{"id":1886,"date":"2012-02-08T10:48:33","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T15:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/?page_id=1886"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:33:01","slug":"cas-bi-569-tropical-marine-invertebrates","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/academic-programs\/bump-marine-semester\/cas-bi-569-tropical-marine-invertebrates\/","title":{"rendered":"CAS BI 569 Tropical Marine Invertebrates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Contact the Professor:<img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/bump\/files\/2012\/02\/2017_1215_BI569_LongCaye_TheAquarium_1469-1-636x358.jpg\" alt=\"2017_1215_BI569_LongCaye_TheAquarium_1469 (1)\" width=\"636\" height=\"358\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4338 alignright\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/files\/2012\/02\/2017_1215_BI569_LongCaye_TheAquarium_1469-1-636x358.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/files\/2012\/02\/2017_1215_BI569_LongCaye_TheAquarium_1469-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/files\/2012\/02\/2017_1215_BI569_LongCaye_TheAquarium_1469-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/strong><br \/>\nJohn Finnerty<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:jrf3@bu.edu\">jrf3@bu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Syllabus: <a href=\"\/bump\/files\/2025\/09\/BI569_2024_Syllabus_1015.pdf\">BI569_2024_Syllabus_1015<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Course Description:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Tropical Marine Invertebrates explores the causes and consequences of animal biodiversity with a special focus on the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve in Belize. You will come to understand the major patterns of animal evolution including (1) the origin of metazoan cell types and body plans, (2) the diversification of animal developmental programs, and (3) the radiation of major lineages. You will explore the influence of contemporary ecological forces on the assemblages of marine animals found in three key tropical habitats: seagrass, mangrove and coral reef. You will develop an understanding of these organisms\u2019 natural history. You will produce \u201cscientific deliverables\u201d intended for multiple audiences, from original data destined for the peer-reviewed scientific literature to learning aids intended for broad public consumption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Additional Considerations:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Course-specific Costs:\n<ul>\n<li>Students will need to reimburse the BU Marine Program for the cost of the flight to Belize (about $1000).<\/li>\n<li>Students are responsible for transportation to and from Logan Airport on travel days.<\/li>\n<li>All students must have a passport valid for at least 6 months past their return date.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Meals\n<ul>\n<li>Food and lodging are covered by the program while in Belize. Students will be responsible for purchasing any meals during travel days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Schedule\n<ul>\n<li>~7 Days in Boston: Mon-Fri \/ 10:00-12:00 &amp; 1:00-4:00<\/li>\n<li>~12 Days in Belize\n<ul>\n<li>Mon-Sun \/ Daily Field work: ~8:30-11:30 am; 1:30-4:30 pm;<\/li>\n<li>Daily Data Analysis &amp; Talk Preparation: 7:30-9:30 pm<\/li>\n<li>Location: Calabash Caye Field Station<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>1 Day Wrap-Up in Boston<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Required gear\n<ul>\n<li>Full-length\u00a02mm\/3mm wet suit, neoprene booties, fins, dive mask, snorkel, waterproof watch. Optional: hood, underwater camera.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Physical requirements\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Up to 7 hours of snorkeling per day. Daily transit on small boats. Short hikes across level ground. Occasionally carrying class gear across a sandy beach. Class stays at a remote field station. You will be exposed to the elements (sun, rain, wind) and bugs (be prepared with bugspray).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Training you will receive in BI569:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">THEORY: Fundamentals of animal evolution \/\/ animal development \/\/ trophic strategies of animals \/\/ seagrass ecology \/\/ mangrove ecology \/\/ coral reef ecology \/\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">SKILLS: species identification \/\/ statistical analysis \/\/ phylogenetic inference \/\/ digital photo and video processing \/\/ DNA barcoding \/\/ morphometrics \/\/ development of scientific graphs and figures \/\/ scientific presentation<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Course Objectives for 2020:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2014Data Collection &amp; Analysis<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I. DNA barcoding in marine ecological research \u2014 identification of Belizean mangrove species by cytochrome oxidase and 18S rDNA sequences<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">II. Environmental morphometrics of corals \u2014 comparison of growth and form in corals transplanted between mangrove and reef habitats<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">III. Mangrove epibiont community ecology \u2014 species co-occurrences and biotic interactions on mangrove prop roots<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2014Scientific Deliverables<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I. Class collaboration on A Species Key for Lagoons and Backreef Habitats of Turneffe Atoll<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">II. Sole authorship of scientific captions for photos or videos on the BU Marine Program\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">Media Library (<\/span>bumarine.smugmug.org<span class=\"s1\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">III. Group collaboration on interactive video tutorial entitled A Virtual Habitat Guide for ______<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">IV. Group collaboration on a scientific presentation based upon your group research project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Prior Class Publications, Learning Resources &amp; Course Reviews are available here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">https:\/\/bumarine.smugmug.com\/COURSES\/Tropical-Marine-Invertebrates-<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contact the Professor: John Finnerty jrf3@bu.edu Syllabus: BI569_2024_Syllabus_1015 Course Description: Tropical Marine Invertebrates explores the causes and consequences of animal biodiversity with a special focus on the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve in Belize. You will come to understand the major patterns of animal evolution including (1) the origin of metazoan cell types and body plans, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5196,"featured_media":0,"parent":40,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1886"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6359,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1886\/revisions\/6359"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}