Zoology

Credit Points

Course Coordinator

Professor Paul Thompson and Dr Beth Scott

Pre-requisites

Available only to students enrolled for the Masters Programme in Applied Marine & Fisheries Ecology

Overview

Lectures, field trips and problem solving sessions, as well as opportunities to meet representatives of management bodies to disucss how this information is used in practice.

Structure

4 one-hour lectures embedded in 5 full days of field work, site-visits and problem solving and discussion sessions

Assessment

Group presentation of project work conducted during course and assessed seminars in week 27 on topics related to residential course

Credit Points

Course Coordinator

Dr Beth Scott and Dr David Lusseau

Pre-requisites

x

Co-requisites

x

Notes

Overview

This course will introduce students to key principles guiding the diversity of life in the oceans and driving marine ecosystem functioning. It will also introduce them to basic fisheries management concepts that will be expanded upon in subsquent modules. The overarching goal of this module is to bring students coming from varied backgrounds to a similar level of understanding of life in the oceans.

Key concepts covered:

- Marine biology principles
- Oceanographic principles
- Ecological drivers in the marine environment
- Marine ecosystem functions
- Introduction to fisheries biology and management

Structure

Five 2-hour lectures each week (thread I); 2 7-hour practicals (thursday week I and II, thread I); 1 student-lead discussion group meeting (Thursday week III, thread i)

Assessment

The module will be assesed based on 2 graded practicals (30% each) and a presentation (individual work) given during the student-lead discussion group meeting (40%)

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

Dr C. Tara Marshall

Pre-requisites

x

Co-requisites

x

Overview

This module will survey fundamental aspects of the biology of different components of the fish community through lectures and practicals. At the individual level, the life cycles and life history strategies of fish will be summarised. Key aspects of population-level biology, including fish migration and population structure, will be covered. Case studies for a range of key Scottish species will also be covered. the relevance of fisheries biology to fisheries management will be highlighted throughout the course

Structure

Five 2-hour lectures each week; two 7-hour practicals; one computer based practical

Assessment

The module wil be assessed on two graded practicals (50% each)

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

x

Pre-requisites

x

Co-requisites

x

Notes

Overview

This course will explore current understanding based on theoretical and empirical studies of processes operating in poulations of organisms. It will move from single isolated populations to single species populations arranged in space and linked by the movement of individuals, to consideration of trophic interactions, including predator prey, parasite host and plant herbivores as well as species embedded in more complex set of trophic interactions, including apparent competition. Simple discrete time models will be considered and used by the students to explore those interactions.

Structure

2 two-hour lectures per week; 1 x three-hour tutorial/discussion/data analysis session per week

Assessment

Continous assessment by menas of a mini-project relating to a case study.

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

Dr Beth Scott

Pre-requisites

Successful completion of Population Ecology module

Co-requisites

x

Notes

Overview

The module will run on three levels of spatial and temporal scales:

Week1: Individual fish growth and survival
- Students are introduced to a range of climate and lower trophic effects on individual fish survival and growth. Two types of computer models are used within the practical to illustrate the complexity of small scale predatory-prey interactions.

Week 2: Population dynamics
- The focus is on the assumptions and parameters which drive single species population models and what environmental information is left out of these traditional models. The practical will require students to simulate the dynamics of fish populations under a wide range of parameter values.

Week 3: Ecosystem modelling
- A contrast of biomass and process ecosystem models will be discussed and used in the practical. A staged debate will be held in which teams will back either single species ot ecosystem management practices.

Structure

Five 2-hour lectures each week; 3 seven hour practicals

Assessment

The modules will be assessed based on 3 graded practicals (30% each) and the background preparation and participation in a debate (team work) at the end of the module (10%)

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

Professor Priede and Dr Solan

Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Overview

Course Aims: Introduce core concepts of the link between organic matter input and marine benthic biodiversity and ecosystem function from estuarine shallow systems through to the deep sea.

Knowledge
By the end of the course students should be able to:

- understand that biodiversity regulates, as well as responds to, the environment
- understand, using benthic assemblages, the link between biodiversity and ecosystem processes such as bioturbation and nutrient generation.

Practical skills
By the end of the course the student should be able to:

- recognise principal benthic invertebrates from estuarine environments
- recognise principal deep sea benthic fishes
- analyse benthic time lapse imagery data
- be able to design and implement a field survey

Transferable skills
By the end of the course the student should be able to:

- engage during group discussion
- collect and analyse field derived data
- generation and testing of hypotheses
- understand functional group principles.

Content: This course will provide the students with hands-on experience of collecting benthic samples and data, in situ analysis of ecosystem processes and bringing these two arenas together. It also builds on the theoretical work they will have recived earlier in the course.

Structure

Three all day excursions to the Oceanlab, Newburgh:

- Benthic biodiversity and ecosystem function (Solan)
- Deep sea benthic fishes (Priede)
- Overview of deep sea benthic mega and macrofauna, slopes to hadal (Priede).

Assessment

100 continuous assessment (3 reports).

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

Dr David Lusseau

Pre-requisites

Successful completion of Experimental Design and Analysis module

Co-requisites

x

Notes

Overview

The module will be divided in three components each lasting one week.

Week 1: computer intensive statistical techniques

Students are introduced to computer intensive statistical techniques required to understand some of the network analyses.
- Topic 1: bootstrap; jackknife
- Topic 2: permutations
- Topic 3: randomisation tests

Week 2: Network structure

- Topic 1: centrality measures
- Topic 2: motifs
- Topic 3: community structure

Week 3: Netowrk processes

We will focus on understanding the dynamics of network evolution and processes taking place on networks
- Topic 1: critically and self-organised critically for biologists
- Topic 2: network evolution models
- Topic 3: propagation on networks

Structure

Three 2-hour lectures each week
One 2-hour tutorial each week
One 4-hour computer-based practical session each week

Assessment

The module will be assessed based on 3 graded practicals (30% each) and class participation (10%)

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

Dr Thelma Fletcher, Dr Rachel Kilburn, and Dr Sam Martin

Pre-requisites

N/A

Overview

Criteria for species selection.
Diseases and Parasitology of fish and shellfish. Control and treatment. Health regulations. Epidemiology of disease.
Environmental implications of aquaculture.
Nutrition and feed technology.
Genetics and selective breeding.

Structure

Lectures, senminars and site visit(s). Threaded module.

Assessment

Continuous assessment with one essay (2,500 words)

Credit Points

5.5

Course Coordinator

Mr Coby Needle and Dr Helen Dobby

Pre-requisites

Successful completion of the Professional Development Course (specifically the biostatistics components)

Notes

Overview

The modulw will be divided in three components each lasting one week.
Week 1: Introduction to stock assessment
Students are introduced to the basic principles of stock assessment, and are taught methods for generating simulated data for subsequent analysis.
- Topic 1: Basic assessment principles.
- Topic 2: Fishery data collection.
- Topic 3: Data simulation.

Week 2: Single-species stock assessment models
Students are tasked with writing functions to implement simple stock assessment models, which they will test by applying to the data simulated in the first week.
- Topic 1: Separable models.
- Topic 2: Cohort analysis.
- Topic 3: Length-based assessment.

Week 3: Forecasts, managment advice, multi-species approaches
In the third week, students will carry the moethods and results from the first two weeks forward into analysis of the fisheries management advisory process. This leads into work on alternative multispecies approaches.
- Topic 1: Short-term forecasts.
- Topic 2: Multi-species models.
- Topic 3: Management advice.

Structure

The course will consist of a combination of computer-based practical sessions and lectures. The lectures will be more informal than usual and will not be strictly timetabled.

Assessment

The module will be assessed based on a single graded exercise (100%), to be handed in after the end of the course.

Credit Points

7

Course Coordinator

Professor Paul Thompson

Pre-requisites

Level 5 courses: 'Core Marine Biology and Ecology Concepts' and 'Population Ecology'

Overview

Lectures will cover the theory and practice of assessing change in the size, status and distribution of seaboird abnd marine mammal populations. Our focus will be on UK monitoring and research programmes, but we will draw comparison with similar initiatives in the EU and North America. Practical sessions will include an introduction to the equipment, field and analytical techniques used in these programmes, and aim to build on key skills (e.g. GIS) developed earlier in the degree programme. Field trips will incorporate visits to key monitoring sites in the North East of Scotland, and discussion with organisations responsible for the monitoring, management and interpretation of these populations.

An important component of the courses will be the use of seminars, directed learning and group problem-solving to explore the factors that drive poulation change, and to assess the potential impacts of different types of human development on marine top predator populations. Lectures will also provide background to policy drivers and regulatory frameworks relevant to current issues in this area.

Structure

Two 2-hour seminars, and one 3-hour practical/computer lab each week. Full day field visits in weeks 1 and 2, and group project work in week 3.

Assessment

100% continuous assessment, based on independant written report following group project work.

Credit Points

5.5

Course Coordinator

Dr Paul Fernandes and Dr Dave Reid

Pre-requisites

x

Co-requisites

x

Notes

Overview

The first part of this unit deals with fishing gear technology and fish behaviour. It includes lectures on the various types of gear including trawls, gill nets and ghost fishing, as well as measurement and observation in gear experiments. Various behavioural concepts are covered including swimming and fish sensory systems with a further look at fish vision. A visit to FRS' Fish behaviour Unit (FBU) is included in this unit. The concept of selectivity is described in theoretical detail and is then followed by a description of the various selectivity techniques and a review of unaccounted mortality; a short practical on selectivity is given. A lecture on technical measures describes some of the main techniques used to control the fishery. A final lecture on applied behaviour considers how research can influence gear design and fishing practice.

The second part covers fishery independent (surveys) methods, with emphasis on the acoustic survey technique. This is another intensive week-long programme of lectures and practicals dealing with fishery independent (surveys) data. Lectures are given on each of the main survey methods: acoustic, trawl, larvae, egg and TV surveys. The general design concept, relating to all types of survey, is addressed in a lecture and illustrated through a practical as applied to acoustic surveys. Particular attention is then given to the more complex acoustic survey techniques. Lectures cover the physics of sound, acoustic instruments, the acoustic properties of fish and methods of biomass estimation. An acoustic survey data analysis lecture is followed by a practical which details the procedures from acoustic measurement to a global estimate of abundance. Finally, lectures are given covering survey statistics common to all methods, including one on geostatistics.

Structure

- 11 lectures on fish technology and behaviour
- 11 lectures on surveys
- 1 practical on survey design
- 1 practical on [acoustic] survey analysis

Assessment

The module will be assessed based on 2-graded practicals (70% for analysis and 30% for design)

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr david Lusseau and Dr Beth scott

Pre-requisites

Successful completion of Introductory, Experimental Design, Fisheries Biology and Fisheries Ecology, Marine Ecosystem Biology and Population ecology modules.

Notes

Overview

Representatives from 3 stake-holding groups (Governmental statutory agencies, consultants, and Non-Governmental organisations) will provide lectures to present their role in the management of marine resources. The topics will cover statutory obligation on species and habitat directives, pollution, marine spatial planning, tourism, and offshore renewables.

This course will introduce students to a range of professionals involved in implanting ecosystem based management. It will require students to take a stand on issues that are still controversial and require them to present their views in both an oral and written account.

Structure

- Between 12 and 18 2-hour lectures for the first week
- Student presentations (0.5 hours each) and class debate (up to 0.5 hours per presentation) (in week 2)

Assessment

The module will be assessed based on the individual's oral presentations (40%) and a written, journal style paper (60%)

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Individual Supervisors

Pre-requisites

Successfully complete postgraduate taught courses to a satisfactory standard

Co-requisites

None

Overview

x

Structure

x

Assessment

continuous Assessment/Oral examination