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SCHEDULE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES
TO REGISTER: Apply for Admission for Distance Education Courses
Field Courses for Distance Education StudentsEcology of the Belize Barrier Reef (OCMB-8100) This field course is tentatively planned for spring 2010. For further information or enquiries, please contact Dr. Jim Thomas. Coursework: Held at South Water Caye, Belize. This course will be an intensive hands on learning experience at the magnificent barrier reef system of Belize. We will spend a majority of our time actually diving on the reef and waters of the lagoon and back reef. Students will experience first-hand the great natural biodiversity of the pristine reef system of Belize. Students will undertake individual projects related to their thesis topic (if known) Housing and accommodations on the island are rustic but adequate. Special diets cannon be accommodated.
Prerequisites: Invertebrate zoology, marine ecology, or equivalent.
Current Distance Education Courses
Course instructor: Dr. Clarice Yentsch
Course number: (CZMT-0790) (MEVS-5100)
Although the study of sharks generally lags behind studies on bony fishes and many other animals, our understanding of the biology of sharks and rays has improved tremendously over the past several decades. Despite much of the interest in sharks stemming from the fact that they occasionally bite humans, sharks are fascinating animals in many respects and they are highly specialized inhabitants of the sea and possess a variety of unique characteristics that are integral to their having been around for the past 400 million years. In this course we will explore the general biology of sharks and rays by examining topics concentrating on their anatomy, physiology and biochemistry with the goal of understanding how exquisitely adapted these animals are to their environment.
Course instructor:Dr. Brad Wetherbee
(email: "Brad Wetherbee" <bwetherb barney nova fred edu>)
1. how statistics relates to science and life in general At the end of this course, students should be able to identify appropriate procedures for examining different types of data, analyse data and interpret results, use statistical results to draw reasonable conclusions about data, and evaluate the appropriateness of statistical tests conducted by others.
Course instructor: Dr. Patrick Hardigan
Course instructor: Dr. Heather Hill
Course instructor: Dr. Heather Hill
Course instructor: Dr. Steffen Schmidt
Throughout our lives we often find ourselves in situations where we interpret nature to others. Think of the number of times a parent interprets aspects of nature to a child, or you interpret the area in which you live to a visitor. Indeed, commenting on a beautiful sunset is an interpretation of nature. Just what is the definition of nature interpretation? What theories support nature interpretation? Is interpretation a science or an art? How can we develop our skills as interpreters? How can we apply interpretive techniques in our daily lives and careers? This course aims at providing opportunities for you to find answers to these and other questions.
Course instructor: Alan Watson
Remote Sensing is not about interesting pictures of the Earth's surface, although there are some spectacular images to be discovered. It is really about careful, precise measurements of surface parameters, including:
Course instructor: Dr. Sam Purkis
For the Winter 2008 term, the course will be taught in conjunction with a similar distance course at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Oceanographic Center students will have the opportunity to interact directly in on-line discussion with Canadian environmental-studies students, through a specially-created web-site on TakingITGlobal.org. This will enhance and further the international reach and topicality of the course.
Course instructor: TBA
Course number: CZMT-0806-DE1
This course is designed to study the basic components and processes of trophic dynamics, how these comprise different marine ecosystems and how these systems can be altered.
Course number: OCMB-6322 DE1
Course instructor: Dr. Steffen Schmidt
Course instructor: Steffen Schmidt
Prerequisite: recommended algebra, physics. Introduction to Physical Oceanography/ 3 credits. This course is intended to give students insight to how wind, radiation, gravity, friction, and the Earth's rotation determine the ocean's temperature and salinity patterns and currents. Some important processes we will study include heat budget of the oceans, exchange of heat with the atmosphere and the role of the ocean in climate, surface mixed layer, waves in the ocean, geostrophy, Ekman transport, Rossby waves. Students will learn how to explain physical features of the ocean ranging from microscopic turbulence to global circulation.
Course instructor: Dr. Carmen Acero-Schertzer
Course instructor: Dr. Curtis Burney
Course instructor: Dr. Curtis Burney
Course instructor: Dr. Bernhard Riegl
Course number: CZMT-0667-DE1
Course instructor: Dr. Nicholas Funicelli
Other courses in the distance program address science or policy for living and non-living resources. This course is about how law copes with emerging science and policy. It depicts examples of legal success and of disappointment to highlight the mechanisms and principles of law. From the examples, we understand and can recollect how these laws are created, revised, processed into regulations and administered. Limits on agencies and courts to make interpretation, apply science in legal settings, and enforce are evaluated. Learning Outcomes
Course instructor: Dr. Brion Blackwelder
Course instructor: Dr. Carmen Acero-Schertzer
Course instructor: Dr. Brian Polkinghorn
Courses in PreparationAlthough the study of sharks generally lags behind studies on bony fishes and many other animals, our understanding of the biology of sharks and rays has improved tremendously over the past several decades. There is tremendous diversity within sharks and rays and this diversity reflects the evolutionary history and range of lifestyles of these animals. A combination of heavy fishing pressure on shark populations and their general vulnerability to overexploitation has led to serous declines in shark populations throughout the world. In this course we will survey the evolution and diversity of past and present sharks and rays and also examine distributions, environments inhabited, ecological roles, interactions within and among species, and review the life history characteristics of sharks and rays in relation to their occurrence and sustainability in fisheries with the overall goal of understanding the diversity of sharks and rays, their role in marine ecosystems and their interactions with humans (other than in terms of shark attack).
Course Instructor: "Dr. Brad Wetherbee" <bwetherb barney nova fred edu> If you would like more information about the distance learning program at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center, here's how to get in touch:
NSUOC Distance Education Home Page
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Archaeological Oceanography: Reefs and Wrecks will examine human interest in the tension of natural and cultural treasures.
Students explore the dynamics of ocean systems, human systems, natural and artificial reefs. Legal, ethical and preservation
considerations will be examined. Mapping, navigation through time and tools and technology through time will be featured as
well as present day conservation of artifacts, archives and the nature of evidence. A self-selected student project will be a
requirement. For the Oceanography major, the student project will focus on ocean science and/or engineering. For the Coastal
Zone Management major, Certificate Program or Education Degree student, the focus for the student project can be from a broad
range of relevant topics.
This course deals with various forms of environmental pollution as they affect both the land and maritime environment. Focus on
the role of microorganisms as causes and indicators of toxicity. Sources, measurement, and control of pollution in marine and
coastal environments are discussed.
This web-based distance education course introduces students to the fundamentals of statistics. More specifically, this
course is designed to teach students:
Understanding the physical basis of the climate system is necessary in
order to make sound predictions about future climate variability and
its potential impacts on society. This course, which is one of the
two required (core) courses for the Graduate Certificate in Marine and
Coastal Climate Change, will examine climate change from the
scientific side. Students will learn how the climate system works,
how climate has changed throughout Earth's history, and how this
information is used to predict the response of climate to both natural
and anthropogenic forcing in the future. The course will be placed in
the context of the marine and coastal environment.
Climate change affects the marine and coastal environment in a number
of different ways, and this in turn has a direct impact on human
livelihood. In this course, which is one of the two required courses
for the Graduate Certificate in Marine and Coastal Climate Change,
students will explore climate change from a social perspective with a
particular emphasis on the marine and coastal environment. Questions
that will be addressed include: How will predicted sea-level rise
impact coastal communities? Will fisheries be devastated by changes
in ocean temperature? Have any regulations been established to
protect marine resources? Students will also gain a better
understanding of the policy side of climate change through this course.
This web-based distance education course explores the issues, problems, and
potential political and public policy solutions to the challenges of achieving smart,
sustainable stewardship of the seashores. Primary emphasis is on the United
States experience. Students read two outstanding books and participate in on-
line activities including original case studies, on-line tests, and selected
interactive discussion with each other, the professor, and guests. Optional
weekend or extended 3-credit field trips to experience and examine coastal
policy venues in Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach (Florida, USA) and other
coastal locations will also be available.
This course can best be described as an applied course that helps you explore communication and experiential learning
theories and their application to natural heritage (nature) interpretation and environmental education program
design. You will also develop and present interpretive materials and a program within the context of the nature
interpretation in the coastal zone environment.
This course assumes that you have an interest in Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS) and
large-scale Earth observation, and wish to learn about using these tools to study the Earth and its processes. It
doesn't matter whether you consider yourself a chemist, physicist, biologist, geologist or geographer, or simply have a
reasonable grounding and interest in the Earth Sciences. Nonetheless, you must be prepared to grapple with some basic
ideas of Physics. This distance-learning course is designed to be accessible and to give a general induction to a
wide scope of relevant topics.
The emphasis is on the coastal zone manager's understanding of pollution sources, relative risk and potential effects on human
and marine life. Sources, measurement, and control
This web-based distance education course highlights more than 25 years of
international discussion, debate and ideas with regard to the state of the
environment and our actions towards it. Key considerations and voices are
included, from both North and South. This course examines in a cross-cutting
approach the environmental and social issues that effect our lives. Students
become part of an "international learning community", by participating in on-line
closed discussion. The emphasis is on presenting an international range of
perspectives and case studies, linking the issues and ideas to up-to-the-moment
occurrences as they effect students, when they happen and wherever they are.
This course examines the fate of chemicals and their biological effects on marine organisms. We will discuss
environmental toxicology and the general mechanisms of transport and transformation of chemicals in water/sediment
systems and within marine organisms.
A food chain is simply "who eats what". A food web weaves together many
food chains to form a complicated network of feeding relationships.
Many animals eat more than one thing, and each link in each chain is
important and integral to the entire system. The interactions in a food
web are far more complex than the interactions in a food chain.
This web-based distance education course focuses on the international
dimensions of integrated coastal zone management. Students will first examine
the major "big picture" issues affecting the world's coastal areas and oceans, and
will examine seven case studies that will help to bring alive the grave problems of
mismanaging coastal and economic resources: the Black Sea, Newfoundland,
the Louisiana Region of the Gulf of Mexico, Belize, the Marshall Islands, and
Antarctica. The second part of the course will provide students with the
opportunity to study major international conferences, treaties, and policy
principles (including the Law of the Sea). In the final third of the course, students
will examine regional as well as selected country coastal-zone policies. Students
completing this course will be familiar with the most important aspects of
Integrated Coastal Zone Management globally and will have a basis for
comparison of these policies. Students will also be in a position to assess the
costs and benefits of different coastal zone management strategies around the
world.
Students enrolled in this course are expected to invest the equivalent of 3 hours
per week for 14 weeks (i.e. at least 42 hours) in their internship. This can be
done at a research organization, private company or consulting firm; local,
county, state or federal agency; or other approved venue that is related to coastal
zone activities. In addition to hands-on work, each intern will also keep an
academic journal of internship activities. The journal will be submitted for review
for the final grade. The student's supervisor at the internship venue will also
evaluate the student. Permission and approval of supervising Professor is
required before you enroll in this class.
A web based study of the properties, composition, and origin of seawater; the importance, distribution, relationships,
and cycling of the major inorganic nutrients, dissolved gases, carbonate species, trace metals, radiotracers and organic
compounds. The course is designed for students pursuing careers in marine biology or coastal management . It includes
unit quizzes, online discussions, a literature research paper and a final exam.
This class focuses on marine ecological processes and functions. The course is one of the five "Core" requirements and
is common to both specialties. An overview of the basic concepts of marine ecology will be provided along with more
detailed elements of the discipline including diversity of organisms, feeding relationships, ecological roles, growth, and
reproduction. Emphasis will be devoted to coastal marine communities.
The objectives of the course are (1) to enable students to examine the
structure, evolution and stratigraphy of the ocean basins and continental
margins, and (2) to provide an understanding of the dynamic processes that
shape the surface of the earth under the ocean surface.
An interdisciplinary approach to examining the present state of the relationship
between marine mammals, people and the environment: as this has evolved over
time, as it stands today, and as it is likely to be for the future, whether by default
or design. The marine mammal and environment relationship is extremely
complex and fluid. It changes depending upon place and time, and the rate of
this change is accelerating along with related developments such as population
and economic growth, technological capacity, and our expanding use of the
world's oceans and waterways. We will look at the position and influence of
marine mammals within the environment, as well as the development of physical
conditions, values and economic activities that have led to their present situation.
This online course consists of several power point presentations with voice-over as well as discussion topics and class
interactive hypothetical scenarios. Lectures will address the logic of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and their advantages and
disadvantage. The science of MPA will be presented as well an overview of traditional approaches to fisheries management. The
importance of ecological principles when creating an MPA will be emphasized. An overview of sampling theory and need for
empirical data to document the success or failure of MPA will be presented.
A hodgepodge of laws and approaches apply to the oceans and coasts. Essentially all the legal attention arose within the past
six decades. Rights divide among private landowners, resource extractors, local governments, national governments, or
international authorities. Today a great period of legal adjustment is in motion as many living systems collapse, bearing
social and economic consequences. Much ocean and coastal law is already a story of failure followed by rethinking or
reconstruction. This background law is now asked to rise to the task of enabling prevention of global climate change, and to
the task of adaptation to its impacts which elude prevention.
This course focuses on the theoretical bases, practical applications, process
orientations, and actual intervention into complex multiparty, multi-issue
public disputes regarding management of the coastal zone. The emphasis is on
social/environmental interactions and sources of political and economic
conflict over human health environmental protection and natural resource
scarcity.