MB3050 - Biological Oceanography

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 distribution of planktonic species over space and time on a broad range of scales and factors influencing the survival of larval fish.

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.

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.