BSCI 338 B
MARINE BIOLOGY
Fall 2013
Professor:
Dr. Marjorie L. Reaka
Office Hours: By appointment
Office: 4204 BioPsych Building
301-405-6944, mlreaka@umd.edu
Class: Tu, Th 11:00-12:15
Room 1238, Biology-Psychology Building
Objectives:
This will be a general introduction to the nature of the marine environment, the diversity and
evolutionary history of organisms that live in the marine environment, and the primary processes that
control the diversity, abundance and distribution of marine life. The course will emphasize the historical
processes that have molded the life forms, the ecology and especially the diversity of marine life throughout
the Earth’s history, particularly over the last half billion years. The course will have a strong historical and
systematic focus as a way of understanding the present patterns of diversity of life in the sea. We also will
examine the basic ecological patterns found in all of the major marine habitats and the impact of humans on
the marine environment.
Textbook:
Marine Biology (2013, 9th Edition), by Peter Castro and Michael E. Huber, McGraw Hill.
Exams:
There will be two mid-term exams (each one hour and 15 minutes, in class: Thursday, October 3,
and Tuesday, November 5). The final exam (2 hours, Monday, December 16, 8:00-10:00 a.m., this
room) will be comprehensive but will emphasize the last third of the course. The midterm and final exam
questions will cover lecture, discussion, and assigned reading material.
Grading:
Midterm I (Thursday, October 3)
Midterm II (Tuesday, November 5)
Final exam (Monday, December 16, 8:00-10:00 am, this room)
Attendance (attendance will be taken at irregular intervals)
1
20%
25%
40%
15%
100%
Assignment of grades will be based on:
A = 90%
B = 80%
C = 70%
D = 60%
F = 50%
Academic Integrity:
The University has a Code of Academic Integrity, which is available on the web at
http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/JPO/. The Code prohibits students from cheating on
exams, plagiarizing papers, submitting the same paper for credit in two courses without authorization,
buying papers, submitting fraudulent documents, and forging signatures. The University requires that
students include the following signed statement on each examination or assignment: "I pledge on my honor
that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination or assignment".
Compliance with the code is administered by an Honor Council. Allegations of academic dishonesty can be
reported directly to the Honor Council (301-314-9154) by any member of the campus community.
Course Themes:
1. History of the world’s oceans over the last 4.5 billion years (with special emphasis over the last half
billion years), including continental drift and major patterns in the diversification and extinction of life
throughout this history.
2. The marine environment: a) the origins of the global, geological and depth provinces of the oceans, b) the
geographical provinces of the oceans and their history, c) waves and tides, and d) the significance of the
chemical/physical characteristics of seawater for marine organisms,.
3. The historical development and evolution of diversity in marine organisms: Marine microorganisms and
fungi, marine plants, marine invertebrates, marine fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The evolution of
these organisms over the last half billion years – and how this evolution has structured the marine
communities we know today -- will be the major focus of this course.
4. The structure and function of modern marine ecosystems (intertidal communities, estuaries, subtidal and
continental shelf communities, coral reefs, kelp forests, salt marshes, sea grass meadows, mangroves, open
ocean, deep sea communities) will be discussed in the context of the biology and evolution of their major
foundational organisms (e.g., kelp, corals, salt marsh angiosperms, sea grasses, mangroves, pelagic
organisms, deep sea organisms, etc.).
5. Human impact and sustainability of the seas will be discussed in the context of the biology and evolution
of each of the major groups of organisms and their communities.
Schedule:
Date
Topic
Assigned Reading
Tues. Sept 3
Introduction, History of the oceans
Lecture notes
Thurs Sept 5
-----------------
History of the oceans
Lecture notes
2
Tues Sept 10
The marine environment: Global, geological, geographical, and depth provinces
of the oceans
Chapters 3, 2
Thurs Sept 12
The marine environment: Winds and currents, El Nino and primary
Productivity
-----------------(Mon Sept 16
Chapters 3, 2
Last day of schedule adjustment)
Tues Sept 17
Tides and waves; the significance of the chemical/physical properties
of sea water for marine life history and diversity
Chapters 3, 2, and
Lecture notes
Thurs Sept 19
Marine microorganisms—Diversity of Prokaryotes and Protistans in the sea,
and the evolution of multicellularity
Chapter 5
The evolution of marine multicellular plants I—Marine algae
Chapter 6
Thurs Sept 26
-----------------Tues Oct 1
The evolution of marine multicellular plants II—Marine angiosperms
Chapter 6
The evolution of fungi
The evolution of marine invertebrates—Sponges
Pp. 98-99
Chapter 7
Thurs Oct 3
-----------------Tues Oct. 8
MIDTERM I
The evolution of diploblastic invertebrates—Cnidarians
Chapter 7
Thurs Oct 10
-----------------Tues Oct 15
The evolution of diploblastic invertebrates—Cnidarians and coral reefs
Chapters 7, 14
Coral reefs, Ctenophores, and pelagic life
Chapters 7, 15
Thurs Oct 17
The evolution of triploblastic protostomous invertebrates—Flatworms
and the evolution of bilateral symmetry
Chapter 7
The evolution of complex life cycles and parasitism
Chapter 7
The evolution of triploblastic protostomous invertebrates—Other worms:
Annelids and relatives
Chapter 7
Tues Oct. 29
The evolution of triploblastic protostomous invertebrates—Molluscs
Chapter 7
Thurs Oct 31
-----------------Tues Nov 5
The evolution of triploblastic protostomous invertebrates—Molluscs
Chapter 7
Thurs Nov 7
The evolution of triploblastic protostomous invertebrates—Arthropods in
Paleozoic seas: Trilobites and Chelicerates
-----------------Tues Sept 24
-----------------Tues Oct 22
Thurs Oct 24
---------------
-----------------(Mon Nov 11
Tues Nov 12
Thurs Nov 14
-----------------Tues Nov 19
MIDTERM II
Chapter 7
Last day to drop with a ‘W’)
The evolution of triploblastic protostomous invertebrates— Another great
Paleozoic radiation of arthropods in the sea: Crustaceans
Chapter 7
The evolution of triploblastic invertebrates—Twixters and Tweeners:
Lophophorates, Chaetognaths, and bring on the deuterostomes
Pp. 140, 147-49, 298, 311,
339, 364,, 401
The evolution of triploblastic deuterostomous invertebrates—The long and
strange history of the Echinoderms
Chapter 7
3
Thurs Nov 21
-----------------Tues Nov 26
Thurs Nov 28
-----------------Tues Dec 3
Thurs Dec 5
----------------Tues Dec. 10
Thurs Dec 12
------------------
The evolution of triploblastic deuterostomous invertebrates—Hemichordates
and invertebrate chordates
Chapter 7
The evolution of triploblastic deuterostomous vertebrates—Fishes
Chapter 8
THANKSGIVING
The evolution of triploblastic deuterostomous vertebrates —Tetrapods:
The late and great marine reptiles
Chapter 9
The evolution of triploblastic deuterostomous vertebrates—Copy cat
sea birds back to the sea
Chapter 9
The evolution of triploblastic deuterostomous vertebrates—Mammals
too retake the sea
Chapter 9
The rise of still another mammal: Human impacts on the sea
Chapters 10, 17, 18
Mon Dec. 16 FINAL EXAM (8:00-10:00 am, This Room)
4