Stanford Australian Coastal Studies Program

Each year since 2003, the UQ Centre for Marine Studies (CMS) scientists host a 10 week course for the Stanford University in the USA. It is both fun and some of the most educationally rewarding times these student’s will have during their undergraduate university education. The educational agenda is like no other. The course covers over 3000 kilometres of the east Australian coastline, immersing students in some of the most diverse and important coastal ecosystems in the world. These ecosystems, from temperate and wet tropics rainforests and mangroves, seagrass meadows and coral reefs, are some of the most pristine found on the planet. Students learn first hand from the specialists about the challenges of managing such ecosystems under growing human pressures. The objectives of the Australian Coastal Studies program are to provide students with a well-rounded introduction to coastal ecosystems, their biological inhabitants, and the human interactions.

Queensland’s hidden coastline – tidal wetlands and muddy estuaries For three weeks of this course, Dr Norm Duke brings students his mangrove and tidal wetland focus, as part of his Coastal Forest Ecosystems component. He is ably assisted by current and former students who each have become mangrove specialists and ehthusiasts in their own right. It is a great opportunity to share ideas and learn. //////// /////// This ‘hands-on’ field course is for students interested in learning about linkages and relationships between terrestrial and marine coastal habitats. During brief visits to Gladstone and Mackay on the bus north, students learn also about the dramatic and sometimes subtle impacts of human development coupled with natural events as they affect coastal wetland ecosystems. It is an unforgettable experience!

Queensland’s tidal wetlands and mangroves, the ‘groves’, are the wildest and best preserved in the world (BOOK Duke 2006). They are biologically diverse, luxuriant and largely pristine. They comprise more than half the worlds’ mangrove plant species growing in the wettest and driest places from steamy tropical jungles to shivering temperate shorelines. Students learn about tropical mangroves as integral components of the natural habitat continuum from terrestrial catchments (sometimes with dense rainforest) to estuaries and out to the reef. Daintree, the ultimate setting for this predominately field-based component of the course, is the unique region in the centre of Australia’s unique Wet Tropics World Heritage Region (HANDOUT). It is not quite wilderness, but that is what makes it most interesting as students see and learn about the influences of local human impacts on this largely pristine wilderness. /////// /////// /////// Course Alumni 2003 Nov. Diehard Trekkers! 2004 Nov. Zealots! 2006 Feb. Mud Musicians! 2006 Nov. Party Animals!