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Spring Break Field Trip to
San Salvador Island, Bahamas
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Eight students in Connie Soja's Seminar on Reefs (Geology 426) spent spring break in the Bahamas
with Connie and her husband, Brian White (Smith College), exploring Pleistocene and modern reefs
on San Salvador Island. Students focused on identifying coral, algal, and fish communities to
determine guilds and diversity trends in nearshore and offshore reefs. Underwater cameras and
slates facilitated data collection and recording, including recognition of the widespread
decline of the staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) in the Bahamas and Caribbean. Exciting
encounters with Great Barracudas, turtles, spotted rays, parrotfish, and a diversity of
scleractinian corals (remember from Paleo class??) made the trip a wonderful educational
exercise! Thanks to Colgate and the Geology Department for funds that subsidized the costs
of this trip.
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To view pictures from the trip click here ->
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