ENV BIOL 3010 - Marine Ecology III

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2016

This course aims to provide an understanding of the patterns of abundance and diversity of marine plants and animals and the processes that structure these patterns. Emphasis is placed on the challenges in understanding the complexity of marine systems and the solutions to quantifying them. In addition, throughout the course students should gain an understanding of the use of coherent logical procedures and rigorous experimental design to provide practical evidence for the development of theory and solutions to environmental and conservation problems in coastal habitats. The habitats and organisms used to illustrate lectures are derived from ecological studies of subtidal rocky and coral reefs, intertidal rocky reefs, mangrove forests, salt marshes, seagrass meadows, urban structures and pelagic habitats. The field camp in the mid-semester break combines these components in a practical setting.

Open All

Course Details

Course Code	ENV BIOL 3010
Course	Marine Ecology III
Coordinating Unit	School of Biological Sciences
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 2 hours per week, plus a 4 day field camp
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Incompatible	ENV BIOL 3500
Assumed Knowledge	6 units of Level II Environmental Biology courses or equivalent
Assessment	Take-home exam, field trip report, final exam

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Professor Sean Connell

PROFESSOR BRONWYN GILLANDERS
PROFESSOR IVAN NAGELKERKEN
DR PABLO MANGUIA

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

PLEASE CONSULT THE COURSE PLANNER WEBPAGE

Course Learning Outcomes

A successful student should be able to:

1	Demonstrate knowledge of processes that shape the abundance of marine organisms
2	Demonstrate the effect of humans as drivers of marine ecosystem change and its biogeographic contingencies
3	Demonstrate scientific communication skills, including the conventions in technical writing, the structure of scientific papers and graphical methods for presenting data

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1, 2
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1, 2, 3
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	3
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1, 2, 3
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	1, 2, 3
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	3

Learning Resources

Recommended Resources

The recommended text assigned to this course is:

Connell SD & Gillanders BM 2007. Marine Ecology. Oxford University Press, 630p. ISBN: 9780195553024
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course will be delivered by the following means:

Teaching is primarily done through a combination of lectures (1 x 2 hours per week during semester) and a mid-semester break field trip (4 days).

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

A student enrolled in a 3 unit course, such as this, should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week on the studies required. This
includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures and practicals), as well as non-contact time (e.g., reading and
revision).

Learning Activities Summary

No information currently available.

Small Group Discovery Experience

Students learn about how to approach some of the key challenges that face the discipline of marine biology. The difficultly
and solutions to understanding marine phenomena and solving their practical and theoretical problems across multiple spatial and temporal scales are explained in lectures.

Small group learning
provides students practical situations to grapple with the logical approach to
formulating theory form which hypotheses are derived. This small group leaning
connects students to the reality of understanding how to design rigorous observational
and experimental research programs, their costs and benefits of simple through
complex programs, their relative practical and logistical difficulty and
strengths and weakness in providing solutions to managers, government and the
general public.

Topics include but are not limited to:
experimental design, how to test for species interactions, how to test for
abiotic stressors, experimental designs for categorical data, experimental
designs for continuous data, pulse and press experiments.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Type of assessment	Percentage of total assessment	Hurdle	Learning Outcomes being assessed / achieved	Approximate Timing of Assessment
Take home exam	Formative & Summative	20 %	No	1-2, 7	Week 5
Field trip report	Formative & Summative	30 %	No	1-7	Week 12
Exam	Summative	50 %	No	1-2, 7	End of semester exam period

Assessment Detail

1. Take home exam

The take home exam will be set in week 5 of semester. The questions will be posted to MyUni on the Friday afternoon and will be due at 9:00am on the following Monday. The exam will take the form of several questions that require answers in the form of essays and will require reference to the scientific literature. It is expected that students will draw on lecture material and other sources of information for answers. Essays will be submitted through TurnItIn software.

2. Field Trip Report

Students will be required to submit a report on scientific activities on the compulsory mid-semester field camp. This report will be due in week 12 of the semester and take the form of a scientific paper and will have strict guidelines that will be announced in class and posted on MyUni. The report will be written in the same groups that complete the research project on the camp. All students within the group will receive the same mark for the report. Students who do not attend the field trip will be required to write an essay that requires comparable intellectual and temporal investment as expended by students on the trip. Details about the essay guidelines will be provided in class.

3. Exam

A 3-hour end-of-semester exam is scheduled for Marine Ecology

Submission

Late Submission
If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

The 成人大片 is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 成人大片 therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

成人大片