I. Introduction to the course and a description of marine environments (Class 1 )
A. Course logistics
B. Definitions of terms and some concepts
C. Survey of discussion topics
II. Chapter 1 Introduction to benthic organisms & feeding guilds (Class 2 )
A. Case studies
B. Classifications of marine benthic organisms
III. Chapter 2 Microphytobenthos & benthic primary production (Class 3 )
A. Case studies
1. Savin Hill Cove
2. Ems Dollard
B. Benthic diatoms
A. Case studies
B. Predation
C. Amensalism
VI. Chapter 5 General patterns of community structure (Class 6 )
A. Case studies
B. Methods to describe community structure
C. Factors controlling community structure
D. Examples
E. Deep-sea community structure and patterns of marine biodiversity (Class 9)
F. Case studies
G. Patterns of deep-sea community structure
H. Sanders’ stability-time hypothesis
I. Other hypotheses for patterns of deep-sea diversity.
VII. Chapter 6 Effects of pollution on marine benthic communities (Class 10)
A. Case studies
B. General Principles
C. Effects on communities
D. Effects on individuals
E. Statistical models for monitoring and assessing the effects of pollution
F. Chapter 7 Effects of pollution in East Coast Benthos
1. Case studies
G. EPA’s EMAP program & patterns of east coast community structure: salinity effects dominate
H. Effects of pollution on Boston Harbor, New Bedford Harbor, and MA Bay benthos
ECOS 630 Biol. Ocean. Processes Syllabus, P. 15 of 34.
VIII. Chapter 8 P, B, and ì: the fundamental units of phytoplankton ecology (Class 11)
A. Readings
B. Distinguishing among B, P, and ì: Biomass, production and specific growth rate
C. C:Chl a ratios Gallegos & Vant (1996)
D. The effects of temperature on ìmax Ahlgren (1987)
A. Readings
1. Required:
B. What is photosynthesis?
C. P vs. I curves
D. Diel and vertical patterns of production.
E. Photoadaptation & photoinhibition
F. Importance of light quality
XI. Chapter 11 Environmental factors controlling primary production: Nutrient limitation (Class 11 )
A. Readings
B. Phytoplankton growth & the nitrogen cycle
C. Chemostats in oceanography
1. Coupling N uptake and growth with Michaelis-Menten style equations
2. Goldman’s relative growth rate and the Redfield ratio
D. Other nutrients: P, Si, metals (Fe and Zn)
XII. Chapter 12 The spring and fall blooms (Class 12 )
A. Readings
1. Required
ECOS 630 Biol. Ocean. Processes Syllabus, P. 16 of 34.
2. Recommended: Parsons et al. (1966)
B. Sverdrup’s critical depth concept
C. The fall bloom
XIII. Chapter 13 Upwellling & El Niño (Class 13 )
A. Case studies
B. The physics of upwelling
C. Succession at upwelling centers
D. Upwelling and fish production
E. Upwelling and bottom-water anoxia off New Jersey
F. El Niño and La Niña
XIV. Chapter 14 Production in the coastal zone (Class 14 )
A. Case studies
B. Why Nitrogen is the key limiting nutrient in the sea
C. The advection-diffusion equation, and the importance of horizontal and vertical eddy diffusive fluxes of nitrate
D. Box and Markov models of nitrogen transport
E. The role of vertical stability and the importance of horizontal nutrient transport
XV. In class midterm examination (10/24/06 Tu, Class 15 )
XVI. Chapter 15 Production in Harbors and Bays, especially MA Bay (Class 16 )
A. Case studies
B. Types of estuaries and fronts
C. The seasonal cycle of production in MA Bay
D. The N cycle in the Gulf of Maine, MA Bay, Boston Harbor
E. Edmondson’s definition of eutrophication
F. Effects of light and nutrients and the Cole-Cloern/ Platt relationship.
G. The vertical distribution of phytoplankton & the subsurface chlorophyll maximum
H. Effects of the MWRA outfall
XVII. Chapter 16 Primary production in the oceanic gyres (Class 17 )
A. Case studies
B. Models of gyre production.
XVIII. Chapter 17 Satellite remote sensing of Chl a and primary production (Class 18 )
A. Case studies
B. Types of satellites and their sensors
C. The CZCS algorithm to estimate Chl a
D. Estimating primary production from space.
XIX. Chapter 11 Zooplankton grazing mechanisms (Class 19 )
A. Case studies
B. Life at Low Reynolds number
C. Frost’s empirical relationships between grazing and phytoplankton
conWIMBAtion
D. Interaction between phytoplankton size and grazing
E. How to measure zooplankton grazing rates.
F. Are noxious phytoplankton blooms in the coastal zone due to lack of grazing, eutrophication, or both?
XX. Chapter 12 Predation on zooplankton (Class 20 )
A. Case studies
B. Brooks and Dodson’s (1965) ‘Size-efficiency hypothesis’
C. The role of invertebrate predation
D. The trophic-cascade hypothesis
XXI. Chapter 13 Vertical migration of zooplankton ( Class 21 )
A. Case studies
B. Zooplankton life histories
C. Demography
D. Demographic analysis of the adaptive value of vertical migration
E. Game theoretic analysis of vertical migration
XXII. Chapter 14 Heterotrophic microbial processes (Class 22 )
A. Case studies
B. Methods for determining microbial standing stocks & production
C. What limits bacterial production?
D. The microbial loop hypothesis
E. Microbial biodiversity (Class 23 )
XXIII. Chapter 15 : The Ecological Implications of Body Size (Class 24 )
XXIV. Chapter 16 Factors controlling primary and secondary production HNLC regions, the subarctic Pacific and Southern Ocean. (Class 25 )
A. Case studies
B. The North Pacific
C. The Southern Ocean
D. 2
Chapter 17 Oceanographic production and atmospheric CO (Class 26 )
XXV. Ecosystem Modeling ( Class 27 )
A. Chapter 18
B. Chapter 19 Coastal marine ecosystem modeling (Class 28 )
1. Case studies
2. Kremer and Nixon’s Narragansett Bay Model
3. Predicting the effects of man’s activities: DiToro’s Hydroqual model of MA Bay
XXVI. Final Examination during the scheduled final exam period.