Biology Seminar E-Portfolio

Thank you in advance for taking a moment to look through my Biology Seminar 405W E-Portfolio. Below is an assimilation of my works and assignments from the course where I took a deep dive into the art of a seminar with the formulation of a topic, completion of extensive research, and public speaking.

My Interests: As a marine biology major here at Old Dominion University I absolutely love the water and all of the organisms that reside in it. My favorite place, and eventually what I want to do in life, is the restoration of coral reefs. My minor is film theory which also allows me to be opened up to a whole world of new abilities dealing with underwater film and cinematography, something that has interested me for years. Though much more schooling and education is needed I have developed my own movie review side hustle and am rescue diver certified so I am well on my way to what will hopefully be a bright future.

Reflection 1: I chose my topic of coral bleaching as it is an unfortunate experience plaguing most of the globe. Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet and produce a large amount of marine food stocks having a massive impact on not only primary production but global business and economics. Coral bleaching, caused by global warming and climate change, expels algae from the coral due to increased pressure from heat or pollution, which causes the corals to appear brutally baron and white. I am doing extensive research into this field so to better prepare myself for the working world and what obstacles I may encounter in my future endeavors working with coral reefs. I think a lot of my major specific class I have taken so far including ecology, evolution, marine biology, chemistry, physics, and oceanography have all prepared me greatly for the trials and tribulations for this research, seminar, and final presentation. Through taking these classes I have greatly improved my note taking abilities and writing capabilities which has been helping me through this long seminar creation process. As I feel more than prepared to continue on this journey I look constantly forward to the future excited for what is to come around every corner.

Reflection 2: The implications for my topic, coral bleaching, are vast and go way beyond that of solely scientists and biologists like myself. The impact that the destruction and unfortunate decline in coral reefs can have not only on the most vibrant and diverse ecosystem on the planet but also the global marine food market, international tourism, and local communities that need the coral reefs to fuel their economy. Throughout my research this has become abundantly more and more apparent that keeping a broader sense and more secular look at scientific research is needed as sadly, many people let these issues develop to an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. Similarly, a lot of people especially in the United States look at any modern day international issue, such as coral bleaching, as a money and numbers question rather than a moral or ecological one. This is shown in many of the articles I have seen in which they continually discuss the numeric and financial impact that coral bleaching has on many costal and oceanic communities which disrupts trade internationally where economic minded individuals start to take interest. This leads to a high amount of interest into the big picture as many scientists globally such as Dr. McClanahan who has done extensive research into the possible resilience of coral reefs post bleaching events as she states in her article how the future of coral reefs and their local human communities depends on the emissions produced internationally.