MARINE BIOLOGY (MAR111)
COURSE SYLLABUS – FALL 2016
SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
AMMERMAN CAMPUS
Lecture: Monday and Wednesday 9:30AM – 10:45PM in L114
Laboratory*: Mon 11:00 – 12:50AM or 12:30 – 2:20PM in L202
*check your schedule
Instructor: Dr. Marianne E. McNamara
Office: William J. Lindsay Life Science Bldg; Room 228
Email:
Phone: (631) 451-4688
Website: www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mcnamam
Office Hours: Monday: 8:30-9:30AM; Tuesday: 8:30-9:00AM; Wednesday: 8:30-9:30AM; Thursday: 8:30-9:00AM and 12:30-1:30PM; also Tuesday 2:30-3:30PM by appointment or via email only. Please contact me if you need to meet at another time.
Course Description: By means of lectures, laboratory exercises, and field trips, the student will explore the diversity of life in the marine environment. This course is designed for non-science students.
Course Goals: To provide an engaging and stimulating learning environment for students to: apply the scientific method in laboratory and field exercises; understand the properties of water and how its physical and chemical characteristics affect and influence marine organisms; define diversity and to interpret the major characteristics of marine organisms in the context of their evolutionary relationships; identify marine producers and consumers and to classify these organisms into their major invertebrate and chordate phyla; to explain the strategies that enable adaption of organisms to their marine environment; to interpret the distribution of life in the oceans and other marine environments in the context of their adaptations; provide examples of environmental problems facing marine communities; and to give students the basis to cultivate a sense of stewardship for marine life and ecosystems.
Required Text and Materials: Marine Biology. 9th Edition*. Peter Castro and Michael E. Huber. McGraw Hill Higher Education. 2009.*8th Edition is also OK.
Gloves are required for the laboratory. You will NOT receive credit for the lab if you do not have and wear gloves during laboratory dissections.
Attendance Policy:
· Attendance at lecture sessions is expected, and you are responsible for any materials/lectures missed. Attendance will be taken at every meeting as per college protocol. The College defines excessive absence or lateness as more than the equivalent of one week of class meetings during the semester.
· Attendance at laboratory meetings is required. Students who miss more than one (1) lab session may be dropped from the course. If you know in advance that you will miss a laboratory meeting or have missed one due to illness, emergency, etc., it is your responsibility to make-up this session. However, this is dependent on permission of the other instructor and the availability of other laboratory meetings, and you will need written documentation of your make-up by the instructor. Please see me if you need to make such arrangements.
· The last official date to withdraw from the course is November 2nd. Students wishing to withdraw from class after this date must contact me and complete a withdraw slip from the registrar’s office, which I must sign. All students who go AWOL without completing a withdraw form will automatically receive a grade of “F”, regardless of how early in the semester you stop attending.
· A student may be removed from the class roster by an instructor at any time when, in the judgment of the instructor, absences have been excessive or when a student is disruptive or disrespectful. Leaving laboratory class early (or arriving late) is not permitted.
Notes: Lectures will be presented using Power Point. All Power Point lectures are posted on my website. It is strongly recommended that you print these notes prior to our class meeting to take notes on during lecture.
Laboratory Schedule: Laboratory schedule generally follows the timeline of the course outline. This course includes field trips as well as laboratory exercises. Due to the length of time these field trips take, some trips will be held on a weekend and/or alternate date. Your attendance on these field trips is expected (as is outlined in the course catalogue). I understand that many students have other commitments during these times, but I encourage you to make arrangements in advance to attend. If you cannot attend a trip, an alternative assignment may be given to you for completion. However, these field trips are the best part of the course and enjoyed well by students. The details of these field trips will be distributed early in the semester. Please see schedule below.
Important note: The aquarium field trip costs approximately $16 per person and parking is sometimes additional. Personal transportation (i.e., car) to these field trips is also necessary. As per college protocol, I am UNABLE to transport any students in my personal vehicle. You may wish to make arrangements with other students to carpool together in advance of the trip. Details for all field trips will be given in class.
Course Lecture Outline:
Date Topic Required Text Readings
08/29 Introduction/Science of Marine Biology Chapter 1
08/31 Properties of Seawater
09/05 NO CLASS – LABOR DAY
09/07 Properties of Seawater Chapter 3
09/12 Fundamentals of Biology Chapter 4 (4a in notes)
09/14 Fundamentals of Biology (continued)
09/19 Diversity of Life/Classification Chapter 4 (4b in notes)
09/21 The Microbial World: Viruses, Prokaryotes, Fungi Chapter 5
09/26 The Microbial World (continued)
09/28 Lecture Exam #1
10/03 NO CLASS – ROSH HASHANAH
10/05 NO LECTURE – WED FIELD TRIP AT 10AM
10/10 The Microbial World: Protists Chapter 5
10/12 NO CLASS – YOM KIPPUR
10/17 Microbial World (continued)
10/19 Multi-cellular Primary Producers Chapter 6
10/24 Plankton Chapter 15
10/26 Plankton (continued) Chapter 15
10/31 Marine Invertebrates Chapter 7 (7a in notes)
10/31 TAXONOMY PROJECT DUE!
11/02 Marine Invertebrates (continued) Chapter 7 (7b in notes)
11/07 Marine Invertebrates (continued)
11/09 Marine Invertebrates (continued) Chapter 7 (7c in notes)
11/14 Lecture Exam #2
11/16 Marine Vertebrates – Fishes Chapter 8 (8a in notes)
11/21 Marine Vertebrates – Fishes (continued) Chapter 8 (8b in notes)
11/23 NO CLASS – HAPPY DAY BEFORE TURKEY DAY
11/28 Deep Sea Biology Chapter 16
11/30 Marine Vertebrates – Reptiles Chapter 9
12/05 Marine Vertebrates – Reptiles (continued)
12/07 Lecture Exam #3
12/12 Marine Vertebrates – Birds Chapter 9
12/14 Marine Vertebrates - Mammals Chapter 9
12/19 Marine Vertebrates – Mammals (continued)
12/21 Final Exam – GOOD LUCK!
Course Laboratory Outline:
Date: Laboratory______
08/29 & 08/31 Introduction
09/07 & 09/12 Taxonomy Boot Camp I
09/14 & 09/19 Taxonomic Classification and Identification
09/21 & 09/26 Ocean Tracks - *Meet in computer lab, room L319
09/28 & 10/17 Marine Plants and Algae, and Plankton
10/05 & 10/10 NORTH SHORE FIELD TRIP *details in class
10/19 & 10/24 Lower Marine Invertebrates – Sponges, Ctenophores and Cnidarians
10/26 & 10/31 Mollusca dissections (clam and squid)
11/02 & 11/07 Arthropod and Echinoderm dissections (crab, sea star)
11/09 & 11/14 Fish dissections (hagfish, shark, menhaden)
11/16 & 11/21 Ocean Tracks - *Meet in computer lab, room L319
11/19 SAT Long Island Aquarium
11/28 & 11/30 Taxonomy Boot Camp II
12/05 & 12/07 Lab Exam
12/12 & 12/14 NO LAB (MAKE-UP FOR AQUARIUM)
LAB PARTICIPATION GRADING MATRIX:
90-100: Excellent. Student demonstrates significant participation in laboratory exercise; completes assignment correctly and without rushing, assists others and asks questions when necessary. Student is prepared for lab and on time. Student does not text or utilize phone during laboratory period. Student cleans up after him/herself and pushes chair in.
80-89: Good/Very good. Student demonstrates good participation in laboratory exercise; completes assignment correctly and asks questions when necessary. Student is prepared for lab and on time. Student does not text or utilize phone during laboratory period. Student cleans up after him/herself and pushes chair in.
70-79: Average. Student demonstrates a mediocre level of participation in laboratory exercise; partially or incorrectly completes assignment, does not ask questions when necessary. Student is somewhat prepared for lab and on time. Student does not text or utilize phone during laboratory period. Student sometimes cleans up after him/herself and occasionally pushes chair in.
60-69: Poor. Student demonstrates little participation in laboratory exercise; partially or incorrectly completes assignment, does not ask questions when necessary. Student is not prepared for lab and/or not on time. Student texts or utilizes phone during laboratory period. Student does not clean up after him/herself and does not push chair in.
Examinations and Grading:
A. Lecture Grade (45%):
- Three exams will be given. These exams may consist of multiple choice, fill-in, matching, short answer, and essay questions. Anything covered in lecture is ‘fair game’ for the exam, as well as information obtained from your required readings and laboratory exercises. Together, these three exams will constitute 45% of your course grade, with the two best exams counting towards 20% each of your total grade, and your worst exam counting 5%.
- Extra credit/Alternate grading: Students have the option of keeping a scientific journal which would count as 5% of your lecture exam grade. Under this option, the optional assignment would replace your lowest exam grade (applicable only for those with good attendance). Details on the assignment will be handed out in class. As an added incentive, journal assignments receiving an “A” will result in 2 additional points being added to your final grade; a journal receiving a “B” will result in 1 additional point added to your final grade. No additional points will be given for assignments receiving any grade less than a “B”.
- There will be NO make-up exams in this course. If you miss an exam for any reason, you will receive a “0” for that exam. In this case, you are strongly advised to do the optional assignment to replace this zero with an actual grade. Only under extremely unusual circumstances will a remake exam be given.
B. Laboratory Grade: Your laboratory grade will constitute 30% of your course grade and is calculated according to the following matrix:
Laboratory work (assignments, field trip attendance AND PARTICIPATION): 1/3 of lab grade
Lab check-out questions and quizzes: 1/3 of lab grade
Lab Exam (Final): 1/3 of lab grade
C. Final Examination: A comprehensive final exam will be given on the last day of the course. This exam will constitute 20% of your course grade.
D. Taxonomy Project: All students will be given a species which they must classify and describe (details will be given in class). This project will account for 5% of your course grade.
E. Academic dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in a ZERO grade for that assignment. Additionally, any student caught cheating, plagiarizing, falsifying assignments or in violation of the student code of conduct will lose any and all points previously earned on extra credit assignments, and will lose the right to participate in any future extra credit opportunities.
F. Final grade scale: In accordance with college policy, the following letter grades will be assigned based upon your final score:
A = 90-100; B+ = 85-89; B = 80-84; C+ = 75-79; C = 70-74; D+ = 65-69; D = 60-64; F = 59 or below
Important Note: Make-up exams will be given only with a legitimate doctor’s note and/or prior approval. Do everything within your power not to miss an exam. If you do miss an exam due to illness or personal matters and wish to remake the exam, you must contact me within normal business hours the day of the exam so that a remake (if granted) may be scheduled. If you send me an email and I do not acknowledge receipt of it by the end of the business day, assume that I have not read it, and be sure to contact me by phone or by other means.
General Information and Class Policies:
· Academic integrity: Cheating (including but not limited to glancing at other student’s work, talking during exams, using notes during examination, etc), plagiarism, falsification of records/data, and other violations of the student code constitute violation of this provision and will not be tolerated. Academic misconduct will be reported to the appropriate office for resolution and students in violation of the academic integrity code may be removed from the class or the course at the discretion of the instructor. I reserve the right to relocate students during exams in support of this policy.
· Late work: All assignments are due on the date assigned. Exceptions will only be made if you have been given permission beforehand or under extremely unusual circumstances.
· Classroom Conduct: Please respect the instructor and students by arriving on time, and silencing your cell phones, pagers, etc. Text messaging is NOT permitted in class and is considered disruptive. I reserve the right to remove any student for texting, and/or other disruptive behavior at any time.
· Study Hints: Take notes during lecture meetings. If something is unclear, ask questions! You are probably not the only one wondering.
· Study Hints: Be sure to keep up with the required readings. Make note of anything that is unclear and ask for clarification as necessary. When reading the text, refer to all figures and tables and make sure you understand the diagrams, photos, etc. Good figures condense a large amount of information, so expect to spend a lot of time studying figures. The course covers a very extensive amount of material with a good degree of difficulty and technical ‘jargon’. Be prepared to spend sufficient time reading the text, reviewing your notes, and resolving your laboratory exercises, reports, etc. Seek the help of fellow students and friends, and of course, see me if you have any questions or concerns.
· Please be advised that students are not permitted to leave class during an exam, unless they have completed the exam and handed it in to the instructor. Please make any necessary arrangements (e.g., bathroom breaks) prior to the exam.
· Laptops are permitted for note-taking purposes in class only with the prior permission of the instructor. If granted permission, you must sit in the back of the classroom to minimize distraction and understand that such use may be regulated according to college and course policies.
· For students with disabilities and/or “Special Services” notices please see me immediately at the start of the semester. I will do everything I can, within reason and school policy, to accommodate your needs.