This course will explore the fundamentals of oceanography, the biology and diversity of marine organisms, and the patterns and processes that guide the ecological dynamics in various marine communities. This year, lectures will focus on the marine biology and ecology of the Atlantic Ocean as a model system for the study of fundamental concepts and approaches in marine biology. This approach will facilitate an integration of oceanographic and marine biological concepts into an ecological context familiar to students living on the east coast of the US. However, pertinent and unique examples will be drawn from the world's oceans as appropriate. Lecture topics will roughly follow a North to South transect through the inshore marine communities of the New England area (Stellwagen Bank, kelp beds, rocky intertidal, estuaries, including mud flats and salt marshes coral reef, deep sea and hydrothermal vent communities. A consideration of marine organismal biology will be integrated into this sequence of lecture topics as appropriate and students will be responsible for being able to identify key marine species.
Lab sessions will be used in a variety of ways and will accomplish several goals. Formal lab exercises will provide students with the opportunity to learn about organismal diversity in its ecological context. Other lab sessions will take the form of journal clubs in which papers from the primary literature are read and critically discussed. A few lab sessions will also provide opportunities to view and discuss state-of-the-art video resources that deal with marine research conducted underwater, including deep sea research. A field trip to the New Jersey State Aquarium will be required.
This course fulfills the Writing Enriched Requirement. A major term paper assignment will give students the opportunity to explore a topic of their choice in the area of marine biology. This assignment will involve peer review and a required re-write and will culminate in a formal student symposium in which students will present their term papers.
WWW Links For Marine Biology
Scientific Journals
Marine Ecology Progress Series
Oceanography Links
Fish Links
Plankton and Seaweed Links
Marine Mammal Links
Professional Societies
Scientific Institutions
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution