Survey of Marine Biology

[ Example Syllabus (.PDF) | General Expectations ]

Description

A survey of the science of marine biology, providing an introduction to coastal and ocean biota and their relationships to the marine environment. Emphasis is placed on the structure and function of North Pacific systems, particularly those related to Alaska. Topics include natural history, ecology and diversity of marine life and habitats, factors regulating productivity, and world-wide threats to marine environments. Prerequisite: SC 160.

This course will start by covering the fundamentals of chemical and physical characteristics of marine ecosystems. An in-depth survey of the coastal and ocean organisms (e.g. plankton, marine plants, intertidal invertebrates, benthic organisms, fish, seabirds, marine mammals), their functional adaptations to the systems, their natural history, and ecology will be presented. Representative marine communities to be discussed include: rocky intertidal, estuaries, costal marshes, coral reefs and mangroves. Human impacts and other threats to the marine environment will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course you will:
• Be able to identify a variety of marine life and their lifestyles.
• Obtain in-depth knowledge of the ecology of major marine communities.
• Have awareness of threats to marine ecosystems.
• Be able to synthesize information from primary literature and present it.

asirovic@alaskapacific.edu

Ana Sirovic, Assistant Professor of Marine Biology, Environmental Science Department, Alaska Pacific University *Complete address