Twelve Students, One Island: BIO/ESS 348 Takes Research to Iceland

This spring, 12 Le Moyne biology and environmental science students traded the classroom for the field, spending the semester immersed in the ecology, geology and culture of Iceland through BIO/ESS 348: Research in Iceland. Each student designed and carried out an independent research project, investigating questions as varied as the landscape itself: bird diversity across urban and rural habitats, soil quality on golf courses versus undeveloped land, shifts in moss communities and biological soil crusts across a glacial foreland, and comparative soil quality in lava fields formed by eruptions nearly two centuries apart (1784 and 1973).

The coursework culminated in a 12-day immersive expedition, from May 26 to June 9, during which students lived in hostels and traveled across the country to collect their research data. Along the way, they searched for puffin colonies, explored Reykjavík, and experienced Iceland’s striking landscapes up close, turning a semester of study into hands-on scientific discovery. Accompanying them on the trip were Professor Hilary McManus, who taught the course, and Professor Jason Lusicer.