Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

To enable students to gain knowledge of the fundamental processes and functions of key marine ecosystems. To provide an understanding of the importance of marine ecosystems in relation to their distribution and productivity, and introduce students to different organismal processes such as feeding strategies, reproductive strategies and adaptations to biotic and abiotic factors. To relate knowledge of organisms in different ecosystems to each other and compare organisms in different environments. To appreciate the specific uniqueness of the plankton to marine systems and their role in life-history processes, marine food-webs and their responses to environmental change.

To introduce students to fundamental principles of laboratory skills, field sampling methods, field observations and recording, whilst using shore-based exercises and laboratory practicals to measure ecological characteristics of coastal environments, and diversity of organisms.

Outline Of Syllabus

30 x 1 hour lectures (plus 1 x 1hr revision lecture) based on the following themes:

1.       Diversity of Marine Habitats
2.       Patterns of distribution of marine fauna and flora
3.       Controls of distribution – environmental and biological interactions
4.       The importance of plankton in marine systems
5.       Zooplankton distribution and behaviour
6.       Marine Food-webs
7. Marine Pollution



Students will:

- attend one field session which will give practical introductions into survey design and techniques, qualitative and quantitative analysis of survey data, and taxonomy and ecology of coastal marine organisms in a range of local environments

- attend one laboratory practical that will provide an introduction to the disversity of marine plankton, and provide practice in microscope techniques.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

PC1 Knowledge Application: Develop fundamental biological knowledge and an awareness of how this fits into the wider context. Recognise the broad biological concepts that underpin the discipline and how these impact the world around them. (Introduced, Assessed) Specifically, students will develop an understanding of the ecology and functioning of 15 discrete marine and coastal habitats, and the basic biology of the organisms that inhabit them. Within the context of each of these habitats, they will be able to recognise the roles of competition, disturbance, predator-prey interactions and recruitment variation in determining community structure and function. Students will be able to recognise the main biodegradable and persistent pollutants in the marine environment, and be able to explain their sources and mechanisms of impact.

Intended Skill Outcomes

PC2 Information Literacy: Find and correctly interpret appropriate sources of information on scientific topics. Incorporate and reference sources appropriately within assignments. (Developed)
- Specifically, students will source, read and interpret primary scientific literature and textbooks on named marine habitats, species and ecological processes and evidence their use in assignments.

PC3 Practical skills: Implement the scientific method and fundamental disciplinary practical techniques through appropriate experiential designs. (Introduced, Developed, Assessed)
- Specifically, students will undertake a quantitative assessment of invertebrate and macroalgal abundance in a rocky shore environment, and will evidence their understanding of how methodologies influence results obtained.
Students will undertake an investigation in a laboratory setting of the diversity of coastal zooplankton using microscopes.

PC5 Communication: Comprehend and adopt appropriate language and conventions in order to communicate fundamental scientific concepts clearly, concisely & correctly. (Developed, Assessed)
- Specifically, students will communicate their understanding of marine habitats and ecological principles in the January in-person assessment. Additionally, they will evidence their use of appropriate language in two short (one summative and one formative) coursework assessments.

PC7 Ethics literacy: Show awareness of and compliance with relevant ethical concepts that apply to a broad range of scientific knowledge (e.g. academic conduct, risk assessment, inclusivity and research ethics), within a structured environment. (Developed)
- Specifically, students will evidence their understanding of appropriate health and safety measures in a field and a lab setting. The ethics associated with field surveying and appropriate care for natural environments and living organisms will be explained to them.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures are designed to build competency in a broad factual knowledge of the diversity of marine habitats and the patterns of distribution of marine organisms. The lectures will focus on the controls of distribution including environmental and biological interactions. They will also cover the importance of both phyto- and zooplankton in marine systems and the conservation and management of the marine environment. They will introduce the main pollutants in the marine environment.

Information literacy and communication competencies will be developed through directed research, through the use of supplementary online material and activities, and wider reading of the scientific literature will support the information received through lectures. Independent study will be guided through the use of these materials and online access to key texts/eBooks. Opportunities to write formative and summative coursework reports, and the feedback provided, scaffold the progression of these competencies.

Laboratory practicals, and fieldwork sessions are designed to introduce students to laboratory and intertidal survey techniques in marine contexts, allowing them the opportunity to develop competency in a range of fundamental scientific skills, including using scientific equipment, and collecting, interpreting and presenting scientific information. Ethical literacy competency is supported through consideration of Risk Assessments, and research ethical considerations of environmental impact.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The two 1000-word (or equivalent) pieces of formative and summative coursework will assess practical skills competencies in the use of appropriate field survey and laboratory techniques, and the implementation of the scientific method to address field ecological questions. In addition, student’s use of the relevant literature to support their field report will assess information literacy, and their ability to incorporate and reference sources appropriately within assignments. Ethics literacy will be assessed through evidencing their understanding of risk assessments, and their understanding of research ethics regarding environmental impact in field contexts.

The 2 hour Inspera digital exam will assess knowledge application, and the breadth and depth of biological and ecological knowledge in a range of marine habitats, their awareness of a systems approach and the connectivity between habitats and ecosystems. Communication competency will be assessed in the short essay within this digital exam, evidenced in their ability to comprehend and adopt appropriate academic language and conventions in order to communicate basic scientific concepts clearly, concisely & correctly

Study Abroad students should contact the school to discuss alternative assessment arrangements for the Inspera exam.

General Notes

N/A