Students must maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. Recent special topics courses have included Coral Reef Biology, Biology of Deep-Sea Organisms and Marine Biodiversity. Examples of offerings may include marine microbial ecology, phytoplankton ecology, benthic ecology, community ecology, and population ecology. This course may sometimes include a lab in which case the number of credits will be four. The use of ecological theory and methods to obtain and interpret experimental data gathered in the local marine environment.
Emphasis is placed on an intensive class project.
Lecture and laboratory total four hours per week. Mechanisms will be discussed at the organismal, organ-system, tissue, and cellular levels. A broad overview of these elements is followed by detailed consideration of major coastal and oceanic ecosystems around the world. A study of the physics and chemistry of ocean and estuarine waters, circulation, waves and tides. Lecture and laboratory work emphasizes the interrelationships of physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes in the sea.