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Marine Monitoring

Module description

You will measure, monitor and explore marine habitats and their living components. From long-standing and simplistic techniques to cutting-edge technology, you will gather hands-on experience in the laboratory and field that will set you apart from other graduates. The techniques covered are at the interface between current academic research and scientific monitoring carried out by government organisations and NGOs across the world. This module will enhance your practical and written skills in these areas so you can succeed in the field and is bespoke for BSc Marine Biology students. Boat time is facilitated on our partner’s research and survey vessel ‘Tiger Lily VI’.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to teach you why marine monitoring is important and how to carry it out through a series of field and laboratory practicals and independent tasks. Each will be supported by lectures or sets of resources. Typical skills covered include collection and analyses of different seafloor sediment types and mapping of their extents, measurement of the growth rates of marine plants and algae, survey techniques for habitats and people, how to monitor and compare fish communities and how to monitor and record anthropogenic pressures on these features.

The skills you gain from lectures, fieldwork and seminars will develop or enhance your employability. Transferable skills to other sectors include:

• problem solving (linking theory to practice, responding to novel and unfamiliar problems, data handling),
• time management (managing time effectively individually and within a group),
• collaboration (taking initiative and leading others, supporting others in their work),
• self and peer review (taking responsibility for own learning, using feedback from multiple sources)
• audience awareness (presenting ideas effectively in multiple formats).

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Learn the value and importance of marine monitoring and be able to recall basic marine approach details and norms
• 2. Apply your understanding of marine monitoring approaches to sample gathering, data analyses and communication of results

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Describe essential facts and theory across a sub-discipline of bioscience
• 4. Identify critical questions from the literature and synthesise research-informed examples into written work
• 5. Identify and implement, with some guidance, appropriate methodologies and theories for addressing a specific research problem in biosciences
• 6. With guidance, deploy established techniques of analysis, practical investigation, and enquiry within biosciences
• 7. Describe and begin to evaluate approaches to our understanding of biosciences with reference to primary literature, reviews and research articles

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Develop, with guidance, a logical and reasoned argument with sound conclusions
• 9. Communicate ideas, principles and theories using a variety of formats in a manner appropriate to the intended audience
• 10. Evaluate own strengths and weaknesses in relation to professional and practical skills identified by others

Syllabus plan

Contact time will be spread between lectures from the convener and external speakers and pre-arranged practicals that demonstrate techniques. Typically we will cover:

• Analysis of different seafloor sediments
• Mapping
• Measuring the growth rates of marine algae and plants
• Monitoring and measuring fish communities and habitat biodiversity
• Survey techniques for habitats and people

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in that assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to complete a further assessment that will count for 100% of the module mark and be capped at the pass mark.

If a module has one exam the deferral and 100% referral exam can be the same but for modules with two exams, the 100% referral exam will be different and consist of questions from both.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Valeila, I (1995) Marine Ecological Processes. 3^rd Ed. Springer
• Jon Davies et al Eds (2001) Marine Monitoring handbook. JNCC

Key words search

Marine Monitoring; Survey; Ecological Threats