DALYAN FIELD TRIP BIOLOGY & GEOGRAPHY
June 18 th to 23 rd , 2014
As a group of ten IB HL Biology students and two members
of staff, we had spent wonderful 6 days in Dalyan working
with 5 student-teachers from Bilkent University from Ankara.
The purpose of the trip was to observe Dalyan which is an
environmentally protected area, hosting rarely found blue
crabs (Callinectes sapidus) and sea turtles (Caretta caretta).
During the trip, students carried out activities including
line transect of Dalyan River and Köyceğiz Lake, water
flow measurements and calculations, water quality tests
(phosphate, nitrate, salinity, pH, temperature, turbidity),
crab mark and recapture. Also we had an adventure by
walking through the Saklıkent Gorge, visiting to Turtle
Sanctuary - viewing turtles in rehabilitation centre, turtle
observations at night while the volunteers nesting the build
and the turtles laying their eggs, and visiting to Akropolis.
On the last day of the trip, the students conducted a
survey on the impact of tourism on the town of Dalyan
with the people who live in the area and the tourists and
surprised with the answers. By the holistic approach, they
had a chance to interpret Dalyan ecosystem by taking all the
perspectives including ecological and economical aspects
into consideration. The students worked very hard, putting
in long hours but gained a huge amount of knowledge and
experience in this beautiful surrounding by having fun.
THE CLAPPER 2014 - 2015 68