Sherman’s research on "Thermal biology of newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) chronically infected with a naturally occurring pathogen" was published in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Thermal Biology.

“In the paper, I discuss how a particular infection affects the ability of newts to tolerate higher temperatures. The work is especially important because newts are significant predators in lakes and ponds in the northeast and their vitality has an enormous effect on the biodiversity of those habitats. Global climate change may hasten elevated temperatures in temperate bodies of water and the infection makes newts more vulnerable to such elevated temperatures.”

Bennington magazine, May 2005:

"Black-tipped reef shark in the distance. Whoa!"—student dive log

Last July seven Bennington College students, self-selected from Elizabeth Sherman’s spring 2004 Biology of Marine Animals class, set foot onto the island of Grand Cayman, primed for an adventure. One majored in literature, two in the social sciences, one in architecture, one in biology, one in childhood studies/biology, and one “undecided.” Accompanied
by Sherman, they traveled to a remote northwest point on the island, away from the tourists, with one purpose: to study coral reefs. Or as Sherman calls it, “to be embedded in the ecosystem.”

That ecosystem became a classroom—“doing” science, as Sherman calls it, instead of just taking science classes. Starting scuba diving lessons here in the States before the trip, the group earned their diving certificates 48 hours after arriving on the island. With expert dive masters at the start of the line and the end of the line and with a protective teacher in the middle “between the students and the sea,” the seven students and their scuba tanks submerged deep into the Caribbean.

Splashdown. An intensive, scientific study was underway. Among the questions addressed during this weeklong, for-credit course in coral reef biology: What environmental factors affect the health of coral reefs? Why are reef fish so colorful? How is fish diversity quantified? What are the costs and benefits of “cleaning symbiosis,” a complex relationship between predators and their prey, in which the would-be prey become helpmates?

Making two dives daily, the group was swept along with the rhythm of the eagle ray and meandered between schools of creole wrasses. “Once you go down there, you are changed forever,” Sherman says. “With the flip of a fin you can be almost anywhere in an instant. It shakes up your perceptions of time and space.” What the students experienced each day underwater, they discussed and analyzed at night on dry land. With individual students taking on the role of facilitators, they came to their conclusions based on what they saw, as well as the scientific reading and note taking that they were required to do simultaneously.

Sherman chose Grand Cayman because the dive operations make preservation of the coral reefs a top priority. “The first thing the instructors teach students is how to achieve and maintain ‘buoyancy’ while diving,” Sherman explains. “Otherwise, a flailing fin or arm can ‘ding’ the coral, causing damage.” And divers don’t even think about breaking off a tiny piece of coral as a souvenir. “The government’s rules are very clear,” Sherman laughs. “Take home nothing but memories—leave nothing but bubbles.”

A week later, backpacks bulging with dive logs scrawled with sightings of black-tipped reef sharks and snapshots of an improvised, late-night snorkeling dive complete with rented lights, students and teacher boarded a plane for home. Taking with them their new, expanded view of the underwater universe—being sure to leave their bubbles behind.

“There’s a reason Liz Coleman likens science to a ‘performing art’ at Bennington,” Sherman says. “This trip was a dramatic example of what we do. We need a context for what goes on in the classroom, otherwise there’s no understanding of history, of how scientific fact emerges in the first place.” The science faculty is planning more of these intensive, field-immersion classes, and already this past winter, another one took place: Biology faculty member Kerry Woods took six students to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona for his class, Desert Ecology.

As for the one student who went on the Grand Cayman trip and was undecided about her focus? The decision’s been made. She’s committed to becoming a marine biologist, and her 2005 Field Work Term was spent at a shark lab in Bimini.

By Joan Taylor