This is a second year BSc undergraduate course and provides the foundation for further courses run by the Marine Biology school in third year. It provides the essential tools for becoming an effective marine ecologist.   To understand ecological events in the marine environment, biologists must be able to quantitatively describe patterns of distribution and abundance and the response of populations to environmental disturbances.  As marine organisms have special life history features it is necessary to understand their demographic behaviour before we can interpret responses to environmental change. The course introduces students to the importance of modelling and then applies our skills to environmental assessments.

This course is taken by students from all over the world, and is delivered from the Townsville campus in second semester.