"on line" kursus

[ole kekkonen]

Sand Beds – In Theory and In Practice
Marine Depot Website.

Course Synopsis:

This will be a “directed readings” with intensive laboratory exercise course.

I will provide a CD to all students containing numerous articles about sand ecosystems. We will look at physical, chemical, and biological properties of sand beds both in nature and our systems. These assigned readings will be scientific papers and will take some time to analyze and discuss. We will work TOGETHER on them; I will provide assistance where necessary.

We will have a private forum on MD to discuss our findings, questions and comments.

In addition to the directed readings, the students will do some very intensive “hands on” sampling and analyses! You will sample the chemistry and the biology of your sand beds, and compare those results with natural beds (data obtained from the literature you will have read) and with each other.

Warning!!

These analyses take TIME. Although not all weeks of the course will have a full laboratory schedule, it would be best to figure that each week you may spend as much as 4 to 8 hours on the labs (this is in addition to the readings). Consider if you are doing 7 chemistry tests with 3 replicates each from 5 different depths in your sand bed, this means you doing 110 different tests. This takes time. A Lot Of Time!

PLEASE DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER THE COURSE UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING
TO PUT IN THE TIME.

I will provide for the students:
The CD of readings, and some nylon screening of specific mesh sizes (along with instructions) so that the students may make their own sieves for sediment analyses.

Time Frame:
Course to start: About 1 November 2007.
Course will run: At least 10 weeks (longer, if necessary).

Costs: $225 for tuition ($25 will go to MD, $200 to me).

Enrollment: Students may enroll by sending me an email at: rshimek@imt.net, and by depositing $225 in my PayPal account. Should not enough people enroll by 1 November, the registration fee, less any PayPal charges will be refunded. Once the course has started, no refunds will be issued.

Necessary Enrollment:
The class will be offered if at least 5 students register and pay for the course.

If you enroll (pay) for the course and then drop the course after it starts you will not get a refund.

Needed Materials:

Students will need:
Enthusiasm!
Test kits for Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Sulfide, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Phosphate. I suggest Sailfert Kits for all but the sulfide (LaMotte kit). The Sailfert kits are available through MD.

Access to dissection (stereo-) microscope (last half of course).
Postal or other scale accurate to 1.0 gram or less.
Digital camera (useful, not absolutely necessary)
Fine-tipped (watch maker’s) forceps.
Calculator

Details:

We will look first at the physical properties of sand beds.
Each student will construct a series of sieves and will do several analyses of sediments (wet, dry, and +/- organic material).

These will be compared between and among the students and natural beds.

Then we will look at the chemical properties of sand beds.
This will involve testing for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, dissolved oxygen, sulfide, and pH at various depths in the beds.

Finally, we do a serious attempt at sediment biological analysis.
For this part of the class students will need to obtain (rent, borrow, or buy) a dissecting (or stereo) microscope or the equivalent (this work can be done using a 20x hand lens but it is really much better with a microscope). The students will count and identify (as well as possible) all the organisms in their samples and will do a standard biological analysis of those samples.

The course will last at least 10 weeks. The last time I offered the course, the class went several weeks beyond the scheduled end time as the students REALLY got “into” the material, and their analyses.

Invertebrate Zoology For Reef Aquarists
Marine Depot Website

Course Synopsis:

This will be an adaptation of a standard college level Invertebrate Zoology course, specifically modified for reef aquarists. This will be an equivalent of an “upper division” biology course. One should have either taken an Introductory Biology course or have a good understanding of that science before taking this course. Some students find this course “challenging.” ?

The lectures for this course will written be at about the 2nd or 3rd year level of college. I will assume you have the ability to read and understand college level material. I am not going to “dumb down” the course material.

- REMEMBER –
THIS WILL BE A COURSE ABOUT INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
IT IS NOT A COURSE ABOUT REEF AQUARIUMS!

This course requires a text, and will require specific dedicated reading time.

The Text:

Ruppert, E. E, R. S. Fox and R. D. Barnes. 2003.Invertebrate Zoology, A Functional Evolutionary Approach. 7th Ed. Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning. Belmont, CA. xvii +963 pp.+ I1-I26 pp.

No other texts will be acceptable, nor will other editions of this text suffice for the course.

I will provide weekly lectures. They will be in pdf format. Each lecture will be 10 to 30 or more pages long, and will have illustrations. In addition there will be intensive reading assignments in the text. There will be weekly self-graded quizzes to allow the students to assess their progress. If the students so desire, I will write and grade “real” mid-term and final examinations.

We will have a private forum on MD to discuss our findings, questions and comments.

In addition to the directed readings, on some weeks there will be “laboratory” exercises utilizing the animals from the students’ aquaria.

PLEASE DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER THE COURSE UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO PUT IN THE TIME.

Time Frame:
Course to start: About 1 November 2007.
Course will run: At least 15 weeks (longer, if necessary).

Tentative Schedule:
Week 1. Introduction; Protozoa.
Week 2. Multicellularity – Concepts. Porifera.
Week 3. Cnidaria.
Week 4. Cnidaria; Flatworm Groups.
Week 5. Minor Groups (A) = Placozoa, Ctenophora, Nemertea, Gnathostomulida, Dicyemida, Orthonectida; Body Cavities
Week 6. Nematoda; Rotifera
Week 7. Minor Groups (B) = Nematomorpha, Acanthocephala, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha, Priapulida.
Week 8. Annelida
Week 9. Mollusca
Week 10. Mollusca
Week 11. Arthropoda
Week 12. Arthropoda
Week 13. Minor Groups (C) = Sipuncula, Echiura, Tardigrada, Entoprocta, Brachiopoda, Phoronida. Bryozoa, Chaetognatha, Hemichordata.
Week 14. Echinodermata
Week 15. Chordata (Urochordata); Conclusions

Costs: $225 for tuition ($25 will go to MD, $200 to me)

Enrollment: Students may enroll by sending me an email at: rshimek@imt.net, and by depositing $225 in my PayPal account. Should not enough people enroll by 1 November, the registration fee, less any PayPal charges will be refunded. Once the course has started, no refunds will be issued.

Necessary Enrollment:
The class will be offered if at least 5 students register and pay for the course.

If you enroll (pay) for the course and then drop the course after it starts you will not get a refund.

Needed Materials:

Students will need:
Enthusiasm!

Helpful – but not necessary:
Access to dissection (stereo-) microscope.
Digital camera
Fine-tipped (watch maker’s) forceps.

Details:

We will examine, on a group by group basis, all the invertebrate groups likely to be found in marine aquaria, discussing their basic anatomy, physiology, and ecology. The emphasis will be on showing just what the animals are and how they work. Secondarily, we will examine why they are or are not in marine aquaria.

The course will last at least 15 weeks. The last time I offered the course, the class went a few weeks beyond the scheduled end time as the students REALLY got “into” the material, and their analyses.

INVERTEBRATE EMBRYOLOGY AND LARVAL BIOLOGY FOR REEF AQUARISTS
Project DIBS Website.

Duration: 10 Weeks
Starting Date: 1 November, 2007
Required Enrollment:
For the course to proceed, I will need 5 enrolled (paid-up) students by 1 November, 2007.

Students may enroll by sending me an email at: rshimek@imt.net, and by depositing $200 (Of this, $175 goes to me, $25 goes to Project DIBS) in my PayPal account. Should not enough people enroll by 1 November, the registration fee, less any PayPal charges will be refunded. Once the course has started, no refunds will be issued.

Recommended Text/Reference:

Strathmann, M. F. 1987. Reproduction and development of marine invertebrates of the Northern Pacific coast. University of Washington Press. Seattle. 670 pp.

Supplemental Text (Highly Recommended, Not Required):

Ruppert, E. E, R. S. Fox and R. D. Barnes. 2003. Invertebrate Zoology, A Functional Evolutionary Approach. 7th Ed. Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning. Belmont, CA. xvii +963 pp.+ I1-I26pp.

This text will not be “necessary” for the course, but it will be REALLY helpful to have it.

Most of the course content will come from original text/lecture essays that I will write.

Optional (Desired) Equipment:
Digital camera (3.3 Mpixel or better) and ability to upload photos.
Microscopes… If you have living animals or larvae, microscopes are a necessity. If you are just “learning,” they are not.

Prerequisite or Necessary Background Knowledge:

College Introductory Biology or sufficient ability and desire to be able to go to references and find out terms.

Course Level:

The lectures for this course will written be at about the 2nd or 3rd year level of college. I will assume you have the ability to read and understand college level material. I am not going to “dumb down” the course material.

Course Format:

Every Monday, I will email the week’s lecture/essay and optional laboratory instructions to the students. This will involve up to 25 pages of material. We will have a private Project DIBS forum. All students may upload and discuss questions on that forum. I will typically check several times during the day to answer and address questions. Each Friday, I will upload a short quiz. The answers to the quiz will be uploaded the following Monday.

I estimate each week may have up to 50 pages of assigned readings. If it has been a while since you have been in school… this reading may be difficult, it isn’t like reading a novel. You will encounter a LOT of jargon terms. I will indicate some appropriate dictionaries and definition sources.

The laboratories will consist of observations and/or experiments done in a standard reef tank. These exercises will not harm any organisms in the tanks.

Course Coverage:

The course will discuss the reproduction and development of invertebrates, in general, with an emphasis whenever possible upon coral reef animals. However, relatively little specific work has been done with coral reef invertebrates, so the student must expect a lot of non-coral reef examples.

The fundamental question asked will be: “How does this animal (any animal) go from adult to a juvenile capable of growing into an adult?” or phrased a bit differently, “How does an adult recreate another adult?”

The secondary question to be addressed will be: “How can I spawn and raise these animals?”

We will cover all the invertebrates likely to be found in marine aquaria, and a few others besides.

Course Syllabus (Subject To Change As The Class Progresses)
Week 1 – Introduction; Materials, Methods, Course Rules, Definitions of Embryos, Larvae.
Spawning Preparation and Initiation. Techniques to study and prepare animals for spawning.
Week 2 - Spawning, Embryogenesis.
Week 3 - Early Larval Development; Lineage of Radiates and Deuterostomes (Cnidarians, Echinoderms, Chordates)
Week 4 - Later Larval Development; Lineage of Radiates and Deuterostomes (Cnidarians, Echinoderms, Chordates)
Week 5 – Metamorphosis and Settlement – Lineage of Radiates and Deuterostomes (Cnidarians, Echinoderms, Chordates)
Week 6 - Early Larval Development; Lineage of Lophotrochozoans (Annelids, Mollusks, Other Groups)
Week 7 – Later Larval Development; Lineage of Lophotrochozoans (Annelids, Mollusks, Other Groups)
Week 8 - Metamorphosis and Settlement - Lineage of Lophotrochozoans (Annelids, Mollusks, Other Groups)
Week 9- Early Larval Development of Arthropods
Week 10 – Later Larval Development of Arthropods, Including Settlement and Metamorphosis.

[ole kekkonen]

er der nogen her inde der kunne tænke sig at tage et forløb sammen,så vi kan hjælpe hinanden med lektier?