MB3050 - Biological Oceanography
Credit points: |
3 |
Year: |
2020 |
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.
Subject Assessment
- end of semester exam (60%)
- essays (15%)
- field report (20%)
- online quizzes (5%).
Assumed Knowledge:
|
Students enrolling in this subject should have a good understanding of basic biological
principles (eg BS1001) and marine systems (eg MB2050) and should have completed either
SC2202 or SC2209 and MB2050 or equivalents.
|
Prerequisites: |
(BS1007 OR BZ1007) AND MB2050 AND (SC2202 OR SC2209 OR BS2001 OR BZ2001) |
Inadmissible Subject Combinations:
|
MB5055 AND MB3059 |
Availabilities
|
Townsville,
Internal,
Study Period 1
|
Census Date 26-Mar-2020 |
Coordinator: |
Dr Orpha Bellwood |
Lecturers:
|
Professor Michael Kingsford, Professor Garry Russ, Professor Mark McCormick, Dr Orpha Bellwood. |
Workload expectations: |
The student workload for this
3
credit point subject is approximately
130 hours.
- 26 hours lectures
- 30 hours practicals
- 3 hours fieldwork
- assessment and self-directed study
|
|
|
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.