Prospective graduate students interested in marine biology should explore the programs and departments researching marine topics. The UW does not offer a graduate degree through the Marine Biology Program. Graduate students studying in marine biology through other programs and departments utilize the resources and examine topics pertinent to our location and diverse ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest. Fieldwork is an integral part of graduate research. Graduate students also have opportunities to live, study, and research at Friday Harbor Laboratories, as well as participate in award winning faculty labs. Graduate students in marine biology take classes across disciplines. Below is a sampling of the courses offered for graduate study.

Graduate Courses

Fish 507B Marine Bioacoustics

Faculty: C. Greene

Training for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral investigators in the fundamental principles of marine bioacoustics. Provides students with a broad understanding of the acoustic tools and techniques used to study marine organisms in their natural environment. Lectures include the following subjects: Principles of Underwater Sound, Signal Processing, Zooplankton & Fisheries Acoustics, Marine Mammal Bioacoustics, Acoustic Tracking, Assessing Distribution & Abundance, Predator-Prey Ecology & Behavior, Data Management, Analysis & Visualization. Offered at Friday Harbor Laboratories. 

FISH 513 Current Topics in Management, Conservation, and Restoration

Faculty: V. Gallucci, D. Gunderson

Contemporary problems and issues in management, conservation, and restoration as they relate to fisheries and aquatic sciences. Topics vary.

OCEAN 530 Biological Oceanography: Bacteria and Protozoa

Faculty: J. Baross

Bacteria in the marine environment; fate of organic carbon in the ocean and the interrelationship of the carbon cycle with other biogeochemical cycles.

OCEAN 531 Biological Oceanography: Phytoplankton

Faculty: E. Armbrust

Phytoplankton in the marine environment: ecology, primary productivity, and physiology. Phytoplankton growth and photosynthetic patterns; spatial and temporal distributions of phytoplankton; methods for determining distributions and rates of production and growth.

OCEAN 532 Biological Oceanography: Zooplankton

Distribution and abundance of pelagic animals in space and time; analysis of their interactions. Small-scale distributions and behavior, population dynamics and energetics, trophic structure and dynamics, pelagic community structure, models of populations and food chains, secondary production and biogeography.

BIOL 533 Advanced Invertebrate Zoology

Faculty: J. Murray, S. Cain

Invertebrate fauna of the San Juan Archipelago. Topic changes from year to year. Individual research projects are emphasized. Prerequisite: course in invertebrate zoology and permission of Director of Friday Harbor Laboratories. Offered at Friday Harbor Laboratories.

OCEAN 533 Biological Oceanography: Benthos

Faculty: J. Deming

Analysis of marine benthic communities; new research questions and method; ecologically important physics of benthic boundary layer; theories, mechanics, and observations of deposit feeding; succession as consequence of physical processes and biological interactions. Environments include deep-sea, continental shelves, estuaries, and intertidal, focusing on soft substrata.

BIOL 536 Comparative Invertebrate Embryology

Faculty: R. Strathmann, S. Leys

Diversity in developmental patterns in major marine taxa. Analysis of evolutionary changes in development. Emphasis on observation of live embryos and larvae. Prerequisite: permission of Director of Friday Harbor Laboratories; recommended: courses in invertebrate zoology and developmental biology. Offered at Friday Harbor Laboratories.

BIOL 539 Marine Phycology

Faculty: Varies

Field and laboratory studies of marine algae of the San Juan Archipelago with emphasis on seaweed diversity, identification, and the role of algae in marine ecosystems. Offered at Friday Harbor Laboratories.

OCEAN 539 Seminar in Biological Oceanography

Faculty: D. Grünbaum & E. Lessard

Lectures, discussions, and work on selected problems of current interest. 

FISH 542 Principles and Applications of Molecular Methods

Faculty: L. Hauser

Techniques of molecular analysis with emphasis on DNA methods, including PCR, DNA sequencing, RFLP, RAPD and VNTR analysis and cloning. Applications of these techniques to fisheries, aquaculture, oceanography, population and evolutionary studies, and other areas of science. 

FISH 565 Marine Fish Biology

Faculty: Varies

Taxonomy, ecology, and life history of the fishes of the San Juan Islands and northeast Pacific Ocean. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Offered at Friday Harbor Laboratories.

Ocean 590 Estuarine and Coastal Fluid Dynamics

Faculty: P. MacCready, W. R. Geyer

This course is intended for graduate students, typically in their second year of study or beyond, and focused on the Physical Oceanography of estuarine and coastal systems.  It consists of intensive lectures on basic fluid mechanics for scales relevant to estuarine and coastal systems, lectures and readings on estuarine and coastal fluid dynamics, and field experiments in nearby waters, complemented in some cases by numerical simulation. Students will complete a final written report and talk on individual research projects. Offeredat Friday Harbor Laboratories.