Education related to Marine Conservation

Conservation of Marine environment is an important aspect of environmental protection around the world. I am sure there will be multiple reports from fellow ambassadors about the various ways that different places are tackling the issues related to marine pollution and conservation aspects. I am focusing on a different subject- Education related to Marine Conservation. In my opinion higher education on these topics is a highly valuable means to produce skilled and qualified professionals who can not only be directly involved in conservation efforts on the field, but also prove effective in creating awareness and spreading knowledge about the subject matter.

Marine sciences are of great interest to me. I this regard I have come across some interesting courses and educational qualifications related to marine environment. I am sharing these insights with Tunza readers and hoping that some of you may find these fields interesting and worth exploring for further studies after school education.

'Limnology' and 'Bio-Oceanography & Marine Biology'

During research I came across the Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology within the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna in Austria where I currently reside. As indicated in their mission statement, the department aims at a  mechanistic understanding of ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes from organismic to ecosystem scale. This is done through study of biodiversity, symbioses, metabolic pathways, ecophysiology and ecosystem functioning in light of environmental change.

I discovered two fields of study, related to Marine Sciences:

'Limnology' 

and 

'Bio-Oceanography & Marine Biology'.

This intrigued me because I had never heard of the term 'Limnology' before. As I found out, Limnology is the study of inland waters as ecological systems in interaction with their drainage basins and the atmosphere. These include lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams, wetlands and groundwater.

These courses deal with the communication of scientific knowledge of the ecosystems of pelagic and benthic life in marine ecosystems. 

The terms 'pelagic' and 'benthic' were also new to me. A pelagic organism is one that inhabits the water column and a benthic organism is one that lives near or on the sea floor. The courses do not merely engage in experiments in these ecosystems but offer in depth studies through theory and live projects to find out how the members of these ecosystems interact and function. Organisms being studied include viruses, microbes and metazoans.

Seven specific units of marine biology covered under these courses of study are briefly explained below:

1. Benthic communities and Bioindication: This department relies on Taxonomy and autecological research to study the ecosystem structure in streams and floodplain waters. They mainly focus on aquatic invertibrates.

2. Phycology: This department focuses on algae. This includes the study, relationships, classing and industrial purpose of algae.

3. Fish Ecology: Standard fisheries techniques are used to record and study natural habits like spatial and temporal fish patterns, reproduction, habitat etc.

4. Stream Biogeochemistry: While other departments focus on the different organisms, this one focuses on the 'stream ecosystem' itself. Streams connect water sources to each other and this department researches the various biological and geographic changes and reactions that occur during this transportation period.

5. Groundwater Ecology: Ground water, while being as close to us as ocean water, is the least explored marine ecosystem. However, they are still the largest known freshwater biome. This department handles the researching of the ecosystem and its members in detail.

6. Microbial Oceanography: This department focuses on the metabolic activities of the Bacteria and Archaea living in the open ocean. They combine the biological research with the biogeochemical research to come to better conclusions about these activities.

7. Marine Benthic Ecology: This department handles the modeling of ecology and evolution of interspecies cooperation. This 'cooperation' includes recruitment, growth and decay of benthic populations in both deep sea and shallow water areas.

Conclusion

Through this report I have tried to introduce some educational opportunities related to Marine Sciences and conservation. I have keen interest in this subject. Considering the importance of education and research about marine ecosystems to ensure proper marine conservation, I am sure many of us are looking for suitable courses to pursue for higher education. Accordingly I decided to share here, information about these courses in the University of Vienna that promote research in various fields of marine biology to come up with the best marine conservation solutions.

Do visit their website for more information.

Sources and References

https://ecology.univie.ac.at/

https://limbo.univie.ac.at/