On the five day course students studied in depth the ecology of coral reefs, primary and secondary rainforests and both coastal and estuarine mangroves. Each student completed two major pieces of work while away; one involved collating data through various techniques to compare primary and secondary rainforests, the other was a personal project. The personal project requires them to develop a research question regarding a particular ecological aspect of Tioman Island. They then spend an afternoon in the field gather data relating to their question. This year we had personal projects relating to the claw waving behviour of fiddler crabs, the angle of bending of coconut trees, the attraction of insects to different coloured paper flowers and the distribution of different species of sea cucumbers. Our students worke hard and the time spent was very worthwhile.
