Online Class: Marine Biology 101

Course Lessons

• Lesson 1: Introduction

  Marine biology is the science of saltwater and everything that lives, moves, and filters through it.

• Lesson 2: Geology and the Ocean

  The area where old crust is sinking under another slab of crust is called a subduction zone. Subduction zones create such deep trenches that they are all below sea level.

• Lesson 3: Currents and Tides

  The term current refers to the motion of water. On land, the motion of water is usually driven by gravity: rain falls from clouds and then runs downhill toward lakes and to the ocean.

• Lesson 4: What's in a Name?

  A species is a group of organisms that are able to successfully reproduce with one another.

• Lesson 5: Invertebrates

  The jellyfish, for example, contracts its umbrella shaped body to propel itself through water. Other invertebrates use water pressure, shell, or cups to support themselves.

• Lesson 6: Vertebrates

  There are seven main classes and superclasses of vertebrates that include fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.

• Lesson 7: Marine Fish

  The study of fish is called ichthyology, and ichthyologists have grouped all fish into three main categories: jawless, cartilaginous, and bony.

• Lesson 8: Marine Mammals

  Mammals, whether they live on the land or in the sea, are all vertebrates (meaning they have a backbone and a brain).

• Lesson 9: Marine Ecosystems

  A biome is a large geographical area that contains several different ecosystems. All the plants, animals and other organisms that live in a biome are adapted to that environment.

• Lesson 10: Life at the Shore

  The intertidal zone (also called the foreshore, seashore and the littoral zone) is the area that is exposed to air at low tide and underwater at high tide.

• Lesson 11: Estuaries

  An estuary is one type of intertidal zone, where a river meets the sea: freshwater meets saltwater in a bay, lagoon, sound, or slough.

• Lesson 12: Coral Reef Biology

  Coral reefs are usually found in the tropics, and although corals make up a big part of the reef, they are just one component of an enormous community.

• Lesson 13: Coral Reef Ecosystems

  Many marine scientists think that most reefs start out as fringe reefs, and over time, the coral grows out and away from land. As it gets farther from land, the reef's diameter expands and a large lagoon forms.

• Lesson 14: Life in the Polar Oceans

  Although the two poles have a lot of similarities, like very cold weather and extreme living conditions, life in the two regions was shaped by a different series of circumstances.

• Lesson 15: The Open Sea

  The open ocean is the largest biome in the world by volume, but in terms of the quantity of life, the Pelagic resembles the most enormous desert ever known.

• Lesson 16: Life in the Ocean's Depth

  The Benthic Zonerefers to the sea floor, which extends from the tidal areas all the way down to the deepest trenches on the planet.

• Lesson 17: Oceans in Jeopardy

  Some of the major threats facing the oceans include climate change, pollution, nutrient runoff, garbage dumping, overfishing, and ship strikes.