The course will provide a basic understanding of the ocean 
system and how it is changing at present. Students will learn 
about key aspects of ocean change in comparison to historical 
trends and future projections.

Introduction and Overview: How does the environment an organism 
lives in determine its function and form? How do the properties 
of different fluids affect the structure and function of 
organisms living in them?
Fundamentals of fluids: Properties of fluids and contrasting 
the properties of air and water (e.g., viscosity, thermal 
properties, etc.). 
Transport in and by Fluids: Diffusion through fluids. 
Convection. Mass transport. 
Challenges of living in fluids: Temperature control, buoyancy, 
pressure, gas exchange, finding mates, avoiding predation.
Fluids in motion: Basic concepts of moving fluids – e.g., 
shear, vorticity, viscosity. Bernoulli flow, Stokes’ flow. Flow 
regimes – laminar and turbulent – the Reynolds number. 
Being Small in Fluids: The relationship between viscosity and 
size – moving in viscous fluids. Buoyancy, drag and settling. 
Diffusion, advection and resource acquisition – rates of 
diffusion to a cell. Predator-prey interactions – methods of 
detecting prey and predators (chemodetection, mechanodetection, 
passive encounter). Dispersal mechanisms – sexual vs. asexual 
reproduction. 
Being Large in Fluids: The roles of turbulence and drag. 
Locomotion (swimming, flying), motion at high and low Reynolds 
numbers. Forms of propulsion and relevant adaptations. Predator 
and prey detection and capture (e.g., filtration). 
Communication.
Living in the Boundary Layer: Diffusive vs. turbulent boundary 
layers (e.g., microbial mats). Shear forces, bending and 
structural adaptations. Feeding in the boundary layer.