Time Schedule:
E. Virginia Armbrust
OCEAN 531
Seattle Campus
Covers phytoplankton in the marine environment: evolution, ecology, primary productivity, and physiology, emphasizing their role in the global carbon cycle; spatial and temporal distributions of phytoplankton and how these patterns may change as ocean conditions change; and methods for determining distributions and rates in different ocean ecosystems. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Offered: W, even years.
Class description
The overall goal of this class is for students to gain an understanding of how phytoplankton influence global biogeochemical cycles. We will move between different scales, from molecular to global, to understand key aspects of phytoplankton evolution, physiology and ecology. The second goal is for students to synthesize what is learned in class to address a complicated real-life global issue. The exact topic will be decided each year and will serve as the context for the class
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Discussion, lectures, primary literature.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Assignments will include discussion and reading of primary literature, a class presentation on a topic of choice, and preparation of a paper.
