Ocean 621:
Biological Oceanography
Spring 2010
(Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Instructors:
Guest Lecturer:
Biological Oceanography (
Grades will be earned based on two criteria: 1) Regular attendance and participation in weekly lectures (10%); and 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.
Grading:
10% class participation
30% Exam I (Bioenergetics, production and
respiration, biogeochemical Fluxes)
30% Exam II (Zooplankton, pelagic ecology,
fisheries
oceanography)
30% Exam
There
is no required textbook for this course; however, instructors will
assign
reading material in the form of papers or book chapters.
Students are expected to be familiar with
material in these assigned readings.
Course Schedule (Jan.
11-Feb. 19,
2010)
Date |
Topic |
Lecturer |
|
Monday Jan. 11 |
Church |
|
|
Wednesday Jan. 13 |
Selph |
|
|
Friday Jan. 15 |
Zooplankton microscopy demo |
Selph |
|
Monday Jan. 18 |
NO CLASS - |
|
|
Wednesday Jan. 20 |
Church |
|
|
Friday Jan. 22 |
Church |
||
Monday Jan. 25 |
Church |
|
|
Wednesday Jan. 27 |
Biomass (continued) |
Church |
|
Friday Jan. 29 |
Church |
|
|
Monday Feb. 1 |
Church |
||
Wednesday Feb. 3 |
Church |
|
|
Friday Feb. 5 |
Church |
|
|
Monday Feb. 8 |
Church |
|
|
Wednesday Feb. 10 |
Ocean nutrient cycling (part II) |
Church |
|
Friday Feb. 12 |
Church |
|
|
Monday Feb. 15 |
NO CLASS -Presidents Day |
|
|
Wednesday Feb. 17 |
Review period |
Church |
|
Friday Feb. 19 |
Exam 1 |
Church |
|
Course
Schedule (Feb. 22-April 5,
2010)
Date |
Topic |
Lecturer |
|
Monday Feb. 22 |
Life at the microscale |
Steward |
|
Wednesday Feb. 24 |
Ecological role of marine viruses |
Steward |
|
Friday Feb. 26 |
Biogeochemical implications of marine
viruses |
Steward |
|
Monday March 1 |
Selph |
|
|
Wednesday March 3 |
Pelagic
Consumers- Metazoan Zooplankton |
Selph |
Sherr and Sherr (2002) |
Friday March 5 |
Selph |
|
|
Monday March 8 |
Selph |
|
|
Wednesday March 10 |
Pelagic Community Ecology-Methods |
Selph |
|
Friday March 12 |
Selph |
|
|
Monday March 15 |
Selph |
||
Wednesday March 17 |
Pelagic Community Ecology-Food webs 2 |
Selph |
|
Friday March 19 |
Selph |
Bluhm and Gradinger
(2008) Nicol (2006) |
|
Monday March 22 |
NO CLASS -SPRING BREAK |
|
|
Wednesday March 24 |
NO CLASS -SPRING BREAK |
|
|
Friday March 26 |
NO CLASS -SPRING BREAK |
|
|
Monday March 29 |
Selph |
|
|
Wednesday March 31 |
Review session |
Selph |
|
Friday April 2 |
NO CLASS -GOOD FRIDAY |
|
|
Monday April 5 |
Exam 2 |
Selph |
|
Course
Schedule (April 7-May 10, 2010)
Date |
Topic |
Lecturer |
|
Wednesday April 7 |
Waller |
||
Friday April 9 |
Waller |
||
Monday April 12 |
Waller |
|
|
Wednesday April 14 |
Waller |
||
Friday April 16 |
Waller |
||
Monday April 19 |
Waller |
||
Wednesday April 21 |
Waller |
||
Friday April 23 |
Waller |
|
|
Monday April 26 |
Waller |
||
Wednesday April 28 |
Waller |
||
Friday April 30 |
Waller |
||
Monday May 3 |
Waller |
||
Wednesday May 5 |
Benthic Pollution Impacts |
Waller |
|
Friday May 7 |
No Classes |
|
|
Monday May 10 |
EXAM 3 |
Waller |
|
COURSE
OUTLINE
I. Introduction
A. Course
objectives and overview
B. Habitats
and ecosystems
C.
Organizational details
II. Bioenergetics -
transformations of energy by living organisms
1.
Photosynthesis
2.
Chemosynthesis
A.
Measuring standing stocks
B.
Phytoplankton biomass distributions
C. Pelagic
biogeochemical provinces
1.
The central gyres
2.
High latitude ecosystems
3.
Equatorial ecosystems
IV. Plankton carbon
cycling and the biological pump
A.
Pathways and fluxes of carbon
B. The balance of photosynthesis
and respiration
C. Particle
flux as a linkage between the atmosphere and deep sea
D. Dissolved organic matter pumping
E. Photosynthetic
production
F. Gross and net production
G. Irradiance dependent growth
H. Carbon and oxygen dynamics
V. Measurements
of and controls on
primary production
A.
Oxygen
B.
Carbon
C.
Isotopes
D. Controls
on photosynthetic production and
phytoplankton diversity
1. Nutrients
2. Light
3. Temperature
VI. Dissolved organic
matter and the microbial loop
A.
B. Sources
C. Sinks
D.
Ages and reactivity
E. The
microbial loop
F.
Bacterial biomass in the sea
G.
Bacterial production
H. Plankton
Respiration and the metabolic balance
A.
Nitrogen assimilation
B. New
production
C. N2
fixation
D. Dissimilatory
N cycle processes
1. Nitrification
2. Denitrification
3. Anammox
E. The
HNLC condition
VIII. Pelagic consumers
(Diversity, energetics and behaviors)
A. Pelagic
Consumers
1.
Microzooplankton
2.
Mesozooplankton (Metazoans)
3.
Fish
B. Feeding
rates and behaviors
1.
Functional response relationships
2. Selective
feeding
3. Methods
used to Measure Feeding Rates
C. Carbon
and energy utilization
1.
Assimilation and egestion
2.
Metabolism
3. Growth
and reproduction
4.
Elemental Stoichiometry and Grazer-Mediated Remineralization
D. Vertical
migratory behavior
IX. Structure and dynamics
of pelagic communities
A.
Community organization
1. Food web
structure
2. Examples:
X. Fisheries oceanography
A. Larval
ecology and survival
1. First
feeding and the critical period
2. Growth
and mortality
3. Larval
transport and nursery grounds
4.
Environmental variability and larval survival
B.
Fisheries management: Case histories
1.
2. Peruvian
anchovetta
3. Whales
and krill
C. Global
Fisheries: Current Thoughts
1.
Multispecies Management
2. Global
Fish Catches and Maximum Sustainable Yields
3. Marine
Protected Areas
XI. Coral Reef Ecosystems
XII. Benthic ecology
A.
Generalizations
B.
Microbial processes and sedimentary geochemistry / redox
C. Feeding
processes
1. Energy
sources
2. Suspension
feeding
3. Deposit
feeding
D.
Distributional patterns
1. Size
classes
2.
Sedimentary type vs community correlations
3.
Pollution gradients
4. Depth
zonation
E. Life
history and recruitment
F.
Discussion of two recent papers on selected topics (e.g., deep-sea
diversity,
disturbance and succession)
G. Deep-sea
reducing habitats
1.
Hydrothermal vents
a. Geologic
setting and global distribution
b.
Microbial processes
c.
Macrofaunal structure and processes
2.
Characteristics of other reducing habitats
a. Subduction
zones
b.
Petroleum seeps
c. Whale
falls
3.
Biogeography of reducing habitats