West Virginia University students now have the opportunity to take a number of summer courses at the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecologys (PLE) field research station in Pennsylvania.

The PLE is affiliated with the University of Pittsburghs Department of Biological Sciences, and is located on the shores of the Pymatuning Reservoir, 90 miles north of Pittsburgh and 40 miles south of Lake Erie.

The area was shaped by the action of the glaciers that covered the region more than 14,000 years ago. As the last ice melted away, a rolling terrain dotted with dozens of lakes was revealed. Gradually, a swamp forest developed, rich in wetlands and home to abundant wild animal and plant life. The name is taken from an Indian term translated as”the crooked-mouthed man’s dwelling place.”

WVU and the Pymatuning Consortium are partnering to offer University students the opportunity to take any of the 11 summer courses offered at the field station for the price of tuition at WVU plus any special transportation fees, lodging and food.

The lab and teaching facilities are located within an 11,000-acre Wildlife Sanctuary and Propagation area owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition, Pymatuning owns tracts of forest, successional field and wetland along Linesville Creek in the Pymatuning watershed, and another tract of successional meadow designated for experimental plantings and manipulations, a few miles from the laboratory site. An old-growth forest preserve of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy also is managed by the Lab. All these sites are available for research.

Interested WVU students can enroll in the following PLE courses:

Session 1 (May 14 to June 1)

• Ecology&Lab (Tony BledsoeUniversity of Pittsburgh)

• Wetland Ecology&Management (Jim AndersonWest Virginia University)

• Forest Ecology (Walter CarsonUniversity of Pittsburgh)

Session 2 (June 422)

• Ecology&Lab (Rick RelyeaUniversity of Pittsburgh)

• Behavioral Ecology (Nina ThumserEdinboro University)

• Field Entomology (Biosc 1340) (Randy LayneSlippery Rock University)

Session 3 (June 25 to July 13)

• Limnology (Andy TurnerClarion University)

• Mammalogy (Morty OrtegaUniversity of Connecticut)

• Ecology of the Pymatuning Region (Biosc 800; non-majors) (Instructor: TBA )

Session 4 (July 16 to Aug 3)

• Stream Ecology (Bruce DicksonConfluence Ecological)

• Field Botany (Ralph ThompsonBerea College)

For more information on the courses, contact Jim Anderson, associate professor of wildlife and fisheries resources in the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, 304-293-2941, ext. 2445 or wetland@wvu.edu