Nature's destruction becomes class topic for Purdue University Fort Wayne students

Immeasurable devastation at a southwest Allen County park planted an idea at Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Soon after the June 2022 derecho, colleagues Scott Bergeson and Jordan Marshall began discussing the possibility of creating a class focused on the destruction and recovery at Fox Island County Park.

The idea sprouted this semester in the form of a graduate-level course on disturbance ecology that also includes undergraduate students. Along with lectures and field trips to nature preserves throughout northeast Indiana, the class features a term project asking students to create a management plan for Fox Island, said Bergeson, an assistant professor of biology.

The class will study about 40 acres within the 270 acres dedicated as a state nature preserve. Students will learn techniques for conducting research on small mammals, plants, amphibians and arthropods, such as insects and spiders.

Read the story in The Journal Gazette.