Marine Life, Processes, and Impacts

This unit examines the diversity, adaptations, and life histories of key marine organisms alongside the physical ocean processes that shape their environments and distributions. Students will also investigate human uses and impacts on ocean systems and prepare to apply conservation and management strategies in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze morphological, physiological, and life-history adaptations across major marine taxa (e.g., mollusks, crustaceans, fishes, marine reptiles, birds, mammals, cnidarians/ctenophores, plankton, and seagrasses) and relate those traits to ecological roles and evolutionary relationships
• Evaluate physical oceanographic processes (including upwelling/downwelling, thermohaline circulation, currents, and hydrothermal activity) and predict their effects on nutrient availability, primary productivity, and species distributions
• Assess human interactions with marine systems — including fisheries and protein production, desalination, research infrastructure, jurisdictional governance, and pollution (e.g., plastics) — and propose evidence-based management or mitigation strategies
• Demonstrate understanding of how climate change and global warming alter ocean chemistry, circulation, and ecosystems by interpreting data and modeling potential impacts on biodiversity, resource availability, and ecosystem services