OC 648         Marine Benthic Ecology (4 credits)                                 Fall 2003

 

 

Instructor:                  Rob Wheatcroft

Office:                         Burt 218

Phone:                        737-3891

E-mail:                       raw@coas.oregonstate.edu

 

Office hours:              anytime, anywhere (but afternoons are better)

 

 

Course Structure

 

The course will consist of thrice-weekly lectures (MWF, 9-950 in Burt 176) by the instructor and five, 2-hour “focus” sessions.   We will determine the venue, dates and times of the latter.  The lectures will cover the ecology of marine benthic organisms, with an almost exclusive emphasis on soft-sediment systems.  Areas of focus will include: (1) the sedimentary milieu, (2) types of soft-bottom benthic organisms, (3) foraging ecology of deposit and suspension feeding animals, (4) reproduction and life histories (populations), and (5) processes regulating community structure.  At the end of the term, miscellaneous lectures will explore the relationship of the benthos to various issues (e.g., response to pollution or trawling, benthic-pelagic coupling, impact on sediment transport).  The topics covered will be chosen by class/instructor consensus.

 

All lectures will be presented via PowerPoint and an electronic projector.  To facilitate note taking, copies of the overheads will be handed out to the class before each lecture.  This does not mean that you can miss class – as 10 % of your grade depends on attendance and participation (i.e., I like to have some discussion during the lectures.).  In addition, roughly one page of references for each lecture will be given out.  Note that these references represent a very small subset of material on each topic, but will get you started...

 

 

Assignments

 

Success in any type of science, whether it is applied or basic, depends on a person’s ability to: (1) critically evaluate information, (2) synthesize existing knowledge and identify new approaches and problems, (3) make insightful comments during group discussions (e.g., meetings, workshops), and (4) convey complex ideas clearly in spoken and written format.  The assignments in this course are designed to foster these abilities.

 

·      Miscellaneous study questions: Twice during the quarter you will be presented with a list of questions that deal with various aspects of soft-bottom benthic ecology that have been previously covered in class.  Short essays on a subset of these questions will be due roughly 1 week later.  Your answers should be written clearly and should emphasize synthesis and creativity as well as demonstrate factual knowledge. (If you would like, you can think of these as take-home exams.)

 

·      Discussions: Three times during the quarter we will have a two-hour discussion of a set of papers on various topics.  At the beginning of each discussion one (or more) previously unannounced person(s) will concisely summarize one (or more) of the papers, stating the goals of the study, the approach, results and conclusion.  We will then collectively discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the work(s), its overall significance and possible follow-up studies.  Points earned (6 per discussion) will depend on the relevance and frequency (more is not necessarily better) of your comments.  Perpetual silence is the greatest sin you can commit in this section of the course.

 

·      Presentations: Twice during the quarter you will give a brief (10 to 15 minute) oral presentation to the class.  The first of these will be about the functional morphology and foraging behavior of a specific benthic animal.  The second presentation will be related to your proposal.  During both of these talks you will need to focus on graphics, organization and delivery.

 

·      Field Trip: There is a required field trip to HMSC during the weekend of 8-9 November (departing ~0900 Saturday and returning ~1300 Sunday).  During this field trip we will have a series of lectures on the Yaquina Bay estuary by local experts, followed by sampling of the tidal flat adjacent to HMSC.  The purpose of the sampling will be to quantify macrofaunal abundance and species (or at least group) composition in different parts of the tidal flat.  In addition, ancillary measurements of relevant sediment properties will be made.  A brief write-up of results will be required (more later).

 

·      Final paper (proposal): Thirty percent of your grade will be based on a proposal that you write, using NSF guidelines (see handouts).  Proposals should describe in detail a set of manipulative field experiments that will address some topic in soft-bottom benthic ecology that you chose in consultation with me.  As part of the proposal preparation you will need to submit a two-page pre-proposal (part of your 30 points) in the fourth week of class (due10/22).  The completed proposal is due the day before Thanksgiving (11/26).

 

 

Distribution of grading points:

 

·      study questions (2)                                                            22 pts

·      participation in 3 discussions                                             18 pts

·      field trip                                                                               8 pts

·      proposal (+ pre-proposal)                                                  30 pts

·      presentations (2)                                                                12 pts

·      class participation                                                               10 pts

 

 

Readings

Because benthos are spineless (and therefore likely democrats), All Things Cold and Slimy has been banned by the Bush administration. Hence there is no text for this course.  Instead readings will be selected from the primary literature and parts of selected monographs (see attached reading list for the first third of the course).  It is best if you can accomplish the readings before the class in question.  The readings will reinforce the material covered in the lectures, as well as cover additional ground.  You will be missing out and your grade will suffer if you don’t do the readings!  Copies of the papers (and miscellaneous others) will be placed in a box in Patullo Library (in the Ocean Admin Building on 26th Street).  Please remove the papers only for xeroxing.

 

Benthic ecology is a fundamentally interdisciplinary subject.  Therefore, papers on the benthos appear in a wide array of journals, including:

 

American Naturalist                                        American Scientist

Annual Review Ecology & Systematics            Continental Shelf Research    

Deep-Sea Research                                         Ecological Monographs

Ecology                                                           Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Science    

Estuaries                                                         Journal of Marine Research  

J. Experimental Marine Biol. & Ecology         Limnology & Oceanography 

Marine Biology                                               Marine Ecology Progress Series

Marine Geology                                              Oceanography & Mar. Biol. Annual Rev.

Oceanologica Acta                                          Oecologia       

Oikos                                                               Ophelia          

Progress in Oceanography                             Sarsia

 

In the course of your assignments you will need to consult a substantial portion of these journals.  Unfortunately, a few of these journals are found only at the Guin Library at HMSC.  In that case, either use the photocopying service provided by Guin or some faculty members have personal copies of journals that may be borrowed.  Also, check Patullo- you might get lucky – and finally some (e.g., Marine Ecology Progress Series) are available online.

 

Miscellaneous books that are about (or have sections) on the soft-sediment benthos.

 

Aller, J.Y., S.A. Woodin and R.C Aller (eds.) 2001. Organism-sediment interactions. University of South Carolina Press, 403 pp.

 

Barnes, R.S.K. and R.N. Hughes. 1999. An introduction to marine ecology. 3rd edn. Blackwell Scientific Publications, 286 pp.

 

Bertness, M.D., S.D. Gaines and M.E. Hay (eds.) 2001. Marine community ecology, Sinauer Associates, 550 pp.

 

Boudreau, B.P. and B.B. Jorgensen (eds.) 2001. The benthic boundary layer: Transport processes and biogeochemistry. Oxford Univ. Press, 404 pp.

 

Bromley, R.G. 1990. Trace Fossils: Biology and Taphonomy, Unwin Hyman, 280 pp.

 

Coull, B.C. (ed.).1977. Ecology of Marine Benthos, University of South Carolina Press, 467 pp.

 

Fenchel, T. and B.J. Finlay. 1995. Ecology and evolution in anoxic worlds. Oxford University Press.

 

Gage, J. D. and P. A. Tyler. 1991. Deep-sea biology: A natural history of organisms at the deep-sea floor. Cambridge University Press, 504 pp.

 

Gray, J.S. 1981. The ecology of marine sediments. Cambridge University Press.

 

Hall, S.J. 1999. The effects of fishing on marine ecosystems and communities. Blackwell Science, 274 pp.

 

Holme, N.A. and A.D. McIntyre. 1984. Methods for the study of marine benthos, Blackwell Sci. Publ.

 

Jumars, P.A. 1993. Concepts in biological oceanography (an interdisciplinary primer). Oxford University Press.

 

Lalli, C.M. and T.R. Parsons. 1993. Biological oceanography: An introduction. Pergamon Press.

 

Little, C. 2000. The biology of soft shores and estuaries. Oxford University Press, 252 pp.

 

Levinton, J.S. 1982. Marine Ecology, Prentice-Hall, 526 pp.

 

Mann, K.H. and J.R.N. Lazier. 1996. Dynamics of marine ecosystems (Biological-physical interactions in the oceans) 2nd edn. Blackwell Science.

 

McCall, P.L. and M.J. S. Tevesz. (eds.). 1982. Animal–sediment relations: The Biogenic Alteration of Sediments, Plenum Press, 336 pp.

 

Parsons, T.R., M. Takahashi and B. Hargrave. 1977. Biological Oceanographic Processes, 2nd edn., Pergamon, 332 pp.

 

Reise, K. (ed.) 1985.. Tidal flat ecology. Springer, 191 pp.

 

Reise, K. (ed.) 2001. Ecological comparisons of sedimentary shores. Springer, 384 pp.

 

Schäfer, W. 1972. Ecology and Palaeoecology of Marine Environments, University of Chicago Press, 568 pp.

 

Tenore, K.R. and B.C. Coull, (eds.). 1980. Marine Benthic Dynamics, University of South Carolina Press.

 

Valiela, I. 1995. Marine Ecological Processes, 2nd edn.  Springer, 686 pp.