Date           Topic                  Chapter

  1/16         Marine environments: classification, morphology             1

    /18         Plate tectonics, continental drift; hydrologic cycle; global heat budget

    /21         No Class               MLK Holiday

    /23         Circulation: surface - currents

    /25 Temperature-salinity; thermohaline circulation; ocean conveyor system      

    /28         Dissolved oxygen; physics and physiology of light

    /30         Nature of plankton     2

    2/1         Larvae and life histories

      /4         Organic production in the sea; biogeochemical cycles        

      /6         Oceanic energetics; global productivity           Departmental Seminar 4:00 pm

      /8         Nekton   3

    /11         Behavioral adaptations to the pelagic realm            

    /13 Physiological adaptations to the pelagic realm 

    /15         EXAM I

    /18         Tides and the intertidal            6

    /20         Intertidal zonation: establishment of patterns     

    /22         Ecology of rocky shores

    /25 Physiological adaptations to the intertidal

    /27         Physics and ecology of sandy and muddy shores     

    3/1         Rising sea level and coastal inundation  11, p 488-

      /4         Estuaries: types and characteristics         8

      /6         Physiology and behavior of estuarine organisms

      /8         Ecology of estuaries and salt marshes    

3 /11-15     SPRING BREAK   

    /18         Tropical estuaries: mangrove forests       9, p 416-

    /20         Ecology of mangrove communities            

    /22         EXAM II

    /25         Tropical marine biology: corals        9

    /27         Coral reef: structure

    /29         No Class              Good Friday

    4/1         Coral reef: ecology       

      /3         Biology of the deep sea: sampling and the environment  4        

      /5         Mid-water and deep sea ecology

      /8 Hydrothermal Vents/Cold Seeps

    /10         Other symbiotic associations     10        

    /12         No Class

    /15         Physics of Polar seas  5, p 220-

    /17         Ecology of Polar seas     

    /19         Human impacts: tragedy of the whales       TERM PAPER Due in Class         11          

    /22         Human impacts: demise of global fisheries          

    /24         Human impacts: invasive species and marine biodiversity

/26-28       FIELD TRIP: DUKE MARINE LABORATORY

    /29         Global warming: El Nino/La Nina and the Southern Oscillation

    5/1         Climatic change: a new Ice Age?

Monday       May 6        2:00 pm           FINAL EXAM

TEXT:  Nybakken  - Marine Biology, 5th edition 2001

 

Grading:

Exams I & II - 25% each

Final - 30% and it will be cumulative.  About 80% will come from material after Exam II; the remainder will be conceptual questions linking aspects of the whole course.

Term Paper 15% - and oral PowerPoint presentation 5%.  We will discuss this further, but the objective is to write a comprehensive review of existing scholarly literature on some topic in marine science.  The papers should be 12-15 pages (12 point, double spaced, 1" margins), and be based on a minimum of 10 references, at least 6 of which must be primary sources.  From these papers you are to prepare a PowerPoint presentation that will be presented to the class during the lab period of April 24.

There will be no separate lab grade; no lab reports.  The content of the laboratory exercises will be incorporated into the lecture exams.