Course Overview

The vast deep sea is the largest living space on earth and yet less than 5% of the seafloor has been explored in some details. In fact, we have better maps for the Moon, Mars, or even Venus due to our planet's watery veil. The variety of habitats and the complex relationship with its inhabitants gives rise to diverse communities, providing important ecosystem functions and services, and maintaining the elemental cycling in the ocean. However, climate changes and human activities on the seafloor have created unprecedented challenges and threats to the deep-sea ecosystems. These seemingly pristine environments have undergone major changes that out-pace our understanding of factors that drive the spatial and temporal patterns of the deep-sea ecosystems. This course will cover major topics in deep-sea ecology including the physical environments and history, sampling techniques, adaptations of deep-sea organisms, community composition and functions, major habitats, and anthropogenic effects.

Learning Achievement

By the end of this course, students are expected to be able to: 1) Describe the co-varying effects of physical environments on the adaptation of deep-sea organisms 2) Describe the effects of depth and the co-varying factors on abundance, composition, diversity and functions of deep-sea communities 3) Compare and contrast various deep-sea habitats, the key processes and associated communities 4) Evaluate the potential impacts of human activities on deep-sea ecosystem 5) Read and understand a scientific literature in deep-sea ecology, evaluate its findings and discuss its implications 6) Synthesize and review a selected topic in deep-sea ecology, orally present and lead discussion in its background, controversies and future directions

Competence

Course prerequisites

Grading: Participation 30% Discussion 20% Presentation 40% Quizzes 10% Paper discussions: Each student (or group) will select a paper (related to deep-sea ecology) to lead the discussion. Discussion leaders will provide an outline for the discussion of each paper on PowerPoint slides (30 minutes), presenting: the rational for study, hypotheses or goals, major findings, and conclusions. Discussion leader should prepare with one or two questions to stimulate discussion, addressing strengths, weaknesses, significance, and future directions for the study. Discussion leaders will receive an evaluation of the presentation by their peers. Grading (discussion) is depending upon the active participation in discussion led by student.

Grading Philosophy

Course schedule

Course type

Online Course Requirement

Instructor

Chih-Lin, Wei

Other information

(College of Science International Master/Doctoral Degree Program In Climate Change and Sustainability

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