3573 - Marine Biology II
Course information
- Title
- Marine Biology II
- Course number
- 3573.23
- Academic year
- 2024-2025
- ECTS
- 7.50
- Level
- Bachelor
- Faculties
- Science and Tecnology
- Educations
- BSc in Biology
- Prerequisites
- Marine Biology I or equivalent courses
- Language of instruction
- The course is taught in Faroese.
- Registration
- Students on the 6th semester of B.Sc. in Biology are automatically enrolled. Applicants for an individual course must apply via the Student Affairs Office.
- Beginning date
- Monday, January 13, 2025
- End date
- Friday, March 7, 2025
Academic content
- Purpose
- To provide an overview of functions and adaptations of marine plants and animals
- Learning outcomes
- After passing the module the student will be able to: o Explain ecological and evolutionary main principles in regards to marine biology as well as describe important scientific concepts such as classification, ecological interaction, hierarchy, and marine biogeography. o Recount chemical and physical concepts in regards to marine environment as for instance salinity, oxygen, light, temperature, as well as physiological performance and cyclical behavioural and physiological response. o Explain how organisms adapt to the physical marine environment for instance in regards to temperature, salinity, and oxygen. o Discuss life in a fluid medium; explain density, viscosity, Reynold’s number, as well as hydrodynamic phenomena. o Explain factors controlling the dynamics of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the ocean, including spring blooming of phytoplankton and vertical migration of zooplankton. o Discuss food chains / food webs and the importance of fishing operations. o Discuss ecological and evolutionary factors in relation to reproduction, types of sexuality, demography, migration, and biogeographical structures. o Explain classification, reproduction, and the distribution of seaweeds and the factors controlling the amount of seaweed at the seashore, including trophic cascades. o Provide a brief account of seabirds and whales. o Describe the physical and chemical properties of sediment as well as functional main groups such as filter-feeders, deposit-feeders, scavengers, and predators. o Describe the challenges of seashore organisms, among other factors in regards to drying out, temperature, oxygen, competition, and predation and how this creates a zonation of seashore organisms. o Provide an explanation of biodiversity in the ocean and of some tools used for measuring biodiversity.
- Content
- The physical and chemical environment and how organisms in the ocean adapt to changes in the environment, e.g. temperature, salinity, osmotic pressure, oxygen, and light. Procreation, dispersal, and migration. Living in fluid. Diversity and living modes of benthic animals. Seafloor processes. Seaweeds.
- Learning and teaching approaches
- Lectures, seminars, and exercises
Assessment
- Assessment method
- A four-hour closed-book written exam. Hand-in assignments will also be marked and an average of these will count as 20% of the course mark. Students opting for re-examination, however, are not required to submit hand-ins, in which case the written exam counts as 100% of the module mark
- Examination (internal/external)
- External
- Grading scale
- 7-scale
- Exam date/dates
- The written exam is set for week 11. The reexam is set for week 23, 2025.
- Deadline for withdrawal from exam
- Monday, January 13, 2025
Academic responsibility and teachers
- Academic responsibility
- Petur Steingrund
- Teachers
- Petur Steingrund, Tóra Winther Reinert, Ámundur Nolsøe, Eilif Gaard, Sólvá Jacobsen, Bjarni Mikkelsen, Jóhannis Danielsen