Overview
This AOE focuses on the study of ecological processes in marine and coastal habitats. Marine Ecology necessarily incorporates processes operating from individuals to populations and communities to ecosystems, and spanning daily to decadal scales, and meters to global scales. Approaches may be basic, applied, experimental or theoretical, according to the student’s interests. Research projects may be carried out within a broad range of areas, such a behavioral and sensory ecology, community ecology, population dynamics, recruitment dynamics with respect to ocean processes, and other environmental processes, management of marine resources, and marine reserve design, This list is not inclusive, and our AOE can be tailored to the individual student’s needs.
Curriculum for Masters and Ph.D. Programs
All GGE AOE students must fulfill the course requirements of the GGE. The intent of the GGE AOE curriculum is to provide students interested in marine ecology guidance and additional structure in their coursework. The GGE AOE recognizes that individual students may have highly diverse interests and needs. Modifications in the requirements of a student's course program may be made subject to the approval of the GGE AOE Adviser and Chair.
AOE Required Course
All students are required to take the Graduate Core Course in Marine Ecology: ECL 214 (Marine Ecology: Concepts and Practice).
Graduate Seminar: All Marine Ecology-AOE students are required to take at least one ECL 290 seminar (or approved equivalent) dealing with some aspect of marine ecology. This seminar will also satisfy the GGE seminar requirement.
In addition, participants in the Marine Ecology AOE are expected to have either upon admission, or acquire soon after admission, basic knowledge in three key subject areas: Methods, Organisms and Processes. The student and the Guidance Committee should jointly agree on which courses the student should take to fulfill any deficiencies. As a guideline, it is generally recommended that students demonstrate equivalency in at least one course in each of the three areas.
Suggested Courses
The following is a list of UC Davis courses that the faculty consider appropriate for each of these areas:
A. Methods
ECL 231 Mathematical Methods in Population Biology (3) Hastings
ECL 233 Computational Methods in Population Biology (3) Baskett/Schreiber
EVE 180A Experimental Ecology and Evolution in the Field (4) Yang
EVE 180B Experimental Ecology and Evolution in the Field (4) Yang
WFC 100 Field Methods in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology (4) Eadie, Kelt, Todd, Van Vuren
WFC 122 Population Dynamics and Estimation (4) Botsford
B. Organisms
EVE 112 Biology of Invertebrates (3) Grosberg, Sanford
EVE 114 Experimental Invertebrate Biology (3) Sanford
EVE 106 Mechanical Design in Organisms (3) Gaylord
NPB 102 Mechanisms of Animal Behavior (3) Nevitt
WFC 111 Biology and Conservation of Wild Birds (3) Eadie
WFC 111L Laboratory in Biology and Conservation of Wild Birds (3) Eadie
WFC 120 Biology of Fish (3) Moyle
EVE 105 Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (Wainwright)
C. Processes
ECL 208 Issues in Conservation Biology (4) Schwartz
ECL 232 Theoretical Ecology (3) Hastings
ECL 262 Advanced Population Dynamics (3) Botsford
ESP 116N Oceanography (3)
ESP 121 Population Ecology (4) Baskett, Hastings
ESP 150A Physical and Chemical Oceanography (4) McClain, Spero, Largier
ESP 150B Geological Oceanography (3) McClain
ESP 150C Biological Oceanography (4)
EVE 115 Marine Ecology (4) Stachowicz
EVE 180A Experimental Ecology and Evolution in the Field (4) Yang
EVE 180B Experimental Ecology and Evolution in the Field (4) Yang
WFC 122 Population Dynamics and Estimation (4) Botsford
WFC 154 Conservation Biology (4) Todd
ESP 152 Coastal Oceanography (Largier)
Contact
Anya Brown, Chair/Advisor, Evolution and Ecology