Four Weeks. One Rainforest. Real Discovery.
The Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland are covered in rainforests of many types, harboring an astonishing number of vertebrates and invertebrates. In four weeks you'll survey some of the vegetation types found on campus, spotlight nocturnal mammals, and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef just hours away.
You'll learn plant identification and bird survey methods, and document biodiversity through iNaturalist, feeding observations into local and global databases.
What You'll Do
Reef Island Excursion
Sail to an offshore Great Barrier Reef island for a 7.5-hour coastal ecosystem and reef ecology survey.
Ecological Field Exercises
Survey vegetation plots, measure plant functional traits, and analyze habitat structure across ten hours of hands-on rainforest fieldwork.
Nocturnal Spotlighting
Spotlight nocturnal wildlife and use lightsheeting to sample insects, documenting the diversity of nocturnal life across the Wet Tropics.
Field Sites
From ancient rainforest to offshore reef island: four weeks spanning two UNESCO World Heritage ecosystems.
Wet Tropics Rainforest
Varied rainforests on the Atherton Tablelands, for vegetation surveys and nocturnal spotlighting.
Atherton Tablelands
A 4.5-hour landscape tour of the region's geology, soils, and community restoration.
Great Barrier Reef
A 7.5-hour offshore island excursion for coastal ecosystem surveys and reef ecology fieldwork.
Four Weeks. The Oldest Rainforest on Earth.
A 4.5-hour landscape tour of the Atherton Tablelands teaches you to read how this landscape came to be. Ecological field methods take you deeper into the region's ecological communities and what keeps them thriving. Then a 7.5-hour offshore excursion puts you on a Great Barrier Reef island, exploring reef ecology. Between field days, students document species through iNaturalist, building a biodiversity record that feeds local databases. Four weeks. One course. Ten hours of ecological field exercises in the rainforest.
Learn by Doing
One integrated course spans rainforest classification, reef systems, and the threats facing these ecosystems through ten hours of ecological field exercises, excursions, lectures, and workshops.
Course
One intensive field course, 4 credits
Surveys rainforest vegetation, reef ecosystems, and the threats to the Wet Tropics' unique biodiversity through field excursions and iNaturalist documentation.
View Syllabus (PDF)Join This Summer
Now enrolling for Summer 2027.
Dates & Costs
4 weeks, 4 credits. Financial aid and SFS scholarships available.
