Duration
10h Th, 5h Mon. WS, 4d FW
Number of credits
| Master in oceanography (120 ECTS) | 4 crédits |
Lecturer
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
All year long, with partial in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The ocean is the largest biome on the biosphere, and the place where life first evolved. Life in a viscous fluid, such as seawater, imposed particular constraints on the structure and functioning of ecosystems, impinging on all relevant aspects of ecology, including the spatial and time scales of variability, the dispersal of organisms, and the connectivity between populations and ecosystems.
The Marine Ecology is the scientific study of marine-life habitat, populations, and interactions among organisms and the surrounding environment including their abiotic and biotic features.
Marine ecology is a subset of the study of marine biology and includes observations at the biochemical, cellular, individual, and community levels as well as the study of marine ecosystems and the biosphere.
The course of Marine Ecology provides an introduction to ecology focuses on specific marine ecological concept, covering interactions between marine organisms and the environment at scales of populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Main Outline contents
- The Mediterranean Sea: the place to be (this bassin is ideal to understand the basic concepts in Marine ecology (colonization, climax, invasive species, human impact...)
- Ecology of the some marine communities: Posidonia oceanica meadow, from estuaries to rocky shores to polar regions, ... and with afocus on anthropogenic impacts.
- General concepts in ecology applied to marine ecology: definitions, ecologial factors, production, productivity, trophic webs, interspecific relations, competition, predation, zonation of organisms,...
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The course will
- give a basic knowledge of ecological characteristics and processes in the marine environment.
- show the importance, complexity and fragile aspects of different types of marine habitats.
- be abble to explain the factors that determine the spatial and temporal distributions and abundance populations and communities of marine organisms in relation with biotic and abiotic factors.
- be abble to apply ecological principles
- be abble to work constructively both independently and collaboratively and communicate effectively about Marine Ecology (issues and ideas) using language that can be understood by the public and scientists.
- use some methods applied in marine ecology during the field trip.
- develop ability to collect, analyse and interpret marine ecological data.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
A basic knowledge of the concepts in ecology
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
- Lectures and sessions of discussion
- A field trip in Corsica at STARESO
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Courses in face-to-face.
The attention of the student is regularly requested during tutorial classes.
Field trip at STARESO (Calvi-Corse)
Recommended or required readings
The ppt constitute the basis of the course, they contain the essential information and not all of the oral comments given during the course.
The ppt are accessible on myUlg or given at the end of each course.
The ppts, videos, articles are in English, the whole course is given in English.
The book "Marine Ecology" (Kaiser et al., 2020) is available (in pdf version) on Ecampus
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Additional information:
An oral exam (after a preparation with ppts). (2 questions) during the session (50% of the final mark)
An oral presentation after the fieldtrip in Corsica (precise guidelines will be provoded at the beginning of the training at STARESO) (50% of the final mark).
Work placement(s)
Field trip
During the field trip (station STARESO of the University of Liège- Calvi Corsica) the concepts to a practical study of the distribution of the marine organisms in relation to biotic and abiotique factors are applied.
These approaches are made in snorkelling, in scuba diving* followed by determinations under binocular, photographic documents taken by the student.
*not compulsory
* not compulsary, only possible if you have your licence and a medical check-ups done less than 12 months ago
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
- Respect class times.
- If you contact the secretary or the professor by e-mail, do not expect the replies to be immediate. Please, be patient.
- University-assigned student e-mail is the Official means of communication with all students.
Contacts
Prof Sylvie Gobert
Océanologie Institut de Chimie. B6c-2/49
Tél: 04 3663329 e-mail:sylvie.gobert@uliege.be
Secretariat M Lunetta: 04 366 50 62
https://www.facebook.com/oceanbioulg/
http://labos.ulg.ac.be/oceanologie/
http://www.stareso.ulg.ac.be/
Prof Krishna Das
Océanologie Institut de Chimie. B6c-2/81
Unite d'Ecologie Marine, Laboratoire d'Ecologie animale et d'Ecotoxicologie
Tél: 04 3663321
e-mail:krishna.das@uliege.be
- Meeting with my secretary: Mrs Mariella Lunetta is in her office (B6C, room 1/21 , Sart Tilman) the Tuesday from 8:30 -10:30 am and the Thursday from 13:30-15:00.
- Meeting with me: I will make time available during and directly after the classes for your questions. I rarely can be available for unscheduled meeting. To make appointment , call 04 366 50 62 (Mrs Lunetta) or send an email: M.Lunetta@uliege.be
- My malbox is in the room 2/48.