ZOO * 4300 – Marine Biology and Oceanography F (3-3) [0.75]

This intensive two-week course is held in late August or early September before classes commence for the Fall semester. The course is held at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The ecology, behaviour, physiology, biochemistry, biomechanics of marine plants and animals will be studied as well as basic oceanographic techniques. Students will be able to familiarize themselves with the techniques and equipment involved in various branches of marine biology and oceanography. In addition to regular tuition fees, students are responsible for the cost of transportation to St. Andrews, and for charges levied by the Huntsman Marine Science Centre for room and board. These fees are paid to Student Finance and Awards of the University of Guelph. A department application form must be submitted for approval before course selection. The signature of the course coordinator is required to select the course. This course must be recorded as part of your Fall course selection and tuition and compulsory fees will be calculated accordingly. Students taking this course DO NOT use course numbers reserved for Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology.


Posted By : Anonymous
Posted On : August 19, 2020

Is the textbook recommended by the student? No
Did the student enjoy the professor? Yes
Professor : Dr. Jim Ballantyne, Dr. Sarah Schorno

Comment :
I was scared of this course before we flew in (took it in 2018). I thought two weeks would be too little to collect data and finalize the experiment design, not to mention the prof saying we might have to wake up at 4am to collect tide data, and finish work at lab after midnight. Turns out, it\'s nothing to worry about. It was a nerdy summer camp where you learn a lot, use a lot of cool oceanography equipment, and play with fishies. The course at Huntsman was divided into two: first part is similar to lab work where sampling and lab exercises are given in a lab manual, and you have to work as a group to do them. Everyone in the course does this and its essentially to introduce you to marine bio field methods. Second part is your individual project, which you design and do on your own. Both are graded with your performance during the field/lab and written reports you will tackle during the fall semester. For the individual research, you need to prepare beforehand and come up with a research proposal. Things change when you get to Huntsman (availability of resources like tanks, animals etc), so don\'t get discouraged if you cant follow your initial plan exactly. Dr.s Ballantyne and Schorno were also very nice and helpful if you needed to adjust your experiment. The instructors prep you on what to expect at Huntsman, so its not like you are thrown into the water trying to come up with an experiment. Should keep in mind that you will only have two weeks to collect data, and a couple months to analyze that after you come back. I was trying really hard to stay on top of my schedule for data collection, but things happened and I ended up with less samples than I wanted. Coming back, it\'s easy to forget about the course and the writing assignments, but its a pain if you leave both the group and individual work to the last moment; especially if you divide group work and someone forgets their part, everyone is in trouble. Overall, not a difficult course in terms of the material and field activities, but going in you\'d have to have a good sense of time management to finish all lab work in 2 weeks and not push off the analysis and writing until the last month before the due date. I recommend taking this course especially if you\'re in MFB. It adds so much to your understanding of marine science and research, and is a good practice for individual research design and writing. Aside from all the work, you\'ll get to know your classmates and profs, go to fun places in St Andrews, and see whales in the Bay.
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