Coral Reef Ecology (MSC 422) & Marine Caribbean Geology (MSC 430) GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION Instructors: Dr. Lee Ann Clements, Office: MSRI 260; Phone: 256-7302; Email: [email protected]Dr. Jeremy Stalker, Office: MSRI 258; Phone: 256-7636; Email: [email protected]REQUIRED ITEMS: 1) Passport or birth certificate 2) Snorkeling gear (mask, snorkel, fins, dive boots) REQUIRED TEXT: P. Humann & N. Deloach. 2002. Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. New World Publication, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida. P. Humann & N. Deloach. 2002. Reef Creature Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas.New World Publication, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida. P. Humann & N. Deloach. 2002. Reef Coral Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas.New World Publication, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida. RECOMMENDED TEXT: Kaplan EH. 1982. A Field Guide to Coral Reefs: Caribbean and Florida. Peterson Field Guides New York. Houghton Mifflin. COURSE OBJECTIVES: These courses combined examine the coral reef environment including its biology, geologic setting, chemical and physical characteristics, and its relation to fossil coral reef environments and global climate change. A major component of the course includes identification of the principal corals, fishes, molluscs, algae, and other marine organisms that constitute a major part of the biota of coral reefs. Various quantitative and manipulative field and laboratory techniques will be used to quantify biotic/abiotic patterns (spatial and temporal) in the coral reef environment to help gain insight into the
GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION Instructors: Dr. Lee Ann Clements, Office: MSRI 260; Phone: 256-7302; Email: [email protected] Dr. Jeremy Stalker, Office: MSRI 258; Phone: 256-7636; Email: [email protected] REQUIRED ITEMS:
P. Humann & N. Deloach. 2002. Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. New World Publication, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida.
P. Humann & N. Deloach. 2002. Reef Creature Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas.New World Publication, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida.
P. Humann & N. Deloach. 2002. Reef Coral Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas.New World Publication, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida.
RECOMMENDED TEXT:
Kaplan EH. 1982. A Field Guide to Coral Reefs: Caribbean and Florida. Peterson Field Guides New York. Houghton Mifflin.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
These courses combined examine the coral reef environment including its biology, geologic setting, chemical and physical characteristics, and its relation to fossil coral reef environments and global climate change. A major component of the course includes identification of the principal corals, fishes, molluscs, algae, and other marine organisms that constitute a major part of the biota of coral reefs. Various quantitative and manipulative field and laboratory techniques will be used to quantify biotic/abiotic patterns (spatial and temporal) in the coral reef environment to help gain insight into the
ecology of this ecosystem. Students will compare what they see with what they have read, and share results of their research with others in the form of group discussions and oral presentations.
Lecture & Lab
This schedule is tentative and subject to change
Lecture Topic Instructor Lab Week One 1) General course overview Dr. White Lecture
& introductions Dr. Stalker
2) Physical Setting: regional geology and physical oceanography Dr. Stalker 3) Carbonate sediments and Dr. Stalker geochemistry.
4) Biology of reef invertebrates Dr. Clements Pool checkout
snorkeling skills 5) Coral life history & reproduction Dr. White 6) Coral reef trophic interactions Dr. Clements/White 7) Mangroves, sea grasses and algae Dr. White/Clements
8) Coral diseases All
9) Biology of reef fishes Dr. Clements/Stalker/White
10) Conservation and management Dr. Stalker/Dr. Clements
San Salvador !!!
This schedule is tentative and subject to change *asterix indicates field lunch days
Week One Morning Afternoon Evening Fly Orlando to Nassau Stay in Nassau Spend night
at hotel
Leave for San Salvador Check in & The geology Introduction to Lab and Snorkel Grahams harbor? geomorphology
of San Salvador lecture (Stalker)
Field trip to coral reef Snorkel Rocky point? Review of field
(Dump Reef) intertidal area techniques Clements/Stalker
Club med Beach Snapshot reef Process and review brittle stars at Snapshot reef or Columbus monument results
Field trip to fossil reefs and South Island cliffs Fossil and lithology
Caves near Columbus landing identification Open Day (Riding Rock diving, Catch up, sleep….) Data processing Graphing review
Grotto Beach snorkel French reef seagrass beds
Week Two Pigeon Creek East Beach? Process &
Mangrove/tide snorkel Review
Lighthouse cave tour Rice bay snorkel Sediment Identification transect abundance surveys Transect abundance surveys Location TBD Location TBD TBD
Group project time (field) Group project time (lab) TBD
Group project time (field) Group project time (lab) Night Snorkel Dump reef Group project time (field) Group project time (lab)
Group project time (field) Group project time (lab) Week Three
Process and analyze group data Process and analyze group data
Presentations Presentations Leave for US
LAB NOTEBOOK:
Your goal is to develop a high quality course journal. This will be the most significant portion of your grade. To achieve a good grade on your journal you must ensure that it is well organized and that entries are insightful and careful. There should be drawings and/or photos of the various organisms and sites encountered during the course. A good quality notebook will also be one that demonstrates your depth of interest and thought during the lab. For example, several entries detailing your observations of the feeding mechanism of a bivalve mollusc are more valuable than “outline” sketches of several clams. LABS:
Labs are designed to strengthen your knowledge of the coral reef organisms and the methods to learn more about them via field and lab surveys and experiments. We will have lab almost all days of
the week that we are at JU (see schedule above). Again, they will consist of either lab activities or field excursions to local areas. We will let you know what type of clothing to wear and how to be prepared. No Make-up Labs will be allowed. Since we will work in groups for the lab, it is imperative that you be in lab for every meeting. HOMEWORK:
Several journal articles will be assigned during the course for class discussion. It is expected that all students will have read these papers and will be prepared to discuss them during class. GROUP PROJECTS:
During our stay in San Salvador, students will work in groups to complete specific projects that will be assigned by the instructors. Each student group will analyze their data and give a 20 minute powerpoint presentation during the final week of the course. ATTENDANCE:
There is a great deal of material covered during this class. To maximize your chances of excelling in this course it is best that you attend class! In the case of excused absences, please inform me of the nature of the absence before you miss class. You should be advised that having an officially excused absence means that you are excused from being in attendance for the day in question, but you are still responsible for the material covered that day. GRADING:
Final grades will be assigned as A: 90-100, B: 80-89, C: 70-79, D: 60-69, F: <60
A student with a documented, professionally diagnosed disability is entitled to certain special consideration under federal law, to assist with completing the requirements of the course. All reasonable assistance will be given to help a learning disabled student to meet the course requirements. A student with a documented learning disability who wishes to receive such consideration must make his or her condition known to the instructor(s) before completion of the first graded assignment in the course. In no way does a learning disability exempt a student from course or degree requirements.
Jacksonville University students are expected to adhere to the highest standard of academic honesty. Academic misconduct is defined as follows:
Any form of cheating, including concealed notes during exams, copying or allowing others to copy from an exam, students substituting for one another in exams, submission of another person’s work for evaluation, preparing work for another person’s submission, unauthorized collaboration on an assignment, submission of the same or substantially similar work for two courses without the permission of the professors. Plagiarism is a form of Academic Misconduct that involves taking either direct quotes or slightly altered, paraphrased material from a source without proper citations and thereby failing to credit the original author. Cutting and pasting from any source including the Internet, as well as purchasing papers, are forms of plagiarism. (Warshauer, M., 2002.)* * Matthew Warshauer, History Department, Central Connecticut State University, Academic Misconduct/Plagiarism; Questionnaire; http://www.history.ccsu.edu/
The faculty regards all incidents of academic misconduct as major offenses, which merit disciplinary action; faculty members will handle each case of academic misconduct in accordance with their own course policy. Following action, it is recommended that faculty members report all incidents of academic misconduct to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, via division chair and appropriate college dean, in order to identify multiple incidents.
Pledge: On my honor, as a student of Jacksonville University, I will neither receive nor give unauthorized assistance on any assignment. I pledge to respect the intellectual property of my fellow students and scholars and attribute sources for any information I use in my reports. _________________________________ __________________________ Signature Date
