Marine Biology Minor

Fieldwork is a central part of marine biology education, and most marine biologists are actively engaged in field research. Hence, a significant field component is required for the marine biology concentration. This requirement may be fulfilled by courses at Shoals Marine Laboratory; field courses listed with an asterisk in the curriculum section below; Cornell-accredited courses with the Sea Education Association; or approved independent study (e.g., BIOG 4990 or ESS 4990), volunteer work, or internships involving a marine field work component with faculty at Cornell or elsewhere with approval (e.g., during summer, winter or spring breaks, ESS 4960). The Coordinator for Marine Biology Minor must approve the field component.

1. Download the Marine Biology Minor Certification Form  and email the completed form as an attachment; along with a brief proposal for how you will complete the field experience requirement to the Coordinator for Marine Biology Minor, Dr. Matt Hare, with a copy to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Suzanne Wapner.
2. A meeting with one of the Marine Biology advising faculty is not required, but is recommended, to discuss suitable field experiences to meet the requirements. 
3. During your final semester, before applying to graduate, the fully completed and signed form verifying your fulfillment of requirements should be submitted with an unofficial transcript to the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Suzanne Wapner with a copy to the Coordinator for Marine Biology Minor, Dr. Matt Hare for approval.

Remember, only courses for which a grade of "C" or better is received will count towards the minor in Marine Biology (courses taken with an "S/U" option will not count)

If you are a student in a college that requires a minor advisor to sign off on your application to graduate, please bring your application to graduate with you at the same time. Please contact Suzanne Wapner with any questions about the minor certification process.

• Understand the diversity of marine organisms, their evolutionary history, biogeography, interactions with other organisms, and adaptations to their environments.
• Be able to form hypotheses about marine-related scientific questions and design and execute experiments to test those hypotheses.
• Be able to synthesize knowledge of physical and chemical processes of oceans and the biology of organisms to ask questions about natural history and ecology.
• Have an appreciation for the impact of habitat perturbation on marine organisms, and subsequent ecosystem-level consequences and feedbacks.

Students are required to take a total of 15 credits, consisting of one course from Group A and 12 credits from Group B. (BioSM 1610 or BioSM 1780 may count as a Group B course if BioEE 1540 is taken.)

Courses can be proposed for inclusion or subtraction from the following lists, based on proposals by professors or students. Please contact the Coordinator for the Marine Biology Minor, mph75 [at] cornell.edu (Dr. Matt Hare).

Only courses for which a grade of "C" or better is received will count towards the minor in Marine Biology (courses taken with an "S/U" option will not count).

Courses with “SM” prefix are taught at Cornell’s Shoals Marine Laboratory during summer. Several Shoals courses are equivalent to and serve to fulfill on-campus Biology requirements (1500, 1610, 1780) or CALS Life Science requirements (1650). In other words, double-counting courses for this minor and your major is allowed, but at least two courses in Group B must be outside our major requirements. Courses that fulfill the field requirement have an asterisk (*)
Courses with SEA prefix are offered off-campus or on board a sailing vessel at sea
Crosslisted courses are shown below with a slash
°° indicates courses offered every year
† indicates courses offered every other year, next offering 2017-2018
‡ indicates courses offered every other year, next offering 2018-2019
* indicates course fulfills the field experience requirement

Special Cornell marine field programs that will fulfill many of the requirement(s) of the minor:

• CORALS program in Friday Harbor, WA
  contact cdh5 [at] cornell.edu (Drew Harvell)
• Shoals Marine Lab semester program
  contact etw36 [at] cornell.edu (Eugene Won)

Group A - Organismal Biology and Foundations

• BIOEE/EAS 1540 - Introductory Oceanography (3 cr, 4 cr w/lab) °°
• BIOEE/EAS 1560 - Introductory Oceanography with Laboratory  (4 cr) °°
• BIOSM/EAS 1551 – Field Introductory Oceanography Lab (1.5 – 3.0 cr) °°
• BIOSM 1500 - Investigative Marine Biology Laboratory (3 cr) °°
• BIOSM 1610 - Ecology and the Marine Environment (3 cr)* °°
• SEA 3660 - Oceanography (3 cr; part of Ocean Exploration SEA semester)* °°
• BIOSM 1780 - Evolution and Marine Diversity (4 cr, Su)
• BIOSM 1650 Marine Mammal Biology (3 cr)* °°
• BIOSM 1551 Field Introductory Oceanography Lab (1-3 cr)* °°

Group B - Advanced Topics

• BIOEE/EAS 4620 - Marine Ecosystem Sustainability (3 cr) ‡
• BIOEE/EAS 4790 - Paleobiology (4 cr) °°
• EAS/BIOEE 3500 - Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems in a Changing Ocean (3 cr) †
• EAS 3540 – Ocean Satellite Remote Sensing  (3 cr, Sp 9 wk intensive) °°
• BIOMI 3500 / EAS 3555 - Biological Oceanography and Ocean Biogeochemistry  (3 cr) °°
• BIOEE 2740 - The Vertebrates: Structure, Function, and Evolution (4 cr) °°
• BIOSM 3830  Field Marine Invertebrate Biology (3 cr, Su) * °°
• BIOSM 2800 - Sustainable Fisheries (3 cr, Su) °°
• BIOSM 3210 - Anatomy and Function of Marine Vertebrates (3 cr, Su)* °°
• BIOSM XXXX – Marine Ecological Genomics (3 cr, Su) *
• BIOSM 3650 – Underwater Research (3 cr, Su)* °°
• BIOSM 2770 - Marine Environmental Science and Conservation (3 cr, Su)* 
• NTRES 3110 - Fish Ecology, Conservation, and Management (3 cr) †
• NTRES 3111 - Fish Ecology Laboratory (1 cr) †
• BIOEE 4760 - Biology of Fishes (3 cr) ‡
• BIOEE 4761 – Biology of Fishes Lab (1 cr) ‡
• BIOAP/ANSC 3300 – Fish Physiology (3 cr, Sp) °°
• NTRES 4110 - Quantitative Ecology and Management of Fisheries Resources (4 cr) ‡
• SEA 3690 - Oceanographic Field Methods (4 cr, SEA semester)* °°
• SEA 3700 - Practical Oceanographic Research (4 cr, SEA semester)* °°
• SEA 3710 - Marine Environmental History (4 cr, SEA semester)* °°
• SEA 3780 - Oceans in the Global Carbon Cycle (4 cr, SEA semester)* °°
• SEA 3800 - Advanced Oceanographic Field Methods (4 cr, SEA semester)* °°
• SEA 4640 - Advanced Topics in Biological Oceanography (4 cr, SEA semester)* °°
• SEA 3665 - The Ocean and Global Change (4 cr, SEA semester) * °°
• SEA 3730 - Toward a Sustainable Ocean: Conservation and Management (3 cr, SEA semester) * °°
• BIOEE 4920 - Special Topics in Ocean Biodiversity: Ocean Biodiversity Research Apprenticeship (6 cr, Sp, Friday Harbor, WA)* °°
• BIOEE 4930 - Marine Invertebrate Biodiversity (6 cr, Sp, Friday Harbor, WA)* °°
• BiOEE 3730 – Biodiversity and Biology of the Marine Invertebrates (3 cr, fall) †

Marine Biology Minor Contacts:

• Dr. Matthew Hare
  Coordinator for Marine Biology Minor, Fieldwork and Curricular topics nmm63 [at] cornell.edu

• Suzanne Wapner
  Undergraduate Program Coordinator
  sw38 [at] cornell.edu
  607-255-1269

Additional Marine Science faculty providing advising in the minor include:

• ih88 [at] cornell.edu (Ian Hewson), Microbiology
• howarth [at] cornell.edu (Robert Howarth), EEB
• cdh5 [at] cornell.edu (Drew Harvell), EEB 
• arm2 [at] cornell.edu (Amy McCune), EEB
• web24 [at] cornell.edu (William E. Bemis), EEB
• chg2 [at] cornell.edu (Charles Greene), EAS
• wda1 [at] cornell.edu (Warren Allmon), EAS
• bcm3 [at] cornell.edu (Bruce Monger), EAS
• era23 [at] cornell.edu (Esther R. Angert), Microbiology 
• lgr1 [at] cornell.edu (Lars Gosta Rudstam), DNR
• nt246 [at] cornell.edu (Nina Therkildsen), DNR
• pjs31 [at] cornell.edu (Patrick Sullivan), DNR