Summer Program – Tropical Marine Biology program
Murdoch University has an outstanding reputation for Marine and Environmental Science. We were the first university in Australia to offer Environmental Science.
This summer program will cover three main areas:
- The diversity and physical processes of WA marine habitats
- A focus on coral reef environments; the biodiversity of reef organisms
- And biological processes, with a focus on coral reefs ecosystems.
Who the program is suitable for:
The course will suit undergraduate students who have at least two classes of general biology background.
The course program
Tuition 2008: AUS$3,900 includes accommodation and field trips.
Date: middle of June to early July (three weeks)
Format
- 15x 60-minute lectures,
- five laboratory classes,
- five tutorials in one week; followed by a 12-day intensive field camp.
Assessment
- 1x two-hour theory exam (40%)
- Laboratory notebooks (15%)
- Group presentations (15%)
- Final project reports (30%)
What’s involved:
- A one week lecture series with laboratory classes based at Murdoch University and an exam
- A 10-day field trip to Coral Bay, one of the most pristine marine parks in the world
The lecture series
A series of 15 lectures will provide a physical and biogeographical background to WA coral reefs, a run through of WA reef biodiversity and details of key biological and ecological processes of coral reefs.
Additional non-assessed lectures on data analysis and the Ningaloo Marine Park and other special lectures will also take place at Ningaloo Reef.
A series of five laboratory classes and five tutorial sessions will address aspects of reef ecology and processes, including a mixture of biodiversity, behavioural, trophodynamic and techniques-based exercises.
The field trip will principally consist of project work, with students working in groups on a choice of topics; students would be expected to undertake two projects for a period of four days each.
Assessment will include a theory exam at Murdoch University and laboratory notebook to cover the work carried out at Murdoch, while the fieldwork would be assessed by a report and group presentation on the final day.
The field based experience
Coral Bay, which includes Ningaloo Marine Park and Point Cloates is located 1131km north of Perth.
Coral Bay’s great appeal is its access to the 260km Ningaloo Reef which lies close to the shore and forms a kind of natural lagoon which is ideal for people wishing to fish, snorkel, scuba dive or explore the reef.
Lying just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, the waters are warm for most of the year and the beaches, like most of the beaches on the Western Australian coast, are white, undisturbed and beautifully clean.
Coral Bay lies at the southern end of the Ningaloo Marine Park which runs along the coast from Amherst Point (50km to the south) to Bundegi on North West Cape just north of Exmouth. It includes all the coastline of the Cape Range National Parks well as Point Cloates.
The Marine Park was declared in 1987 in an attempt to protect Western Australia's largest coral reef and to control public access to it. It is a unique area because the reef is so close to the dry landmass and because it is here that the Australian continent is closest to the continental shelf.
The reef boasts 170 hard corals, 11 soft corals and 475 species of fish. In its own way it is as good as the Great Barrier Reef and it is much more accessible.
Your steps to apply:
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