Yesterday marked the beginning of the third Field School module, Vertebrate Paleontology, taught by Dr. Doug Boyer of Duke University. Students have already learned about the geologic time scale, biostratigraphy, and the history of evolutionary thought in lecture, and today they got some first-hand experience working with fossil material from a wide variety of taxa. [...]
Hi, we’re Eloise and Stacey, third year Archaeology and Anthropology students from University College London. We are interested in hominin evolution and behaviour, as well as past environments. Just three days into the geology module, it was time for a two day camping trip to Lothagam, an ancient lake and river bed system to the [...]
This Sunday, Field School students took advantage of the day off with a trip to Central Island, an island in (you guessed it) the center of Lake Turkana. Both Dr. Martins and Dr. Lepre were on hand to offer ecological and geological expertise. The day started off bright and early with a walk across the [...]
We have just finished the first week of the Field School's geology module, taught by Dr. Chris Lepre of Rutgers University. Studying geology means lots of time spent out in the field and the students began with a lab exercise examining local stratigraphy (rock layers). TBI-Turkwel sits on the Nachukui Formation, famous for its rich [...]
The TBI Fall 2014 Field School students visited a livestock boma (enclosure) this past week to learn more about goats, grazing and the ecology of livestock in this arid environment. Goats are the main form of livestock kept in this part of the world and an important part of the local economy and culture. [...]
During the Field School, students have class Monday through Saturday, with Sundays off for rest and relaxation. Often, Dr. Martins will organize Sunday activities for those students who crave a little more excitement on their day off. Last Sunday morning, all fifteen Field School students, plus several members of the TBI staff, headed to nearby [...]
The TBI Field School students visited the Kerio Delta a few days ago to get a first glimpse of the complex freshwater ecology and dynamics that affect the deltas of Lake Turkana. We were hosted by a group of local fishermen whose boats we used to travel into the mouth of the Kerio Delta. [...]
Hello from TBI-Turkwel! Monday marked the start of classes in the first module of the Fall 2014 TBI Field School, Ecology of the Turkana Basin, taught by Dr. Dino Martins. So far, students have learned about African savanna biodiversity, coevolution, mimicry, Rift Valley biogeography, vector biology, plant/pollinator interactions, evolutionary stable strategies, and lots more. Many [...]