Marine Ecology - Field course

Objectives

To allow the use several, mainly non-destructive, sampling methods on coastal and shallow water zones of the Azorean shores (Atlantic. islands), in order to:

1. create familiarity with the fools and procedures to conduct ecological no destructive surveys in selected marine ecosystems;

2. Be able to explain the factors that determine the spatial distributions and abundance populations of marine neustonic species in relation with biotic and abiotic factors;

3. Understand the importance of the selected marine ecosystems;

4. Develop data analysis capabilities applied to sampling field course project;

5. Improve the writing skills necessary to prepare reports to disseminate the resuits of the field course.

Program

1. Introduction to the selected marine ecosystems of the Azores:

• Coasta/ lagoons (St. Cristo - São Jorge island);
• Submarine sand banks:
• Neuston - high sea surface ecosystem.

2. Biodiversity of the selected ecosystems (species).

• Algae and plants;
• Invertebrates:
• Vertebrates.

3. Application of marine ecology sampling techniques to the field course surveys in coastal areas (St. Cristo lagoon - S. Jorge island) and/or in open ocean campaigns (boat survey on neustonic biodiversity).

4. Data analysis

5. Writing of the final report and presentation

Teaching Methodologies

Each practical campaign of this course will be preceded by a briefing session, where the main objectives will be exposed. During the field campaigns, teachers and other collaborators (eg researchers or technicians specialized in these subjects) will exemplity the use of methodologies, followed by their application by students. During these campaigns, different types of specific instrumentation will be used to fulfill the initial objectives.
Samples and data collected in the campaigns will later be analyzed in tutorial sessions in the classroom or in laboratories. In these analyses, laboratory equipment will be used, as woll as data analysis software (e.g. Excel, Statistica). The writing of the group reports will also be accompanied in a tutorial way in the classroom.
The preparation of the oral presentation will be supervised and will consolidate the student learning. The final test will serve to globally assess the knowledge acquired by students throughout this curricular unit.

Bibliography

- Cunliffe, M. & Wurl, O. (2014). Guide to best practices to study the ocean's surface. Plymouth, UK, MBA, U.K. for SCOR, 118pp.
(Ocasional Publications of the MBA-UK. https://doi.org/10.25607/0BP-1512
- GEOTRACES (2022). Guide to cruise report compilation
http://www.bodc.ac.uk/geotraces/cruises/documentation/cruise_report_writingguide/
• Morton, B., J.C. Britton & A. M.F. Martins (1998). Coastal Ecology of the Azores. Sociedade Afonso Chaves, Ponta Delgada. 249 pp.;
• Segar D.A. (2018). - Introduction to Ocean Sciences. 4rd ed. Author Edition.
https://www.reefimages.com/oceans/SegarOcean4Book.pdf))
- Specific literature for each of the campaigns will be provided in digital form during the courses, through the Moodle page of the course.