MB5055 - Biological Oceanography

Credit points:	03
Year:	2013
Student Contribution Band:	Band 2
Administered by:	School of Marine & Tropical Biology

Available to Graduate Diploma of Research Methods, Graduate Certificate of Research Methods, Graduate Diploma of Science, Master of Applied Science and Master of Science students.

An examination of the plankton community and its interactions with the physical and chemical environment. Topics include: nutrients and productivity, zooplankton behaviour and life cycles and the distributions of planktonic species over space and time on a broad range of scales. Students will be required to attend lectures and practical classes in MB3050.

Learning Outcomes

• give a sense of the complex structure of the planktonic community over the full scale of variation across space, time and body size;
• give the student a new conceptual understanding of the ocean as a fabric of living organisms, rather than as a mere water mass;
• impress upon the student the fundamental significance of the plankton as the foundation of the economy of the sea and the nursery for most of its species;
• provide a practical familiarity with the techniques of plankton sampling, identification and analysis.

Assumed Knowledge:	Students enrolling in this subject should have an undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline (eg biology or environmental science) or have acquired equivalent knowledge through other study. They should have a good understanding of basic biological principles and marine systems and have completed a statistics subject (BS5001 or equivalent).
Inadmissible Subject Combinations:	MB3050 MB3059

Availabilities
Townsville, Internal, Study Period 1
Census Date 28-Mar-2013
Coordinator:	Professor Michael Kingsford
Lecturers:	Assoc. Professor Kirsten Heimann, Professor Michael Kingsford, Professor Garry Russ, Professor Mark McCormick.
Contact hours:	26 hours lectures 39 hours practicals
Assessment:	end of semester exam (50%); assignments (30%); laboratory reports; (20%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.