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

"Basic" College Science and Math Pre-Test

Since I started teaching at Florida Gulf Coast University I've made all my students take a science pre-test. I don't count it towards the students' grades, but it helps me see how much science and math education they have had and remembered... and what I need to catch them up on! Sometimes at the end of the semester I'll give it again for a grade. Anyway, I'm putting the test here on the web so other people can try it themselves, or copy it and use it for their own teaching purposes. Some of the inspiration for and answers to the test can be found in a post on my personal blog: http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2009/12/practical-science-stuff-to-know.html



You can check your answers here: Answer Key