General Introduction to the shore, habitat types and marine fauna

Led by Teresa Darbyshire and Anna Holmes, specialists in polychaetes and bivalves, this beginners guide to marine life will introduce participants to habitat types and the animals that reside in them. Common terms and identifying characters are explained to aid understanding of scientific language. Participants will be given the skills to enable use of dichotomous keys, an important identification tool in the field of biology. We’ll take a closer look at separating species of limpets, mussels, winkles and dogwhelks and brittlestars. A range of museum specimens will be showcased to illustrate the animals and groups talked about in the PowerPoint presentations and participants will be encouraged to examine them, identify the characters and identify species in small groups. Handouts are included in the course.

Graduates, students, conservation officers and licensing staff within SNCOs or NGOs, ecological consultants, environmental managers, wardens, rangers.

None required.

• Recognise the major marine animal phyla.
• Know the basic structures of polychaetes, molluscs, arthropods and other minor marine phyla to be able to read a description and understand the terms.
• Be able to use a dichotomous identification key to determine closely related species.
• Recognise different intertidal and subtidal habitats and the animals you are likely to encounter there.
• Explore museum specimens to provide illustration of the animal groups described in the presentations.