Biology - Spring 1998

The world ocean covers 71% of the earth's surface and contains perhaps 90% of the biosphere. The ocean produces half the oxygen we breathe, sustains fisheries worth more than $50 billion annually, and provides us with one-third of our petroleum supply. There is increasing evidence of stress on the ocean, ranging from the global collapse of fisheries to the worldwide destruction of coastal habitat. And yet, the environmental health of the marine environment has been largely ignored, both by scientists and also policy makers. This course seeks to fill this gap. No other course at UCSC is devoted entirely to the health of the marine environment.

The course will review the field of oceanography and then survey the state of the world ocean. This survey will be facilitated by using a unique bibliographic database created by former students in the course. Current students will update this database and then use it to write a short (10 - 15 page) term paper on any aspect of the state of the marine environment. Required reading includes an introductory textbook on oceanography, two small books on the state of the marine environment, and a reader containing select papers on relevant topics, including ocean pollution, persistent organic pollutants in the marine environment and in ocean food webs, marine fisheries, ocean management and marine policy.

From a pedagogical standpoint, this course is both informational and developmental. The informational component consists of lectures and reading noted above. This component of the course is designed to equip you to understand the ocean and the state of the marine environment. The developmental component of the course consists of surveying the literature available in the UCSC library on the state of the marine environment, and writing a term paper on the topic of your choice.

My goals in teaching this course are: 1) to develop in students a broad appreciation and understanding of the marine environment; 2) to assess the health of the world ocean; 3) to develop in students the capacity to critically evaluate marine policy; 4) to provide students experience in researching particular aspects of the marine environment through research in the scientific and environmental literature; and 5) to develop in students scientific writing skills through the preparation of a term paper on a topic of your choice relevant to the state of the ocean.

The reading for this course begins with the major textbook we will use (Garrison, T. (1995). Essentials of oceanography. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (ISBN 0-534-24942-6)). This book will occupy our attention for the first half of the course. We supplement the final chapter of this book with a pamphlet prepared by the Worldwatch Institute (Weber, P. (1993). Abandoned seas: reversing the decline of the oceans. Worldwatch paper 116. Washington, D. C.: Worldwatch Institute.). We then continue the topic of the state of the ocean with a short and controversial book prepared by a UN Inter-Agency group (GESAMP (1990). The state of the marine environment. London: Blackwell Scientific Publications (ISBN 0-63203198-0)). Finally, we will consider select readings that are especially pertinent to our topic (Biology 149 Reader). The texts are available in the Baytree Book Store, while the Course Reader can be obtained from the Copy Center in the Communications Building.

Lectures will be prepared and delivered under the assumption that you have done the assigned reading in advance of the corresponding lecture (with the exception of the first class session). Experience has shown that you will not be able to follow the lecture if you have not at least broadly perused the reading material in advance and are familiar with the general topics.

The course is divided into two overlapping segments. During the first segment, we will survey the field of oceanography &endash; physical, chemical and biological. This part of the course will consist of lectures and reading from the assigned textbooks. Those of you who have had Marine Sciences 1 or the equivalent may find this section of the course to be somewhat of a review, but you can nonetheless benefit from it because it will focus on the Marine Information Indexing System (see below) that will figure prominently into the second segment of the course.

The second segment of the course will focus on the Reader and the term paper project, including the structure of the OCEANS bibliographic database prepared especially for this course for the years 1990 - 1996. During the second segment of the course, you will make use of the literature database to research and write a term paper on the state of the ocean.

There will be two objective mid-term examinations, valued at 100 points each. The first midterm examination will focus reading and lectures from Garrison and Weber and on the content of the Cover Page in the Reader. The second midterm examination will focus primarily on the GESAMP book and the Reader. Both midterms will be non-cumulative, i. e., cover material only since the last midterm, and objective, i. e., multiple choice questions, true-false questions, matching and definitions. You will need a Scantron form and a # 2 pencil to take each test.

Based on the literature contained in the database you will help build and update, each student will individually write a term paper on any topic relevant to the state of the marine environment. This paper will be worth 25% of your grade/evaluation. The goal of the term paper is to provide a concise but reasonably comprehensive review of recent literature since 1990 on some aspect of the state of the marine environment, according to your interests as developed during the course. Guiding purposes of this paper are: 1) to critically assess the state of the marine environment in respect to a particular pollutant or resource, and 2) to compare this assessment with that provided by GESAMP on the same topic for the period prior to 1990, in order to assess whether detectable change has taken place. The final paper must be at least 10 but no more than 15 printed pages of text (standard margins, 12 point font). Handwritten papers can't be accepted.

The bibliography to your paper must be presented as in a conventional scientific paper (authors, last name and initials; year of publication in parentheses; full title of article; journal title spelled out completely; volume and issue number in italics, followed by a comma; and inclusive pages). References to literature in your term paper should be frequent (several citations per page) and must take the form of names of authors in parentheses following a cited fact. The final paper is due at the time and place of the final examination, i. e., Tuesday, 10 June, 144 Porter College at 4 PM.

Your performance in this course will be evaluated on the basis of your performance on two objective mid-term examinations (200 points total; 50% of the grade), performance on the literature search exercise (100 points; 25% of the grade) and the quality of your term paper (100 points; 25% of the grade). Your performance on the literature search will be evaluated on the criteria of completeness, accuracy and timeliness (for both Search and Evaluation team members). Your term paper will be assessed on the criteria of depth of treatment of your subject, responsiveness to the stated purposes of the paper (see above), and writing (mechanics, clarity, accuracy and use of references). Additional aspects of your performance that will be noted on your evaluation and figure into your grade (especially in borderline situations) are: 1) your attendance in class (roll will be taken periodically); and 2) your punctuality in meeting the various deadlines indicated on the class schedule (submission of copied papers, paper topics, bibliographies, etc.).

Revised 7/13/04.