Biological Oceanography

Catalog description

Intensive summer lecture and field course teaching the physical, chemical and biological factors controlling the structure and dynamics of marine ecosystems. Classroom instruction focuses on theoretical principles concerning the environmental control of phytoplankton communities by sunlight, nutrients and grazing. The dynamics and complexity of marine food webs including the phytoplankton, zooplankton and upper trophic levels. Laboratory and field instruction focuses on ocean monitoring and sampling from research vessels, biomass determination and identification of key plankton species, measurement of the rates of net and gross primary production using oxygen light-dark bottle experiments, and optical and chemical techniques of determining phytoplankton biomass and species composition. Approximately 40-50% of course time is spent in field. Prerequisites: C- or higher in ESSC 261 and completion of BIOL (211 or 221), or permission of instructor.