WINTER 2001

This information effective for Winter 2001.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes..

Ocean Sciences

[OCEA-080A] [OCEA-080B] [OCEA-101] [OCEA-142/242] [OCEA-142L/242L]

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80A. Life in the Sea

Instructor: Jonathan Zehr (zehrj@cats.ucsc.edu)
Professor of Ocean Sciences
Office Hours: Mon. 1:30-3:30 or by appointment
Earth and Marine Sciences Bldg. A438 , 459-4009

Teaching Assistants: TobeNamed_1 1@cats.ucsc.edu, TobeNamed_2 2@cats.ucsc.edu

Course Website: http://wwwcatsic.ucsc.edu/~ocea80a/
Website contains helpful ancillary material for the course, including a copy of the syllabus, reading assignments, and field trip information (including directions to sites).

Instruction Level, Goals and Format: This is an introductory course, designed for non-science majors, and fulfills the T2-Natural Sciences general education requirement. The goal of the class is to introduce non-science students to marine organisms and the major ocean habitats. The class combines formal lectures, field trips, and section meetings that serve both as discussion groups and as laboratory sessions to study organisms encountered on field trips. Primarily, the instructor will give lectures, but guest experts will speak on selected subjects.

Prerequisites: High school biology and chemistry

Text: The required text is Marine Biology, by Castro & Huber, 3rd Edition. The text is available at the Baytree Bookstore.

Section Meetings: Students are required to attend section meetings to obtain credit for the class. There will be approximately 22 students in each section. Students will fill out enrollment cards at the end of the first day of class, Wednesday, January 3, and select several sections that will fit into their schedule. The finalized student lists for the sections will be posted on the class website and outside the classroom door by Saturday, January 6. Students are expected to attend section meetings starting the first full week of instruction, i.e., the week beginning January 8. Students can only retain their enrollment status in the class through attending the first meeting of their assigned section, even if they have already pre-registered for the class. The purpose of the sections is to introduce additional materials to complement the lectures and to provide a forum for students to ask questions in a more personalized, smaller classroom setting than that available in the lecture hall. The sections, each led by a graduate student TA (teaching assistant), will also be a place where quizzes may be administered, so that students can gauge their degree of understanding of the lecture and lab materials. In the last few weeks of the quarter, students will give brief verbal presentations on a library research topic that will be chosen in consultation with their TA. The presentations and papers within each section will be focused around a central theme.

Field Trips: There will be 1 required field trip. This trip will either be to Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz, or the Monterey Bay Aquarium, depending on weather and other factors. Some vans will be available for students who need to use them, but students will be encouraged to carpool with private passenger cars as much as possible. The field trip will occur outside the lecture and section meeting times. Several trips are scheduled to the same destination so that students will be able to select the time that best fits their schedule. (Due to limited space, only class members are allowed on the trips.) Students will complete an assignment related to the trip.

Exams: The 3 exams are based on subject material presented in the lectures, including the guest lectures, and on material discussed in sections. The final exam is comprehensive.

Evaluations: Evaluations will be based on performance in the 2 midterm exams (20% each), the final exam (25%), on section scores (includes participation and attendance, lab assignments, quiz scores, field trip reports, and the final, verbal presentation) 20%, and the presentation 15%.

Tentative Lecture Schedule

Special Accommodations: Students with disabilities who may need special accommodations should see the instructor as soon as possible during the quarter.

Library Usage: To complete their presentations, students will need to be familiar with techniques for researching their topic through the literature. Therefore, students need to be familiar with the library. Students are urged to take one of the regular library tours and become familiar with search techniques for journal and newspaper articles and books. Considerable information is also available through various websites (some of which are listed in the text.) Students will learn how to access the web and library resources electronically by using an on-line tutorial called NetTrail, located at http://nettrail.ucsc.edu/ (This tutorial is self-paced and accessible from CATS Instructional Computing labs: students must activate their CATS account before using NetTrail.). The NetTrail tutorial is required this quarter, and will be used during the week while completing the first library assignment. Introductory workshops to familiarize students with both the science library and McHenry library are given throughout the quarter. McHenry Library reference services are accessed at http://bob.ucsc.edu/library/ref/. General information and a virtual tour of McHenry are available through the general library site http://bob.ucsc.edu/library/mchenry/index.html.

Victoria Welborn is the Ocean Sciences Librarian. You can email her at welborn@cats.ucsc.edu or call her at x9-2816 to ask questions or set up an appointment. She works the Reference Desk Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5-9 and Friday afternoons from 3-5 and is a specialist in marine science reference topics.

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80B. Earth: A Habitable Planet

WWW site: http://wwwcatsic.ucsc.edu/~ocea80b/

GEN ED
Topical Course in Nat Sci
Topical Course in Nat Sci and Writing Intensive

Instructor: Christina Ravelo
Office: Earth & Marine Sciences Building Room A454
Telephone: 459-3722
E-mail address: acr@aphrodite.ucsc.edu
Office Hours: TBA

Please contact professor if you have questions about the class!

General Focus of Class: This class focuses on the development of Earth as a habitable planet, from its origins to human impacts on the global environment including the ocean, atmosphere, and land. We seek to define the basis for understanding the magnitudes and temporal scales of these impacts. Our emphasis is on the scientific causes and explanations of global environmental change.

Course Reading Material:

• Mackenzie, R. T., (1998). Our Changing Planet - An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change, Prentice Hall.
• Lovelock, J., (1988). The Ages of Gaia - A Biography of Our Living Earth, W. W. Norton and Company.

Course Requirements (all sections):

• Attendance at lectures
• Attendance and participation in weekly discussion sections, including participation in preparation and presentation of section project
• Five written assignments: Three (3) short (1.5 - 2 pages of text) written assignments; PLUS two (2) longer (4 - 5 pages of text) written assignments. Students taking the course for 'W' credit will be required to re-write at least 3 of their 5 assignments while working with a writing tutor
• Mid-term exam
• Final exam

List of Topics to be Covered in This Course

Earth's Early Development

Elemental synthesis and solar system formation

Earth's formation and segregation

A Dynamic Earth

Plate tectonics

Origin of oceans and atmosphere

Evolution of life and atmosphere

Gaia

Introduction to Daisyworld

Dynamic Global Cycles

Elemental and global carbon cycles

Atmospheric Circulation and El Nino

Hydrologic Cycles and Ocean Circulation

Dynamic Climate Cycles

Glacial-Interglacial Cycles

Rapid Climate Change

Greenhouse Effect

Chemistry, causes, and global warming

Stratospheric Ozone Depletion

Chemistry, causes and effects

Acid Rain

Chemistry, causes and effects

Pollution

Aerosols, Photochemical Smog

Soils and Deforestation

Soil nutrient cycling, human impacts on soils

Causes and effects of deforestation

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101. The Marine Environment

WWW site: http://wwwcatsic.ucsc.edu/~ocea101/

Instructor: Raphael Kudela
Office: Earth & Marine Sciences Building Room A461
Telephone: 459-2688
E-mail address: kudela@cats.ucsc.edu
Office Hours: TBA

Please contact professor if you have questions about the class!

Tentative Syllabus

General Focus of Class: This course is designed to provide an introduction to the marine environment stressing the interaction of physical, chemical, geological, and biological factors in the ocean. The course provides an oceanographic background for studies in marine biology.

Course Reading Material:

Thurman, H.V. and E.A. Burton (2001). Introductory Oceanography, 9th Edition. Prentice Hall.

Course Requirements (all sections):

• Attendance at lectures
• Attendance and participation in weekly discussion sections, including participation in preparation and presentation of section project
• Weekly homework assignments
• Two writing assignments
• Mid-term exam
• Final exam

List of Topics to be Covered in This Course

• The Origin of Earth, its Oceans and Atmosphere
• Co-evolution of Life and Earth
• Global Plate Tectonics
• Marine Provinces
• Properties of Water and Seawater
• Major and Minor Constituents of Seawater
• Hydrologic and Hydrothermal Cycles
• Light and Sound in the Sea
• Air-Sea Interactions/Heat Budget
• Wind-driven Surface Water Circulation
• Thermohaline-driven Deep Water Circulation
• Primary Productivity and Nutrient Cycles
• Plankton; Phyto-, Zoo-, and Bacteria
• Limiting Nutrients, New and Regenerated Production
• Controls on Spatial and Temporal Variability of Primary Production
• Trophic Levels, Food Webs and Fisheries Implications
• Ocean Sediments /Paleoceanography
• Biogeochemical Cycles
• Marine Bioinvasions
• Harmful Algal Blooms
• Marine Pollution
• Global Warming

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142/242. Ocean Ecosystems

Instructor: Mary Silver

Catalog description:
Discussion of selected topics in animal ecology of the open sea: zooplankton production, variability of pelagic populations, food webs, deep-sea pelagic and benthic ecology, fisheries oceanography, and human effects on the open ocean biota.

Prerequisite(s):
One year of college level biology. One marine science course recommended as preparation.

Supplemental Information

Ocean Sciences 142 is a lecture class that replaces the second half of the former OS 140/Bio146 and OS 240, "Biological Oceanography." The lecture material on the animal related topics in biological oceanography, a course being replaced by this and another (OS146) new course is expanded and additional topics are being introduced. Lecture topics for the 30 class sessions (for a MWF lecture class) are as follows:

Lecture Schedule

Week 1
Introduction to Oceanography
Zooplankton - Review of the Animals
Zooplankton Feeding Behavior

Week 2
Food Properties: "Quality" and Toxins
Zooplankton Production
Protozoa and the Microbial Loop

Week 3
Small scale (<100 km) Plankton Distributions and their Causes
Zooplankton Life Cycles/Seasonal Cycles
Mesoscale distributions (100 -1000 km) and Plankton Drift

Week 4
Major provinces of the pelagic zone: Biogeography and Water Masses
Pelagic Food webs and Ecosystem Models
Vertical Distribution of Pelagic Organisms/ Export Production

Week 5
Midterm Day
Marine Snow and Oceanic Detritus
Vertical Migration

Week 6
Bioluminescence
Physiology of Deep Sea Pelagic Organisms
The Deep Sea Benthos - Dominant Organisms and their Characteristics

Week 7
Species Diversity of the Deep Sea Fauna
The Physical Environment of Hydrothermal Vents
Biology of Hydrothermal Vent Organisms

Week 8
Pelagic Predators: tunas, squid and cod
Life History Characteristics of Pelagic Fish
Recruitment fisheries oceanography

Week 9
Natural Variability of Fish populations
Pelagic Ecology of the California Current
Spread of exotic species

Week 10
Human effects (non-fishery) on the oceanic biota: pollution and eutrophication
Regime Shifts and Longer-Term Biota Changes
Mariculture and Aquaculture

Week 11
Final Exam

Possible Texts for the class (not yet confirmed):

• Ivan Valiela, Marine Ecological Processes, 3rd edition, 2000, Springer
• Andrew Bakun, Patterns in the Ocean, 1996, California Sea Grant
• Additional reading of selected review papers to augment the text: these will be assigned on a week to week basis

Section Meetings:
Sections/lab meetings are required and will meet 1 hr and 10 minutes, once a week. Demonstrations will be presented (e.g., fresh zooplankton and larval fish will be shown from live collections in Monterey Bay), questions will be answered about the lecture. material and students will give brief verbal presentations related to the topic of their research paper.

Field Trips:
Two optional field trips will be available to students. The first will be a day (morning) trip early in the quarter to obtain material for the 142L lab on zooplankton and egg distributions. The second will be an early evening trip (just after sunset) to observe the rise of the deep-scattering (migratory) layer over the Monterey Submarine Canyon. Both trips are weather dependent.

Basis of Evaluations:
Students will be evaluated principally on the basis of their midterm exam (25%), final exam (30%), research paper (25%) and section performance (20%). The research paper will require the students to chose a topic, with the consent of the instructor, and review that subject, using primary research literature (i.e. journal articles).

Graduate versus Undergraduate Credit for the Class
Graduate students will write a paper of 8-10 pages, whereas undergraduates will write shorter papers of 5-6 page length. Furthermore, passing scores on the exams for graduate students require that they score in the top 2/3 of the class. (Graduate students have traditionally represented 1/3 or fewer of the numbers in the former biological oceanography class) Graduate students are required to attend at least 1 of the "optional" field trips, if these trips occur (i.e., trips are weather dependent).

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142L/242L. Ocean Ecosystem Laboratory (2 units)

Instructor: Mary Silver

Catalog description:
A laboratory class designed for training students in selected techniques used for studying animal plankton, including laboratory experiments on zooplankton behavior and estimation of planktonic population sizes in Monterey Bay.

Prerequisite:
Enrollment in OS 142 or 242 (may be concurrent)

Supplemental Information

This laboratory course accompanies the lecture course in Ocean Ecosystems and will involve a once a week, 3-hour laboratory session. It is designed to show some of the methods used by biological and fisheries oceanographers. Three experiments will be conducted in the class, and through these the students will learn important techniques and methods of interpreting data and reporting results. As presently envisioned, the first experiment involves measurements of feeding rates and the effect of several physical and biological factors on these rates. The second experiment involves measurements of behavioral effects on the vertical distribution of pelagic organisms, with the responses induced by the introduction of a predator. The third experiment involves the estimation of the size of pelagic fish stocks based on the abundance of their planktonic eggs, a widely used technique in fisheries oceanography that also can be applied to other organisms. The schedule, by week, is shown below.

Laboratory Schedule:

Week 1
Introduction to the compound and dissecting microscope, and calibrations of students' microscopes. Drawing of local, live (freshly collected) field material.

Week 2
Identification of dominant local zooplankton taxa and introduction to methods of zooplankton and phytoplankton enumeration.

Week 3
Introduction to the first experiment: factors affecting the grazing rate of zooplankton. Initial measurements of phytoplankton in feeding chambers.

Week 4
Feeding experiment, part II. Final measurements of phytoplankton abundance. Introduction to methods for calculating filtration rates.

Week 5
Discussion of results from the grazing experiment and expectations for student generated lab-reports

Week 6
(Reports from feeding experiment due) Introduction to the second experiment on vertical migration of zooplankton. Part I of vertical migration study. Set-up microcosms and initial counts of zooplankton.

Week 7
Part II of vertical migration study. Final counts of zooplankton distribution in laboratory microcosms 3 days after introduction of the predator. Discussion of statistical methods for analyzing results of experiment.

Week 7
Introduction to the method for calculating fish stock size using egg abundance. Part I: initial counts from field samples.

Week 8
(Reports from vertical migration study due). Part II, fish stock assessment. Further counts from field samples.

Week 9
Part III, fish stock assessment. Final counts from field samples. Discussion of results and critique of method.

Week 10
(Reports due on fish stock assessment). Mini-presentations by students on their results of estimating fish stock size. Final discussion.

Text: None. Instructions and data sheets will be provided the week prior to the beginning of each experiment.

Field Trips:
None required. Students, however, will be urged to participate in the 2 field trips listed in OS 142/242: a day trip for collecting nearshore zooplankton and a night trip for observing the deep planktonic migrating layer over the submarine canyon. (There are always students who are extremely susceptible to seasickness, and these are advised not to go to sea.)

Basis of Evaluations
Each of the reports, which use data that are both individually and group-collected, represents 30% of the grade. Reports will present the data graphically, interpret the results, and provide an introduction for the rationale of the experiment. The other 10% of the grade is based on participation in discussions.

Graduate versus Undergraduate Credit for the Class:
Graduate students are expected to present more detailed reports, comparing their own or the class results with appropriate data from the literature on the topic. Thus their reports require a literature review and citation of relevant papers from journals. Graduate students will be required to participate in at least one of the field trips, which are weather dependent (except for seasick-prone students).