Graduate Courses for Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES)
Schedule of Classes:
Fall |
Winter |
Spring |
Summer
(Only current and next semester available)
MEES 498 Topics in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (1-4 credits)
Lecture and/or laboratory series organized to study a selected area of
marine-estuarine-environmental sciences not otherwise considered in
formal courses.
MEES 602 Scientific Communication Techniques (1 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Credit will be granted for only
one of the following: MEES 602 or MEES 608S. Formerly MEES608S.
An overview of techniques for platform, poster and written scientific
presentations. Emphasis will be placed on oral presentation delivery,
proposal development, content organization and audience perspective.
MEES 607 Quantitative Methods in Environmental Sciences (3 credits)
Prerequisite: MATH220 and MATH221 or equivalent calculus. Credit will be
granted for only one of the following: MEES 607 or MEES 698G. Formerly
MEES698G.
Mathematical approaches and solutions (both analytical and numerical)
that cut across environmental disciplines, and will introduce analytical
techniques.
MEES 608 Seminar in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (1-2 credits)
Also offered as ANSC 608.
MEES 610 Land Margin Interactions (4 credits)
Credit will be granted for only one of the following: MEES610 or
MEES698I. Formerly MEES698I.
Broad overview of the components and biogeochemistry of the coastal
zone(atmosphere, land, streams, wetlands, estuaries) and the time and
space scales on which interactions occur between components. Includes 4
h of classes per week with readings from the literature, field trips, a
term paper, and a forum. Course is taught on the Interactive Video
Network.
MEES 611 Estuarine Systems Ecology (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
A broad systems perspective on the important components and processes of
estuarine ecosystems, with quantitative and/or mathematical treatment
toward development of representative models for estuarine dynamics.
MEES 614 Landscape Ecology (4 credits)
Three hours of lecture, one hour of laboratory, and one hour of
discussion/recitation per week. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Landscape ecology emphasizes spatial patterning--its causes,
development, and importance for ecological processes. Students will
become familiar with concepts, methods, and applications of landscape
ecology through reading classic and contemporary literature
representative of state-of-the-art research; class lectures; completion
of two projects designed to provide "hands on" experience with some of
the quantitative methods and tools; and completion of one independent
project.
MEES 621 Biological Oceanography (4 credits)
Population and community ecology of estuarine and marine systems;
coastal and estuarine processes are emphasized in the context of oceans
in general. Field and lab trips required.
MEES 626 Environmental Geochemistry I (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Recommended: physical chemistry.
Credit will be granted for only one of the following: MEES 626 or MEES
698L. Formerly MEES698L.
Brief overview of biogeochemical cycles; fundamental aquatic chemistry
that can be applied to a variety of environmental systems.
MEES 627 Environmental Geochemistry II (3 credits)
Prerequisite: MEES 626 or permission of instructor. Credit will be
granted for only one of the following: MEES 627 or MEES 698K. Formerly
MEES698K.
Detailed examination of aquatic geochemical cycles, including inorganic
and organic geochemistry. Topics include global biogeochemical cycles,
estuarine cycling, redox cycles, radiochemistry, stable isotope
biogeochemistry and sediment biogeochemistry/diagenesis.
MEES 630 Benthic Ecology (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Recommended: MEES 621 and MEES
661.
A detailed analysis of physical and biological factors structuring
benthic animal and plant communities.
MEES 631 Fish Ecology (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BIOM 401 or permission of instructor.
Study of the interrelationships between individuals, their communities
and environment. Explores the environmental biology of fish, feeding
ecology, energetics and growth, population biology, reproduction and
life history, and population and community interactions.
MEES 633 Structure and Function of Stream Ecosystems (4 credits)
Three hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week. Also
offered as ENTM 633. Credit will be granted for only one of the
following: ENTM 633 or MEES 633.
The structure and function of running waters from ecosystem, community
population, and organismal levels, including discussion of the physica
and chemical processes that impact stream-inhabiting organisms with a
focus on macroinvertebrates, and discussion of ecological responses of
freshwater organisms in association with water quality deterioration
and habitat restoration. The laboratory will focus on a semester-long
project to develop a biological, hydrological and chemical description
of a local stream.
MEES 634 Introduction to Bioenergetics and Population Dynamics (3 credits)
Credit will be granted for only one of the following: MEES 634 or MEES
698C. Formerly MEES698C.
Bioenergetic and population dynamic processes as the individual and
population levels; introduction to thermodynamic and bioenergetic
principals that underlie patterns of energy partitioning in aquatic
animals, the sources and fates of energy and demographic and life
history consequences of surplus energy partitioning. Simple exponential
and density dependent population growth, population-level production,
interactions among populations; predator-prey, competition, and
generalized Lotka-Volterra models are examined.
MEES 636 Marine Microbial Ecology Seminar (1 credits)
Prerequisite: undergraduate microbiology and molecular biology. Credit
will be granted for only one of the following: MEES 608L or MEES 636.
Formerly MEES608L.
Seminar course in which current papers from the literature on marine
microbial ecology will be presented by students and critically analyzed.
Molecular approaches will be emphasized.
MEES 641 Environmental Toxicology (3 credits)
Prerequisite: CHEM 243.
The introduction, behavior, fate, and effects of chemicals in the
environment; organisms in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere
and the effects of foreign chemicals and other stresses on their health
and well-being.
MEES 643 Introduction to Ecotoxicology (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Recommended: organic chemistry.
Tiered approach to ecotoxicology - introduction to dose-response and
bioassays followed by biotic and abiotic factors that influence
toxicity. Toxic endpoints at the population and community level, classes
of environmental chemicals and the toxic threat they pose, issues
associated with energy production, climate agriculture and paper
manufacture, and risk assessment and regulatory toxicology.
MEES 645 Ecology and Management of Wetland and Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Systems (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and four hours of laboratory per week.
Prerequisite: (PBIO 440 and PBIO 455) or permission of instructor.
Comprehensive analysis of the ecology and management of wetlands and
submersed aquatic vegetation at several scales of organization from
physiological, through population, community, and systems levels.
Research studies from the Chesapeake Bay watershed are discussed, as
well as underlying biogeochemical processes and forcing functions
(hydrology, nutrient input, etc.) accounting for systems behavior.
Couplings with surrounding systems on land-margin interface will be
emphasized, along with applications to current management issues. Paper
is required. Field trips and lab work will complement topics covered in
the lectures.
MEES 650 Wetland Ecology (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BIOM301 or permission of department. Also offered as
ENST450. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: ENST450,
NRMT450, or MEES650.
Plant and animal communities, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem properties
of wetland systems. Laboratory emphasizes collection and analysis of
field data on wetland vegetation, soil, and hydrology.
MEES 661 Physics of Estuarine and Marine Environments (3 credits)
Prerequisite: one year of calculus and one year of physics or permission
of instructor.
General introduction to the physical oceanography of estuarine and
marine systems. Physical characteristics of seawater, heat and mass
transport, major ocean currents, basic dynamical oceanography, surface
waves, tides, turbulence, sediment transport, estuarine circulation.
MEES 682 Fishery Science and Management (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Aquatic production and fisheries yields. Introduction to fish population
dynamics and assessment methods. Effects of fishing on resource
potential yields. Causes of fluctuations in resource abundance. An
emphasis on the relationship between science and management.
MEES 698 Special Topics in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (1-4 credits)
Credit according to time schedule and course organization. Lecture
and/or laboratory series organized to study selected areas of
environmental science not otherwise considered by existing courses. May
be repeated for credit since topic coverage will change.
MEES 699 Special Problems in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (1-3 credits)
Research on specialized topics under the direction of individual
faculty members.
MEES 708 Advanced Topics in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Science (1-4 credits)
Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs.
Lectures, experimental courses and other specialized graduate training
in various relevant disciplines.
MEES 711 Modeling Physical and Chemical Processes in Natural Waters (3 credits)
Prerequisites: CHEM 474 or equivalent; and permission of instructor.
Quantitative mathematical descriptions of the physical and chemical
processes which control the movement of chemicals in natural waters,
including gas exchange across the air-water interface, adsorption,
biological uptake, and biotic and abiotic degradation.
MEES 721 Plankton Dynamics (3 credits)
Prerequisite: MEES 621; and MEES 661 or equivalent.
Physiological ecology of plankton populations beginning with the
biochemistry, physiology and ecology of phytoplankton and concluding
with the physiology and ecology of zooplankton.
MEES 743 Aquatic Toxicology (3 credits)
Prerequisites: MEES 641; and BCHM 462 or permission of instructor.
Basic concepts and principles of aquatic toxicology, laboratory testing
and field situations, as well as examples of typical data and their
interpretation and use; Toxicology action and fate of environmental
pollutants will be examined in aquatic ecosystems, whole organisms and
at the cellular, biochemical, and molecular levels.
MEES 799 Masters Thesis Research (1-6 credits)
MEES 898 Pre-Candidacy Research (1-8 credits)
MEES 899 Doctoral Dissertation Research (1-8 credits)
