ZO3306: MARINE ECOLOGY AND ECOSYSTEMS (2019-2020)

This course explores the ecology of marine organisms and aims to explain our current understanding of patterns and processes in a variety of marine ecosystems. Marine ecology is the study of how marine organisms interact with their environment, and with members of their own and other species. Understanding these interactions is essential whether your interests in the marine environment are narrow (e.g. particular groups of species) or broad (e.g. oceanic processes). At the ecosystem-level, describing patterns over broad spatial or temporal scales is essential to interpreting how the marine environment behaves in response to global processes; e.g., climate change, pollution, and overfishing. For example, an understanding of marine ecology is needed to address such questions as: ‘What determines the distribution and abundance of marine species?’, ‘What processes govern the population dynamics and productivity of individual marine species?’, ‘What causes the variation seen in marine biodiversity in space and time?’, ‘How and why does the structure of marine food webs vary?’, ‘How do these variations relate to ecosystem processes, such as the efficiency of energy transfer and rate of nutrient recycling?’

Running over 6 weeks, the course comprises two double lecture sessions per week and five practicals of 5–8 hours duration.

Lectures will deepen your understanding of essential physical oceanography, and the key components and interactions of marine food webs, before exploring the characteristics of major marine ecosystems, such as polar oceans, shelf seas, coastal systems (both temperate and tropical) and the deep sea. Related topics in marine management and conservation will also be addressed.

The practicals include a three-week multidisciplinary study of an estuarine ecosystem; investigation of the morphology and adaptations of a wide range of fishes; and quantitative analysis of a deep-sea survey. The practicals will develop your field and laboratory skills, both in groups and individually, as well as your abilities in data analysis and producing reports of marine biological investigations.

Broadly, the course aims to:

• develop your understanding of factors influencing primary and secondary production in the sea
• use examples to explain the determinants of species distributions and patterns of marine biodiversity
• amplify your knowledge of the characteristics of marine food webs in different environments
• explore in detail the characteristics of specific marine ecosystems from different regions, with an emphasis on trophic interactions
• introduce the basic principles of the Ecosystem Approach, and to identify the information required to implement this approach to management
• develop your abilities in multidisciplinary and integrative thinking
• extend your abilities to record, analyse, interpret and present marine ecological data

NB: this is a core course in the Marine Biology programme that relies on a sound understanding of material delivered at Level 2. In addition, marine ecology is in part a quantitative biological discipline and so this course requires good numerical skills in data handling and statistical analysis.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

More Information about Week Numbers

There are no assessments for this course.