Moodle

Welcome to Marine Population Ecology and Dynamics (MPED)! MPED is a 3 week intensive upper-level undergraduate course during the BMSC Fall Program, designed to provide an immersive experience in marine ecology and research methods. In this course, we will explore the forces shaping populations and their distributions in coastal marine environments.

Marine invertebrates are members of every known animal phylum, and Barkley Sound contains a fantastic diversity of them. In this course, students investigate the zoology of living marine invertebrates: their functional morphology, behaviour, ecology, and phylogenetic relationships. On a tidal schedule, we will conduct inspiring – and intensive – field work to explore a variety of habitats including exposed rocky shores, mudflats, eelgrass beds, and beaches, and to collect a tremendous range of organisms, from Asteriidae to Zoantharia, and everything in between. We will also spend exhilarating – and extensive – time in the lab examining the animals up close and investigating their comparative morphology and behaviour. Field and lab work will be complemented by activities, discussion, lectures, and independent research.