Biological Oceanography of Puget Sound

Taught By:

Estuaries contain diverse habitats and are among the most productive ecosystems worldwide. Puget Sound is one of the largest estuaries in the US and supports both finfish and shellfish fisheries. This upper-division science program will explore the biological oceanography of Puget Sound. Topics in biological oceanography will include the importance of prokaryotes in food webs, phytoplankton dynamics, secondary production of zooplankton, population biology of pelagic organisms, and marine fisheries. In addition, we will study how the physical and chemical estuarine environment influence the adaptations, distribution, and productivity of organisms. The effects of human activities including climate change on Puget Sound will also be studied. Students will learn standard lab and field skills for carrying out investigations in biological oceanography. Learning will take place through readings, lectures, seminars, fieldwork and in the lab. We will seminar on research papers published in the primary scientific literature. Students will be evaluated based on their completion of assignments, participation in seminar, exam scores, and lab notebooks.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

5* - Biological Oceanography

5* - Puget Sound Ecology

4* - Oceanography Lab

2* - Biological Oceanography Seminar

*Upper Division Science

Registration

Prerequisites:

Two quarters of college chemistry with labs and two quarters of college biology with labs are required. These prerequisites will be verified the first day of class.

Fall Registration:

Two quarters of biological sciences and two quarters of chemistry are pre-requisites for this program. These pre-requisites will be verified the first day of class.