Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Classes are lecture only, lecture + lab, on campus or online.
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
A Marine Science course is an excellent choice for a student looking to fulfill his or her SBCC General Education requirement. The labs for BIOL 124: Biological Oceanography and BIOL 125: Marine Biology use the harbor and the local beaches as field trip destinations. Students interested in a Marine Biology major should take the Biological Sciences majors sequence. Students are encouraged to supplement this sequence with courses in Marine Science. However, students should be aware that the Marine Sciences courses will not count towards the Biological Sciences major.
IGETC
Within Area 5 of IGETC students need to complete one class from Area 5a (Physical
Sciences) and one class from Area 5b (Biological Sciences). One of these classes
needs to have a lab and the two classes together need to total 7 - 9 semester units.
4 units, lecture + lab. Offered on campus Fall semesters only. Instructor: Michelle Paddack (Fall 2024 instructor is Michelle Kowalewski)
This course provides a broad knowledge of the biological nature of the world's oceans.
Biological Oceanography is the science that relates the living organisms found in
the oceans to the physical oceanographic conditions found in their particular regional
habitat. In lab, you use oceanographic measuring instruments to study the ocean's
characteristics including chemicals, temperature, light, pressure, and currents. You
also use biologic sampling equipment to gather marine organisms. Sample syllabus.
There are four Student Learning Outcomes for this class:
1. Adaptations - Describe basic adaptations that occur in marine pelagic organisms
to facilitate buoyancy, migrations, and reproduction.
2. Communities - Compare and contrast marine benthic communities in tropical, polar,
and deep-sea marine environments.
3. Lab - Recognize the major pieces of oceanographic equipment, what each one samples
or measures, and what the sample or measurement can tell about the ocean.
4. Physical - Summarize the major physical aspects of the oceans (salinity, temperature,
dissolved oxygen, nutrients, pH), how each one varies or does not vary, and how each
one affects marine life (geographically and/or seasonally).
4 unit, lecture + lab. Offered on campus Spring semesters only. Instructor: Michelle Paddack
This course emphasizes the ecological relationships of the common marine plants and
animals found along the Santa Barbara County coastline. Through lecture, laboratory
work, and field trips, you study marine plants, marine invertebrates and vertebrates
and their life cycles, tidal cycles, intertidal niches and zones, adaptive mechanisms
of estuarine plants and animals, and marine food chains. Oceanic characteristics
(temperature, oxygen, salinity) are studied in the context of the survival of these
marine organisms. Sample syllabus.
The course objectives for this class are:
1. Define the major ecological principles operating in marine communities.
2. Describe marine plankton as the base of most marine food webs.
3. Identify the major groups of marine organisms.
4. Compare the major littoral habitats (sand, rock, mud), the species of marine organisms
commonly found in each one, and their adaptations to the habitat.
5. Specify the major marine physical and biological forces at work in littoral zones
(these concepts can be applied anywhere in the world).
3 units, lecture only. Online. Offered occasionally. Instructor: Larry Friesen
The course objectives for this class are:1. Explain general biological principles as displayed in the rich diversity of aquatic life forms and associations.
2. Discuss the interrelationships among electromagnetic radiation, the physical environment and living organisms in marine and freshwater ecosystems.
3. Identify the common living organisms in marine and freshwater habitats and describe the characteristics by which they are classified.
4. Describe the methods used in collecting, recording and interpreting data related to water analysis, biodiversity evaluation and tracking.
5.Compare and contrast the adaptations of organisms from different aquatic ecosystems and different phyla.
6. Describe the history, advances, diversification and biogeography of aquatic life on Earth through time.
3 units, lecture only. Offered online in the Fall and Spring semesters and usually
one summer sessions. Instructor: Michelle Paddack
This course introduces students to the basic concepts of marine science, including
an introduction to oceanography and marine biology. Students gain a general understanding
of ocean properties, marine ecology of the tropics, poles, temperate and deep-sea
regions, and marine environmental concerns. This is a three-unit non-major's biology
course which satisfies the SBCC General Education requirement in Natural Sciences.
This course is transferable to the UC & CSU as a general education life science course.
Biology majors are welcome to take this course, however they will not receive credit
toward their major for this course. Sample syllabus