CLARK, NJ — Students in Louis Van Bergen’s Marine Biology classes at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark spent Thursday, Oct. 27, at Sandy Hook conducting marine field studies. The students had learned in class and then put their knowledge into practice in the field.
During the field trip, students studied three areas of Sandy Hook: the beach, the dunes and the salt marsh. The students first visited the ocean beach, where they conducted a transect to map the profile of the beach. They did a current experiment and ran tests to determine the water quality.
Next stop was a hike through the dunes. Along the hike, they viewed the native plants in the different areas of the dunes. They were surprised to come across a herd of deer in the maritime forest. The walk back along the beach yielded a multitude of shells.
After a quick stop for lunch, they made their way to the salt marsh. In the salt marsh they once again checked water quality. The highlight of the trip was sampling organisms by seining, which involves dipping netting through the marsh and sieving shovelfuls of sand. The class came back with buckets full of fish, crabs and snails for the tanks in the classroom.
Photos Courtesy of Christine Casale Broski