Wallops Island Ecology Trip

On the weekend of April 3 through April 5, our Mountain Vista Governor’s School Senior Ecology class took a trip to the Wallops Island Chincoteague Bay Field Station. On this trip, the class had the opportunity to travel to different ecosystems (maritime forest, marsh, intertidal, dunes) to study how these ecosystems function on the barrier island. 

Our class froze during a night-hike where we examined adaptations of organisms living in the maritime forests. We swam chin-deep in pits of mud while exploring the marsh ecosystem. We waded into the sublittoral zones of the barrier island to study biodiversity and explore sample collection techniques. We traveled to the beach to learn how sand dunes form as a result of ecological succession (and how to build a mature dune with vegetation) in addition to identifying mollusks by their beached shells. And finally, we had the opportunity to test water quality at various locations and depths of the Chincoteague Bay on a boating excursion (we caught tiny crabs and seahorses in our ottertrough!). 

This was an especially wonderful experience not only because it was hands-on and fully dependent on our participation, but also because we learned sample collections techniques used by professionals and had the opportunity to experience what a career in ecological education and preservation might look like. This trip has certainly inspired me to pursue a further education in environmental sustainability. Next year at William & Mary, hopefully I will have the chance to learn even more about semi-aquatic landscapes at Lake Matoaka in Williamsburg.