Marine Ecology Lecture Videos

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 I had to switch from conventional teaching to "online instruction" halfway through the semester at Florida Gulf Coast University. Online instruction is not as efficient, effective, or fun as conventional teaching, but it IS better than nothing. One bonus of producing recorded teaching materials is that I can make them available for free to interested members of the public. I have done this with the lectures for my Marine Ecology course "OCB4633C." This is a required course in the BS Marine Science program at colleges in the Florida State University system. I recorded the lectures by doing "voice overs" of my existing PowerPoint slideshow presentations, then converting the presentations to video and uploading them to YouTube. The voice over recording function in powerpoint also lets you use a "laser pointer" or "pen" tool to scribble on the slides as you talk, so I did a lot of that.

These presentations are not National Geographic quality, and some of them move a little slowly with an inordinate amount of "ums" and "ok, so"s. Anyway, with those disclaimers done, here are the videos, in the order that I would normally present these topics to the students. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, if you note mistakes or unclear segments, etc.


Introduction and Patterns in the Marine Environment


Intertidal Ecology


Primary Production Pt. 1


Primary Production Pt. 2


Secondary Production


Microbial Ecology


Pelagic Ecosystems


Continental Shelf Ecosystems


Estuaries


Seagrass, Saltmarsh, and Mangrove Ecosystems


Coral Reef Ecosystems


Deep Sea Ecology


Foodwebs, Biodiversity, and Ecosystem Functions (this one is long with a lot of theory; casual watchers may want to skip or save for last)


Fisheries Ecology


Aquaculture (aka Fish Farming)


Disturbance Ecology


Pollution and Climate Change

Phil Matich Shark Talk Powerpoint

For those who wanted to review Philip Matich's talk, here's a link to the powerpoint: Matich Powerpoint

Intraspecific Variation in Bull Sharks - Philip Matich @ FGCU

The Marine and Ecological Sciences Department at Florida Gulf Coast University occasionally hosts scientific speakers from outside the university. These seminars are open to the public, as well as to students and faculty. We're going to have a good speaker next Friday, 17 January 2014, at 4:00 - 5:00 pm in the Sugden Resort and Hospitality Management Building, Room #110. The speaker is Philip Matich, a PhD candidate in Dr. Mike Heithaus' Lab at Florida International University. The title of Philip's talk is: "We’re not all the same: the drivers and potential consequences of intraspecific variability in Bull Sharks, Carcharhinus leucas."

Synopsis: Populations are often assumed to be homogeneous, but research continues to elucidate the individual differences that exist in nature. Such individuality can have important implications for the functional roles species play within their respective ecosystems, and identifying intraspecific variability within populations is an important first step to understanding the potential effects individual differences have for both adaptability and evolution. In turn, investigating what shapes these differences and their persistence within populations is crucial for predicting how animals may respond to environmental changes and anthropogenic stressors. Our research in the Florida Everglades suggests that bull sharks, traditionally thought of as a highly adaptable generalist predator, display considerable individual differences in habitat use and trophic interactions. Such differences develop early in the life-history of bull sharks, and persist throughout their residencies in nursery habitats, where food-risk trade-offs and intraspecific competition appear to shape the roles of juvenile bull sharks in both top-down and bottom-up effects within coastal estuaries. With predicted changes in environmental conditions and human impacts, understanding the importance of phenotypic variability among species will be crucial for improving management strategies and predicting the responses of species to such changes.

I'm particularly excited about this talk because I know Philip from a long time ago. He was an undergraduate intern with my PhD advisor Dr. J. Emmett Duffy at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. It's cool to see how successfully Phil has progressed in science over the last several years.