UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS
B.Sc. DEGREE COURSE IN MARINE SCIENCE
SEMESTER SYSTEM WITH CREDITS
(Effective from the Academic Year 2003-2004)

SYLLABUS

Semester III - Paper IV - Marine Ecology and Zoogeography

Duration of Examination: 3 hrs
Maximum Marks: 100
Credits: 4

Unit I

Marine environment - ecological factors - light, temperature, salinity, pressure - Classification of marine environment - pelagic environment, planktonic and nektonic adaptations, benthic environment - intertidal, interstitial and adaptation - Other coastal environments - coral reefs, estuaries, mangroves, sea grass beds, forests, polar seas and hydrothermal vent - Marine zoogeography.

Unit II

Marine ecosystem concept - ecosystem structure and function, food chain, food-web, ecological pyramid, energy flow - Systems ecology and modeling.

Unit III

Population ecology - group attributes, population growth, population density variation, carrying capacity, dispersal, prey-predator relationship, density dependent and independent factors.

Unit IV

Community ecology - structure and composition, diversity and stability, concept of niche, succession, community wise adaptation - fouling and boring community, animal association in the sea.

Unit V

Marine biodiversity - definition and importance, biodivesity assessment techniques - Marine resources, Fisheries - Pelagic - Benthic and non biological - Threats to marine biodiversity, overexploitation, physical alteration, pollution, alien species.

Books Recommended:

Marine Biology - An Ecological Approach (Fourth Edition) by J.W. Nybakken, Addison Wesley Edu. Pub. inc., 1997.

An introduction to Marine Ecology (Third edition) by R.S.K. Barnes and R.N. Hughes, Blackwell Science, 1999

Basic Ecology by E.P. Odum, Saunders College Publications, Philadelphia, 1987.

Marine Ecology by J.S. Levinton, Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey.

Environmental Science - A study of interrelationships (Sixth Edition) WCB/McGraw Hill, 1995.