Marine Biology and Conservation

 

What is it?

This course examines diversity, physiology, ecology, and conservation of microbes, plants, and animals that live in the marine environment. Emphasis is placed on how marine organisms have adapted to living in their environment and how humans depend upon and affect marine ecosystems.

This course is taught as lecture course during the fall and spring and online during summers.

Tentative lecture topics

  • Introduction and History of a Dynamic Planet
  • Diversity of Life
  • The Coastal Environment
  • Economy of the Shoreline
  • Reproduction and Recruitment
  • Pattern and Process of Coastal Communities
  • Rocky Shores and Soft-Sediment Habitats
  • Salt Marsh Communities
  • The Hypoxic Zone
  • Global Warming and Sea-Level Rise
  • Decline of Fisheries
  • Tragedy of the Commons

Instructor

 who?      Frank Jordan (Professor and Slayer of Fishes)
 where?  MO 357 (office), MO 316 (lab), or just lurking about campus
 when?   Office hours: by appointment
 if not?   Phone: 865.3829 (office) or jordan@loyno.edu (email)

Meeting time and place

See current Schedule of Classes for meeting place and time.

Blackboard and email

All course materials and communications will be facilitated via Blackboard. You are responsible for all materials placed on Blackboard and you should check the Blackboard site regularly for new additions. You should also check your email regularly for last minute updates, modifications, jokes, etc. You will be added to the Human Impact Biology site on Blackboard during the first week of classes.

Required textbooks

There is not a textbook dealing with the topics of coastal marine ecology and conservation, especially emphasizing ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, I am going to synthesize material from a number of sources. Our primary text is going to be The Ecology of Atlantic Shorelines, because the coverage of this book is really accessible to non-scientists. Go to the "Lectures" section of the Blackboard site to download and print notes and diagrams to accompany each lecture.

Tests, grading, and other nastiness

There will be 10 (10) moderately evil Blackboard quizzes and three (3) incredibly evil lecture exams that emphasize material addressed in lecture and readings outside of class. Each lecture exam will be comprised of a mixture of true-false, multiple choice, and matching. Each exam will focus on the material covered since the previous exam, although I reserve the right to include earlier material to ensure that you are synthesizing all of the ideas that we are covering in the course. No more than 20% of an exam will be on such earlier material. There is no cumulative final exam per se, but do understand that you will need to draw upon material from earlier lectures to do well on later exams.

You are required to attend one Biology Research seminars offered on Tuesdays during the window. You must type a two-page summary of what the talk was about and how the talk related to our lectures or your understanding of the natural environment. Summaries are due the following class period.

To familiarize yourself with the critters that we will be talking about this semester, you will complete an assignment for the Animal Diversity laboratory. This assignment will be handed out at the beginning of the second week of class and should be turned in the following week.

As usual for my classes, your grade will be determined using a complex system involving live sacrifice, casting of chicken bones, reading of entrails, and divine piscine revelation from the Holy Shad. Actually, your quizzes, exams, and miscellaneous assignments are worth a total of about 500 points. Receiving 60% of these points earns you a D, 70% of these points earns you a C, 80% of these points earns you a B, and 90% of these points earns you an A!

Advice and stuff

You're paying for this course, so it's your responsibility to decide whether you need to attend. Although you will receive copies of my notes and have the textbook, you will quickly realize that I add supplementary material during lectures and that this material is definitely going to show up on tests! Therefore, please come to class. I do not have review sessions, but I am available virtually 24/7 via email to address your questions. I often forward questions and answers to everyone in the course.

"A student with a disability that qualifies for accommodations should contact Disability Services at 865-2990 (Academic Resource Center, Room 405, Monroe Hall). A student wishing to receive test accommodations (e.g., extended test time) should provide the instructor with an official Accommodation Form from Disability Services in advance of the scheduled test date."

Of course, you should feel free to contact me whenever you need help with this course, life, the universe, or anything.  I would be happy to hear your abbreviated life stories and your projected life-history trajectories.  I don't have any money, so don't ask.

Finally, please feel free to offer suggestions and constructive criticism as the semester progresses. I strive to continually improve this course.