Center for Conservation of Marine Megafauna

Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals of the Adriatic

Croatia
Semester
15 Weeks
18 Credits
Fall 2024
Sep 2 - Dec 11
In the Field
Spring 2025
Feb 17 - May 28
Closed
Program Costs
  • Tuition$22,250
  • Room & Board$7,250
  • Total$29,500
Application Deadlines
Fall 2024
May 1, 2024
Spring 2025
November 1, 2024
Semester Program

Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals of the Adriatic

Veli Lošinj,
Croatia

Hosting rich biodiversity, diverse habitat types and cultural heritage sites, yet exposed to numerous human uses, the Croatian coast, islands, and sea are important from a Mediterranean perspective. This region is a great “natural laboratory” for studying and tackling the two interrelated conservation challenges of this age – biodiversity loss and climate change. Through lectures, seminars, group work in the field and in the lab, study visits, and community engagement, you will learn about challenges and opportunities to reconcile marine megafauna conservation with socio-economic demands and local traditions. You will explore dolphin and turtle conservation challenges, and their linkages to small island communities, large scale tourism, coastal and open sea habitats, local and industrial-scale fisheries, and other community and economic contexts. Thus, the knowledge and experience gained here is broadly applicable to other regions and contexts.

Program highlights:

  • Join the Adriatic Dolphin Project, one of the longest running dolphin research projects in the world, on the water to study bottlenose dolphin populations and conservation
  • Work alongside animal care and rehabilitation experts at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center, gaining hands-on experience with husbandry and veterinary skills
  • Visit the Brijuni National Park to learn about the challenges of balancing conservation management with growing tourism
  • Trek through ancient olive groves on the islands of Cres and Lošinj, while learning about endemic Mediterranean flora and their traditional uses
  • Conduct a comprehensive field research project: Develop a research question, collect, and analyze data, write a paper, and present your findings.

Academics

This academically rigorous program follows a five-day/week schedule. Each program combines theory learned during classroom sessions with field-based applications. The interdisciplinary curriculum is designed to help students actively discover and understand the complexities of balancing conservation with social and economic issues.

Major academic themes include:

  • Cetacean and sea turtle biology and ecology
  • Cetacean and sea turtle research and conservation methods
  • Regional conservation strategies and spatial planning
  • Protected areas and threatened ecosystems
  • Nature based solutions to biodiversity loss and climate change impacts
  • Systematic conservation planning and decision making

Courses

You will take three 4-credit disciplinary courses, one 2-credit language and culture course, and a 4-credit capstone Directed Research course. These are participatory in nature and are designed to foster inquiry and active learning. Each course combines lectures, seminars, group work in the field and in the lab, assignments, tests, and research. All classes are taught in English.

Click on the
to view a description and download the syllabus.
SFS 4910
Directed Research – Croatia
4 credits
SFS 2041
Croatian Language and Culture
2 credits
SFS 3754
Rescue and Rehabilitation: Marine Animals
4 credits
SFS 3024
Marine Conservation Planning
4 credits
SFS 3722
Marine Megafauna Ecology
4 credits

Core Skills

You will gain practical skills in the field such as: biodiversity assessments, population monitoring, animal behavior observation, GIS and mapping, biodiversity survey techniques, tag/recapture techniques, photoidentification, species management planning, research design and implementation, quantitative/qualitative data collection and analysis, scientific writing and communication, sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and husbandry techniques.

Field Sites

Based on the island of Lošinj, you will visit numerous different island ecosystems of the northern Dalmatian coast. Most of the fieldwork will be boat-based. SCUBA certification is not offered through this program.


Other Croatia Programs

Semester

Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals of the Adriatic

15 Weeks
18 Credits
Fall 2024
Sep 2 - Dec 11
In the Field
Spring 2025
Feb 17 - May 28
Closed

More Information

Program Costs
  • Tuition$22,250
  • Room & Board$7,250
  • Total$29,500

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