MB3050 - Biological Oceanography
| Credit points: | 03 |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Student Contribution Band: | Band 2 |
| Administered by: | College of Science and Engineering |
This subject examines plankton and their interactions with the physical and chemical environment. Thematically we explore the following: structures in the ocean, sampling equipment and oceanography; nutrients, productivity, phytoplankton and upwelling; planktonic consumers in the sea as well as their distributions, behaviour and life cycles, jellyfish fisheries, the survival of larval fish to recruitment and relevance to fisheries; impacts and manipulation of plankton, global climate change, pollution and applications for aquaculture.
Learning Outcomes
- to give a sense of the complex structure of the planktonic community over the full scale of variation across space, time and body size;
- to give the student a new conceptual understanding of the ocean as a fabric of living organisms, rather than as a mere water mass;
- to 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;
- to provide a practical familiarity with the techniques of plankton sampling, identification and analysis.
| Assumed Knowledge: | Students enrolling in this subject should have a good understanding of basic biological principles (e.g. BS1001 or equivalents) and marine systems (eg MB2050) and should have completed either SC2202 or SC2209 or MB2050 or equivalents. |
| Prerequisites: | BS1007 OR BZ1007 OR MB2050 OR SC2202 OR SC2209 OR BS2001 OR BZ2001 |
| Inadmissible Subject Combinations: | MB5055 AND MB3059 |
Availabilities | |
| Townsville, Internal, Study Period 1 | |
| Census Date 22-Mar-2018 | |
| Coordinator: | Dr Orpha Bellwood |
| Contact hours: |
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| Assessment: | end of semester exam (60%); essays (15%); field report (20%); online quizzes (5%). |
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.