Macquarie University

Marine Environmental Issues - BIOL242

The marine environment is vitally important to humankind. It provides us with food and energy, it serves as a major transportation route, it performs critical roles in nutrient and carbon cycling and is of high recreational value. Overfishing, pollution, habitat damage, invasive species, and climate change are, however, increasingly eroding these important values of marine ecosystems. Because human communities are tightly coupled to coastal marine resources, understanding pathways to sustainability requires understanding as much about humans as about the ocean. In this unit, we will explore factors that contribute to the sustainability and resilience of marine ecosystems and the human communities that depend upon them. We will do so through a series of case studies on topics such as: deep ocean drilling; wind and wave power generation; shoreline engineering and beach management; restoration of coastal wetlands for habitat and carbon values; marine debris; and fisheries and aquaculture.