MarS 394 A Coral reef benthic diversity
Students will learn the fundamental skills to recognize, identify and classify the main groups of organisms structuring coral reefs’ associated ecosystems: macroalgae and corals. The fundamental knowledge and skills they will learn in this class will allow them to have a solid foundation to understand the principles of benthic flora and fauna diversity and function in tropical coastal ecosystems. This will help them in different career paths ranging from fundamental to applied research, and from resource management and protection to consultancy (e.g. coral reef baseline surveys and monitoring programs). During this course, students will be exposed to class lectures, field activities (observation and collection) and wet and dry laboratory analyses. They will be presented with case studies and their progress will be assessed throughout the course through a series of practical assignments and at the end with a final oral exam.