Fieldwork

First-year fieldwork: visit Cape Conran Coastal Park

In your first year you’ll visit Cape Conran Coastal Park for four days.

Here, you’ll learn about parks management issues and wildlife conservation in a 12,000 hectare coastal reserve. It’s a great hands-on experience where you’ll:

• learn how to handle small mammals, including bandicoots, potoroos, possums, gliders, antechinus and native rats. We'll also help you with correctly identifying, sexing and micro-chipping these animals
• come to understand useful techniques, like radio-tracking, camera trapping and bird surveys
• undertake GPS and GIS exercises.

_{The Cape Conran visit in SLE114 is course restricted to S393 (core unit).}

Second-year fieldwork: getaway to the Grampians

In your second year, you'll visit the Grampians, known for its striking series of sandstone mountain ranges, to carry out experiments that you’ve designed.

We’ll teach you:

• the necessary skills to design and implement experiments
• ways to analyse research data
• how to work well in a team
• effective ways to manage a team.

_{The Grampians getaway in SLE226 is a core unit for both S393 and S398.}

Third-year fieldwork: take a trip to Great Otways National Park

In your final year you’ll visit Great Otways National Park for six days to design and implement a large-scale wildlife survey in some of the best rainforest scenery in southern Australia.

This will include things like:

• small mammal trapping
• spot light surveys
• owl surveys
• koala surveys.

Marine biology students

Over the first-, second- and third-year fieldwork, students will:

• Study a broad range of marine environments, including visiting coastal rocky shores, mangroves and salt marshes, estuaries, the surf beach and open shallow sea.
• Jump aboard Deakin's research and teaching boats to investigate how to measure the physical and chemical characteristics of the marine environment, and to identify the rich diversity of animals and plants living in coastal sea habitats.
• Use scientific tools and methods to practice measurement and monitoring of sustainability of the marine and coastal resources.

Throughout your course, you'll travel to one or more of the following places:

• Community environment parks and sustainability centres, where you'll learn about sustainable communities, community gardening and green technologies.
• Urban parks, where you'll learn how to conduct vegetation surveys, analyse water quality, map soils and microclimate, and analyse groundwater pollution.
• Western Victoria, where you'll go on a cultural heritage tour with traditional owners of the land.
• Businesses across Victoria and further afield, where you'll analyse waste management programs and develop waste management strategies and environmental improvement programs and also develop environmental policies and project plans.
• The Australian coast, where you'll explore coastal development and develop skills in land use planning and environmental impact assessment.
• National parks, where you'll learn about scientific research, data analysis and teamwork.
• The Central Highlands, to examine the effects of fire on plant and animal communities

• Victoria's rivers, where you'll measure river health and observe management actions.
• Urban water management facilities, where you'll explore management options for storm water and waste water.

Our course focuses on Australia’s amazing animals. You’ll study units that help you understand animal anatomy, physiology, behaviour, disease processes, evolution and adaptation as well as human impacts on animals and their ecosystems. Our classroom and laboratory learning environments are combined with off-campus excursions and field trips, helping you connect theory and real world practice.

Day-long or multi-day overnight field trips take place in second and third year level units. These field based learning experiences not only offer you exposure to varied Victorian environments from coastal forests through to desert ecosystems, but also opportunities to see and handle native animals. For some field trips, you’ll work alongside local conservation organisations, which provides a unique opportunity to assist conservation management and develop professional experience.

Key to learning objectives on field trips is that you’ll learn important skills including research design, survey techniques, animal observation, trapping and handling, measuring environmental variables, habitat assessment and the use of various equipment and instruments.  By studying Zoology and Animal Science, you’ll gain a hands on and real world experience, and the knowledge and skills essential for the work environment.