Integration of ocean physics and chemistry, the mathematics and technology used to understand animal migration patterns, and their response to climate change. Students will learn to read and interpret scientific information to assess the importance of migratory patterns. This course satisfies the Physical Science requirement for non-science majors.
Athena Title
Migrations in the Sea
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in MARS 1010, MARS 1011, MARS 1011E, MARS 1015H, MARS 1030H
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students should be able to describe how physical and chemical processes that operate in the ocean at different scales influence migratory patterns of several marine organisms.
Students should be able to recognize how interactions between human modifications of the ocean-atmosphere system may influence and alter physical and chemical processes in the ocean.
Students will develop, support, and effectively express ideas in written and oral form using language with clarity and precision.
Topical Outline
Introduction and examples of migrations:
o Plankton
o Lobsters
o Fish
o Turtles
o Seabirds
o Marine mammals
Physical and chemical processes in the ocean:
o Energy and heat budgets
o Earth’s rotation
o Optics, light absorption and scattering
o Large-scale atmospheric circulation
o Large-scale oceanic circulation
o Ocean-Atmosphere interactions
o Waves
o Tides
o Coastal and estuarine systems
o Low-frequency variability, El Niño/La Niña
o Properties of water
o Dissolved gases
o Nutrients
o Light spectrum
o Ocean acidification
o Plastics in the ocean
o Radiation
o Human impacts
o Migration in a changing ocean
o Effects of physical and chemical processes on migrations, examples
