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What is Marine Science?

Marine Science involves studying the ocean and its life, gaining an understanding of the vast ocean environment that covers over 70% of our planet. Marine scientists investigate seawater, waves and tides, sediment, shells, marine plants and animals and how they intertwine. Chemists may need to know about plankton. Geologists need to understand wave motion. Marine biologists may have to explore seafloor sediments.

We still know too little about the oceans and their inhabitants. The largest animal to have ever lived on our planet (the blue whale) is still such an enigma we do not know how long they live or even where they breed. We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the deep ocean!

Summer (Jan) & Winter (July) Science Camps

Marine science will be used as a context for exploring and extending biology within the framework of NCEA Scholarship. In January we will investigate marine ecology and animal behaviour, which in July will be linked to evolution patterns and processes. Through laboratory work, field trips and practical hands-on investigations with live animals and dissections we will both enquire and explore. The relationships between local marine critters (some of whom you will have already met!) will provide the focus to advance this learning. Finally, we will collaborate in developing some formal scientific communication.

So join us on the seashore! Marine science is a multidisciplinary and multidimensional world where life abounds and science embarks on thought-filled seeking! We want to challenge you in the world of the immense and the very small, with lashings of salt! Come on board, me hearties! Meet amazing molluscs, weird worms, curious crustaceans and fascinating fish. And be aware that wet weather gear is often necessary down here in the roaring forties and closed-toed shoes should be worn in case a Purple Shore Crab sneaks by your feet…

More information about Marine Science at Otago

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