of St. Croix.

You will find a variety of activities for your students:  hands-on-classroom activities,  web site searches, journal writing activities, virtual field trips,  and actual data collection field studies.  We have included original work,  ideas and lessons shared with us by other teachers at our institute as well as giving you web-sites with lessons we discovered in our internet research.

MISSION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL INSTITUTE

INFORMATION ON MENTORS

Robert Ford, Ph.D.

Norbert Psuty, Ph.D.:

NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS

RESOURCES

People:

John Sacco (ES Institute Technical Director)
Paul Burchard (Woodrow Wilson Web Architect)
Avani Patel, Stacey Sita & Free Walker (Computer Assistants)

Web sites:

Bob Ford's Resource List (WWNFF 1998 ES Rutgers - Home page)
National Estuary Program
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NERR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
http://www.woodrow.org/

The National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/

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Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Environmental Science lpt@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
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