OC 440

                               Introduction to Biological Oceanography

 

 

Instructor:           Rob Wheatcroft, Burt 218

                           737-3891, raw@coas.oregonstate.edu

                           Office Hours: M & W, 2-4 pm

 

TA:                     Scott McAuliffe, Wenniger 516

                           737-2500, smcauliffe@coas.oregonstate.edu

                           Office Hours: __________________

 

 

The goals of this course are to

 

·      Obtain a basic appreciation for the diversity of life in the sea

·      Begin to understand the functional role & interactions of marine organisms

·      Develop insight into current and local issues in biological oceanography

·      Get some hands-on experience

 

Readings: 

                                                                       

There is a lot of required reading in this course, so don’t let yourself fall behind! 

 

The textbook for the course is Biological Oceanography, An Introduction by Lalli and Parsons.  Target dates for completion of specific chapters are listed in the syllabus, but you are expected to read the text from cover to cover (start now).  In addition, a group of ancillary readings (listed below) have been placed at the reserve desk in the Valley Library under the call number _______.  Check these out, copy them or not, but read them – I think you’ll find them interesting. 

 

Ancillary Reading List  (at reserve desk in Valley Library, _________)

 

Anderson, D. M. 1994. Red tides.  Scientific American, 271: 62-68.

 

Chisholm, S. W. 1992. What limits phytoplankton growth?  Oceanus, 35: 36-46.

 

Chisholm, S. W., P. G. Falkowski, and J. J. Cullen. 2001. Dis-crediting ocean fertilization.  Science, 294: 309-310.

 

Davis, C. S., C. J. Ashjian, and P. Alatalo. 1996. Zooplankton diversity.  Oceanus, 39: 7-11.

 

Jackson, J. B. C., et al. 2001. Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems.  Science, 293: 629-638.

 

Lutz, R. A., T. M. Shank, and R. Evans. 2001. Life after death in the deep sea.  American Scientist, 89: 422-431.

 

Menge, B. A. and G. M. Branch. 2001. Rocky intertidal communities.  In Marine Community Ecology, M. D. Bertness, S.D. Gaines, and M. E. Hay, eds., Sinauer Associates, Inc., 221-248.

 

Nelson, C. H. and K. R. Johnson. 1987. Whales and walruses as tillers of the sea floor.  Scientific American, 256: 112-117.

 

Nixon, S.W. 1998. Enriching the sea to death.  Scientific American Presents, 9: 48-53.

 

Pomeroy, L. R. 1992. The microbial food web.  Oceanus, 35: 28-35.

 

Purcell, E. M. 1977. Life at low Reynolds number.  American Journal of Physics, 45: 3-11.

 

Snelgrove, P.V.R. 1999. Getting to the bottom of marine biodiversity: sedimentary habitats. Bioscience, 49: 129-138.

 

Steneck, R. S. and J. T. Carlton. 2001. Human alterations of marine communities- students beware! In Marine Community Ecology, M. D. Bertness, S.D. Gaines, and M. E. Hay, eds., Sinauer Associates, Inc., 445-468.

 

Watling, L. and E. A. Norse. 1998. Disturbance of the seabed by mobile fishing gear: A comparison to forest clearcutting.  Conservation Biology, 12: 1180-1197.

 

Yen, J. 2000. Life in transition: Balancing inertial and viscous forces by planktonic copepods.  Biological Bulletin, 198: 213-224.

 

Assignments & Grading

 

The grade that you earn in this course will be based on the following activities:

 

      Activity                                                      %

 

·      Class Participation                                             10

·      Quizzes                                                             10

·      Homework                                                        15

·      Remote Sensing Lab                                           8

·      Field Trips                                                         12

·      Mid-term Exam                                                 20

·      Final Exam                                                        25

 

Class attendance is a must.  Moreover, I expect that you will be engaged while present.  That is, you should be asking questions and offering answers when called upon.  Silence will be costly. 

 

Throughout the term, short, unannounced quizzes will be given in class on material previously covered in lectures or readings.  The purpose of these quizzes is to keep everyone up to date and alert me to serious deficiencies in understanding.  If you listen in class and keep up with the readings (especially the textbook), then these quizzes will be a breeze.

 

There will be three homework assignments.  Two of these will essentially be take home quizzes that test comprehension and your ability to synthesize the material presented in lectures and readings.  The third homework assignment will involve a written summary of an article of your choosing from the primary literature.  (More on that later.)

 

In mid February there will be a lecture and lab on remote sensing.  This lab will require extensive use of the internet (conducted in the COAS-Geosciences computer facility), and will provide you with an opportunity to work with real biological oceanography data.  

 

There will be two field trips to the Oregon coast – 25 January & 1 March (see me soon, if these present a problem).  The first field trip will be a behind the scenes tour of the Oregon Coast Aquarium and a visit to the Hatfield Marine Science Center.  The second will involve trips to rocky intertidal and sand flat sites, where we will make some measurements and report on the results. 

 

The exams (closed book) will cover material presented in the lectures and readings – both textbook and ancillary – and will emphasize your comprehension and ability to synthesize.