Aims

Following the participation in the course entitled Laboratoire of marine biology, the students will have acquired several concepts and competences: 1) organization and planning of field trips according to the weather parameters; 2) application of the methods of observations and systematic harvests; 3) specific determination of collected organisms using fauna and flora dichotomic keys; 4) acquisition of the concepts of zonation and physiological adaptations to the intertidal zone; 5) evaluation of the concepts of biological diversity according to the various biotopes; 6) drafting of review and a preparation for oral presentation.

Main themes

The students take part in a training course organized between April and September, at the research station in marine Biology of Wimereux (France). The aim is to carry out observations and experiments on living material. This represents a complement to the theoretical courses of invertebrates biology, and a concrete introduction to more advanced courses. The choice of the dates depends on the "calendar of the tides". Indeed, the field work is organized mainly around the excursions in the zone of the tides, other excursions and laboratory works are organized between those. For the tides, it is a question of going on the beach to the lowests spring tide, systematically to examine the settlement according to various factors (level, nature of the substrate, symbiosis, etc.); to take samples which are brought back to the laboratory, where they are examined more in details (exercises of systematic determination, study anatomical or physiological, etc), and possibly are fixed or collected for a later study.

Summary of the activities

The field course constitutes a first practical approach of the marine environment. The theoretical concepts contained in the notes of course allows students to prepare this training course. The field course is based on the practice and the personal observation. Access to a specific litterature and the compilation of theoretical information will supplement these field observations ; the joint uses of binocular, microscopes and dichotomic keys of determination will make it possible to carry out the report of training course.

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