This course is designed for graduate students who have some familiarity with marine environments, chemistry, and ecological principles. We will use the primary scientific literature to explore aspects of the ecology of seagrasses and mangroves, and of the ecosystems dominated by them. Emphasis will be placed on critical evaluation and synhthesis of the literature. The course will require a substantial amount of independent work in the library, writing literature reviews, and presenting your work orally to the class. Advanced undergraduates may take the class, but they will be expected to perform to the same standards as graduate students.

Textbook: There is no textbook for this class, but you will be required to do a lot of photocopying of primary literature. Expect to spend as much on photocopying as you would on a textbook in other classes.

Assignments and Grading:

1. There will be no exams.

2. Weekly assignments will be due (most weeks).

3. Students will select papers for class reading and lead discussions of papers covering specific topics.

4. Each student will prepare a paper reviewing the literature on a specific topic of the ecology of seagrasses and/or mangroves. This paper will be written in the format for the journal Aquatic Botany, and should include summary figures, tables, and analyses. Each student will post his/her work to the class homepage on the World Wide Web.

5. We will take 3 field trips during the semester. It is not possible to get to seagrass beds or mangrove forests and back to FIU during the scheduled class time; therefore plan on spending all day on these field trips. The field trips are required. We will schedule the field trips early in the semester so that everyone can attend.

6. Final grade will be based on: 30% weekly assignments, 30% class participation, and 40% review paper.

The class syllabus will depend on some extent on the special interests of the students. Expect lectures for the first few weeks, covering the basics of seagrass and mangrove ecology. Students will responsible for leading class discussions for part of every class after the first few weeks.