This course is intended to teach students both a basic understanding of the ecological processes that determine the structure and dynamics of populations and communities in coastal marine ecosystems, and how to conduct ecological research to evaluate and better understand those processes. When students leave this course, they should know how to: (1) look for, identify and describe patterns in nature, (2) develop testable alternative hypotheses for the causes of observed patterns, and (3) design and carry out appropriate empirical tests of the predictions of hypotheses to explain observed patterns. Students should also (4) appreciate how this application of the scientific method has informed our understanding of the interrelationships between environmental and ecological processes that influence the structure, dynamics, and functioning of populations, communities and ecosystems, and (5) how that knowledge informs marine management, conservation and policy. The structure of the course reflects these goals. We will first discuss the process of doing science, then use classic studies in marine ecology as the framework for understanding the process of doing sound ecological research. Many of the papers presented in lecture are central or seminal papers for paradigms in marine ecology.

Key to accomplishing these learning objectives is active participation in sharing one’s understanding of the material presented in lectures and the readings reviewed in discussion sections. Although structured as a rather large lecture course, EVERY student’s participation is crucial not only in enhancing their own benefits from the course, but to all of the students and the teaching team.