Lecture 15:  Where Sea Meets Land:  Coastlines, Beaches, & Sea Level
Focus Question:  Why do coastlines change?

1.  Global sea level has been rising since the last ice age-why?
2.  What factors determine rises and falls in global sea level?
3.  What factors determine rises and falls in local and regional sea level?
4.  What is the difference between primary and secondary coastlines?
5.  What is meant by longshore current or longshore drift?
6.  How can you escape a rip current?
7.  About 3,000 years ago, the ancient city of Troy used to be near a bay that looked out on the Aegean Sea.  What did
the Skamander River do to the bay since that time?
8.  What drives coastal erosion?
9.  Which coastlines of the U.S. have the most erosion problems?  Why?

Lecture 17:  Coastlines and Pollution
Focus Question:  What are the main sources of pollution in the ocean today?
1.  What is a pollutant?
2.  Why is solubility of a pollutant important?
3.  What happens to spilled oil in the environment?
4.  Why are synthetic (man-made) organic chemicals a problem in the environment?
5.  Who was Rachel Carson and what book did she write that started the Environmental Movement?
6.  What is biological amplification, and why should we worry?
7.  What are the health consequences of sewage run-off into coastal waters?
8.  What are the health consequences of heavy metal pollution?

Lecture 18:  Estuaries
Focus Question:  Why is productivity so high in estuaries?

1.  What is an estuary?
2.  What are the 5 kinds of estuaries?
3.  What is an estuary so rich in nutrients?
4.  Why are they called the nurseries of the sea?
5.  What are major sources of pollution to estuaries?
6.  Why are estuaries so easy to damage or destroy?

7.  What are mangrove forests and what kinds of habitats do they offer?

8.  What are the major threats to mangrove swamps and forests?

9.  What are Kelp Forests and why are they so biologically productive?

10.  What are the components of Kelp plants?

11.  What are the different habitats at different levels in the forest?

12.  How do kelp, sea urchins, and otters show us an example of ecosystem balance?

Lecture 19:  Marine Plankton
Focus Question:  What is the role of plankton in the ocean?
1.  What is the difference between phytoplankton and zooplankton?
2.  Why are phytoplankton at the base of the food chain?
3.  What do we mean by primary productivity?
4.  Where is productivity highest in the ocean?  Where is it lowest?
5.  Why is the health of the phytoplankton so important to other life in the sea?
6.  Pollution from fertilizers and sewage add phosphates and nitrates to the ocean-what happens to phytoplankton?
7.  What is a trigger for the Red Tide or bloom of dinoflagellate algae that cause shellfish poisoning?
8.  What kinds of animals make up the zooplankton?

Lecture 20:  Ecology of the Open Ocean
Focus Question:  Why are there so few top predators in the ocean?
1.  What are important physical factors that determine the success of species in the ocean?
2.  What are important biological factors that determine the success of species in the ocean?
3.  What is meant by trophic transfer?
4.  Why is the trophic pyramid shaped like a pyramid ?
5.  What is a food web?
6.  What are different ways that organisms have of avoiding predation in the open ocean?
7.  What is the DSL (Deep Scattering Layer?)

Lecture 21  Spineless Wonders:  The invertebrates
Focus Question:  Why is biodiversity so high in coral reefs?

1.  What are the three major groups of animals in the ocean?
2.  How do animals support their own bodies in the absence of an internal skeleton?
3.  What are coral reefs and where are they found on Earth?
4.  What is the temperature range that coral reefs can tolerate?
5.  What is coral bleaching?
6.  How does the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae algae and corals work?
7.  What is the economic importance of coral reefs?