Physical-Biological Relations (NMP1)

Aim and Content

The course gives a presentation of how the ocean physics and ocean chemistry influence production and distribution of organisms at trophic levels of marine ecosystems from phytoplankton to fish, and how the physics and chemistry influence the flow of energy through the food web. It will be emphasized that biology, physics and chemistry are integral components in the functioning of marine ecosystems and that the issue of spatial and temporal scales must be included to understand how climate fluctuations influence marine ecosystems. The understanding of the dynamics of the marine ecosystems will be based on first principles which imply that a certain mathematical basic skill is needed for the student. Particularly, the issues of diffusion and turbulence are important for describing distribution and trophic transfer at the levels of plankton.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, the students will be expected to have an understanding of how the marine ecosystem dynamics is influenced by the interaction between physics, chemistry and biological processes, and to be able to use scientific terminology to debate these.

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

- Explain the general principles on trophic transfer.

- Describe the coupled physical-chemical-biological impacts on marine organisms and populations.

- Explain basic recruitment models and argue the diversity in recruitment mechanisms.

- Describe the different structuring impact of key hydrodynamic processes on the major types of marine ecosystems and argue about the multitude of organisms adaptive responses on the system settings.

- Describe how plankton can impact ocean physics and thermodynamics.

- Apply simple turbulence models to calculate turbulence impacts on plankton contact rates.

- Apply simple buoyancy-mixing models to calculate vertical distribution of fish eggs.

- Conduct a laboratory setup on salinity gradient columns to measure the buoyancy in live plankton.

Course offered (semester)

Autumn

Language of Instruction

English, Norwegian only if Norwegian students.

Pre-requirements

Principles of physical oceanography.

Teaching Methods

2 lectures á 2 hours per week

Compulsory Requirements

Laboratory and excercise

Assessment methods

Presentation of articles and participation in discussions, counts 50% of the final grade. Final exam, oral, counts 50% of the final grade and must be passed. No auxiliary material allowed for the exam.

Grading Scale

The grading scale used is A to F. Grade A is the highest passing grade in the grading scale, grade F is a fail.

Contact Information

studierettleiar@gfi.uib.no