ALKOR AL563

This twelve day educational cruise is intended to teach general principals and modern techniques in biological oceanography as outlined in the curriculum of the M.Sc. education in Biological Oceanography at GEOMAR /Kiel University. These cruises have been conducted since 2013 and will now, in relation to the 2017 cruise, be embedded into ongoing changes of the M.Sc. curriculum laboratory practical to allow students to work with the field generated samples during the large practical as well as to contribute to international research projects and co-operations. This practical at sea is intended to integrate physical and biological information along the extended salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea. This should lead to the realization that biological oceanography needs a solid description of the physical environment in order to understand physical-biological interactions, the structuring effect of the physical environment on bacterio-, phyto- and zooplankton communities and how this relates to the productivity of higher trophic levels such as fish (here ichthyoplankton) and gelatinous macro- zooplankton. Special consideration will be given to observed and expected changes due to global change induced stressors along the salinity gradient. This program will ensure that students early on in their career understand how dramatic ongoing changes in marine ecosystems are and what consequences this has for higher trophic levels such as fish.