OCN_621_spring

Ocean 621: Biological Oceanography

Spring 2009

(Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:30-10:20 AM; MSB 315)

Instructors:

Matthew Church, Office: MSB 612, 956-8779, mjchurch@hawaii.edu

Karen Selph, Office: MSB 608, 956-7941, selph@hawaii.edu

Craig Smith, Office: MSB 617, 956-7776, craigsmi@hawaii.edu

Visiting Lecturers:

Rhian Waller, rwaller@hawaii.edu;

Les Watling, watling@hawaii.edu

Grieg Steward, grieg@hawaii.edu

Biological Oceanography (OCN 621) is one of several required core courses for graduate students in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii. The course meets three times each week (MWF) from 9:30-10:20 AM. Lectures and exams will cover fundamental concepts in biological oceanography, including topics pertinent to the study of the ecology of pelagic and benthic organisms. Lectures will include information related to the biomass and productivity of diverse marine ecosystems, assessment of bioelemental cycling of marine organisms, and examination of environmental controls on the growth and mortality of benthic and pelagic organisms. The course will be divided into three primary sections: 1) planktonic production and elemental cycling, 2) pelagic food web dynamics and fisheries oceanography, and 3) ecology of marine benthic habitats.

Grades will be earned based on two criteria:

1) Regular attendance and participation in weekly lectures (10%);

2) Performance on the three written, in class exams (30% each).

Students are expected to attend all lectures having become familiar with the reading material assigned for each lecture.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1) Students should be able to define the major forms of life in the sea, describe the characteristics that distinguish these forms, and describe how these forms relate to each other ecologically.

2) Students should be able to explain how marine organisms influence cycling of bioelements.

3) Students should be able to describe prominent characteristics of the primary marine habitats.

4) Students should be able to define processes that control the biomass, growth, and productivity of organisms in the marine environment.

5) Students should be able to describe methodological approaches appropriate for evaluating the biomass, growth, and mortality of plankton, nekton, and sessile marine organisms.

Text:
Marine Ecology: Processes, Systems, and Impacts
Kaiser et al. (2005) Oxford University Press (New York)

Grading:

10% class participation

30% Exam I (Bioenergetics, production and respiration, biogeochemical Fluxes)

30% Exam II (Zooplankton, pelagic ecology, fisheries oceanography)

30% Exam III (Benthic oceanography and ecology)

Course Schedule (Jan. 12-Feb. 23, 2009)

Date	Topic	Lecturer	Reading
Monday Jan. 12	I ntroduction to Biological Oceanography	Church
Wednesday Jan. 14	Plankton metabolism and bioenergetics	Church	Kaiser et al. text Chapter 1.1-1.2 (pp. 1-20)
Friday Jan. 16	Classes canceled due to weather
Monday Jan. 19	NO CLASS-MLK Day
Wednesday Jan. 21	Plankton biomass	Church	Falkowski (2002); Whitman (1998); Kaiser et al. text Chapter 6.1-6.4.1 (pp. 212-225); Cullen et al. (2002)
Friday Jan. 23	Carbon cycling and the biological pump	Church	Ducklow et al. (2001)
Monday Jan. 26	Photosynthesis and photosynthetic organisms	Church	Kaiser et al. text Chapter 2; Cullen Primary Production Encyclopedia
Wednesday Jan. 28	Measurements and controls on primary priduction	Church	Sverdrup (1953)
Friday Jan. 30	Productivity and Nutrients	Church
Monday Feb. 2	Sources and variability in nutrients	Church	Kaiser et al. text Chapter 3; Kirchman (2003);Carlson et al. (1994)
Wednesday Feb. 4	Dissolved organic matter and the microbial loop	Church	Pomeroy (1974), Ducklow (2000)
Friday Feb. 6	The ecology of marine viruses	Steward
Monday Feb. 9	Bacterial production and respiration	Church	del Giorgio and Duarte (2002)
Wednesday Feb. 11	Living Zooplankton Diversity -- Demo	Selph
Friday Feb. 13	The marine nitrogen cycle	Church	Arrigo (2005)
Monday Feb. 16	NO CLASS-Presidents Day
Wednesday Feb. 18	The HNLC Condition	Selph	Landry et al. 1997; Buesseler et al. 2004; Jickells et al. 2005
Friday Feb. 20	Climate and ocean biology	Church
Monday Feb. 23	EXAM 1	Church

Course Schedule (Feb. 25-March 30, 2009)

Date	Topic	Lecturer	Reading
Wednesday Feb. 25	Pelagic Consumers-Zooplankton diversity	Selph	Jurgens & Matz 2002
Friday Feb. 27	Pelagic Consumers-Zooplankton feeding – Protists (including demo)	Selph	Sherr and Sherr 2002 Jones 2000
Monday March 2	Pelagic Consumers-Zooplankton feeding and selectivity	Selph	Turner 2004
Wednesday March 4	Pelagic Consumers-Methods & Energetics	Selph	Landry & Calbet 2004
Friday March 6	Pelagic Consumers-Energetics	Selph
Monday March 9	Pelagic Community Ecology-Diel Vertical Migration	Selph	Kobari et al. 2003 Calculation worksheet
Wednesday March 11	Pelagic Community Ecology-Food webs 1	Selph	Landry 2002 Legendre & Rivkin 2005
Friday March 13	Pelagic Community Ecology-Food webs 2	Selph	Paffenhoffer et al. 2007 Vargas & Gonzales 2004
Monday March 16	Fisheries Oceanography - Management	Selph	Chapter 12
Wednesday March 18	Fisheries Oceanography-Life Cycles 1	Selph	Lynam et al. 2004
Friday March 20	Fisheries Oceanography-Life Cycles 2	Selph	Chapter 13 Pauly et al. 1998 Essington et al. 2006
Monday March 23	NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK
Wednesday March 25	NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK
Friday March 27	NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK
Monday March 30	Exam	Selph	Exam Answers

Course Schedule (April 1-May 11, 2009)

Date	Topic	Lecturer	Reading
Wednesday April 1	Sediment Microbiology	Wang
Friday April 3	Sediment Microbiology (cont.)	Wang
Monday April 6	Generalizations about benthic habitats, basic sediment geochemistry, & benthic energy resources	Smith	Levinton, J. S., 2001. Marine Biology, Chapter 13, Benthic Life Habits Kaiser et al., 2005. Marine Ecology, Chapter 7, Continental Shelf Seabed Smith et al. 2008
Wednesday April 8	Deposit Feeding	Smith	Lopez and Levinton, 1987. Ecology of deposit feeding animals in marine sediments.
Friday April 10	NO CLASS- GOOD FRIDAY
Monday April 13	Suspension Feeding	Smith
Wednesday April 15	Distribution Patterns: Size classes, grain size vs. feeding types, pollution gradients	Smith
Friday April 17	Distribution patterns: Depth Zonation	Smith
Monday April 20	Deep-sea Reducing habitats: Vents, seeps and whale falls	Smith
Wednesday April 22	Deep-sea Reducing habitats: cont.	Smith
Friday April 24	Pelagic-Benthic Coupling and Climate Change at High Lats.	Smith	Grebmeier et al. (2006)
Monday April 27	Corals – The Basics	Waller	Chapter 1 - Birkeland C (1997) Life and Death of Coral Reefs. Chapman and Hall Press Part 2.A - Veron JEN (1995) Corals in Space and Time: The biogeography and evolution of the scleractinia. UNSW Press
Wednesday April 29	Coral Reefs	Waller	Knowlton et al. (2001)
Friday May 1	Corals – Anthropogenic Impacts	Waller
Monday May 4	Deepwater Corals	Waller
Wednesday May 6	Seamount Ecology	Watling
Monday May 11	EXAM 3	Smith