Arctic Biology Short Term Course Description:

The main objective of this course is to provide students with the unique opportunity to explore and study life in Arctic. Students will gain January Short Term credit for this course, but will participate in the specified course activities during a 3-4 week period in the summer (mid-June to mid-July). The course will involve a “field trip” to the edge of the Arctic to investigate the ecology of three ecosystems (the tundra, the boreal forest, and the Arctic coastal/marine ecosystem) and the natural history of Hudson Bay and its peoples. We will travel to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada and study at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC), a non-profit research institute located outside the town of Churchill. The CNSC offers shared dormitory-style accommodations, a full cafeteria, laundry facilities, two laboratories, two classrooms, a computer laboratory, a library, a herbarium with representative specimens from the Churchill region, a small museum collection of representative bird and mammal specimens, and a vehicle fleet. About the Churchill Northern Studies Centre

Churchill’s unique location on the western edge of the Hudson Bay makes it an ideal site for study at the southern-most edge of the Arctic tundra, the northern edge of the boreal forest, and the Arctic marine coastline. During the short Arctic summer, life abounds – several thousand beluga whales and small groups of harbor seals enter the Churchill River estuary. Over 100 species of birds either stop-over or breed in the surrounding areas (making Churchill one of the premier birding destinations), wildflowers carpet the tundra and floor of the boreal forest, and wood frogs and boreal chorus frogs breed in the shallow tundra pools (and feed on the abundant flying insects). Arctic and red foxes, short-tailed weasels, Arctic hares, wolves, and caribou roam the tundra and forest edges, and polar bears come ashore from Bay to stage along the coastline until the waters freeze again in the fall. Recent and ongoing research projects based from the CNSC involve climate change, breeding birds (including a long-term study of the breeding colony of Snow Geese at La Perouse Bay), the Aurora Borealis, polar bears, tree-line dynamics, atmospheric physics, paleontology (the world’s largest trilobite was found on the shore of Hudson Bay not far from the CNSC just a few years ago), and archeology.

The Churchill region is also rich in human culture and history. The Cree, Dene, and Inuit are the three native cultures of the region. In the early and mid-1600’s, Europeans began to explore the Hudson Bay, and several historic sites (including Cape Merry, Fort Prince of Wales, and Sloop’s Cove) are in the areas immediately surrounding the town of Churchill.

No roads lead to Churchill. The only way to travel to the area is by train or by plane. We will fly to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then travel via Calm Air (a partner of Canadian Airlines International) or Kivalliq Air to and from Churchill.