The week long Marine Biology field course operates at the beginning of the 2nd year and is based at the University Marine Biological Station at Millport in Scotland. For many students, Millport provides their first real “hands on” field experience of the marine environment. The field station’s facilities (aquarium, boats, seawater tanks, library), living on an island, chance events like snorkelling with seals or seeing phosphorescence at night, all contribute to the special learning experience that a week at Millport provides.
Practical and theoretical exercises are focused on marine biodiversity and rocky shore ecology and include:
- Boat work for plankton and benthic sampling in the waters near the Island
- identification skills and zoological classification
- training in quantitative sampling techniques for rocky shores, biological community mapping and ecological data analysis
- rocky shore zonation
A major component of the field course is a 2½ day project. Projects allow students to plan and execute their own piece of research. Project titles from previous years include:
- The effects of exposure on the ecology rocky shores.
- Predation and food choice in the starfish Asterias rubens.
- Aggression in the anemone
Actinia equina.
- Changes in zooplankton communities between day and night.
- Species richness in kelp holdfasts.
