Intro to Oceanography Project
The Project: Design an Invertebrate
For your Ocean
Intro to Oceanography Project
The Project: Design an Invertebrate
For your Oceanography final project, you will take what we have discussed about the physical,
chemical and biological properties of the ocean and design an invertebrate that has the
adaptations necessary to thrive in a particular environment. Your invertebrate can be benthic,
nektonic, planktonic or nektobenthic, and belong to any invertebrate group. This project
encompasses three parts: a written portion, a 3D display and a 2 minute presentation. Below
you will find the guidelines and requirements for the project. The written essay, 3D display and
presentation will be due Wednesday, December 13 at 3:30 pm. You will present your projects
during the exam time. This project is worth 146 points and is 22% of your final grade. The
majority of the project should be done by you, with a small section where you can use AI.
Invertebrate Design: Written Paper (81 points)
Everything in this section must be included in the paper (minimum 3 pages). The paper must be
typed, in paragraph form.
1. Location (3 pts)
a. Pick one of the following locations:
i. Antarctic
ii. Mediterranean Sea
iii. Caribbean Sea
2. Habitat (3 pts)
a. Pick one of the following marine habitats
i. Benthos
ii. Nekton/Plankton
iii. Near Bottom
3. Describe the General Environment (15 pts)
a. Physical: Temperature, Salinity, Dissolved Oxygen, Light
b. Chemical: Nutrients, Turbidity, Pollution
c. Biological: other organisms that live in this habitat
d. Other: physical features/structure of the environment, seasonal or not, etc.
4. Design of Invertebrate (25 pts)
a. Describe the invertebrate: taxonomic group, size, color, shape
b. Adaptations: Must have a minimum of 3.
i. Describe each adaptation in detail
ii. How/why does each adaptation help your invertebrate survive?
c. What are the physical tolerances of your invertebrate?
i. Depth preference
ii. Salinity and temperature range
d. Predators
i. What feeds on your invertebrate? These must be real predators found in
this type of environment?
e. Feeding/trophic level?
i. What does your invertebrate feed on? These must be real organisms
found in this type of environment.
f. What is the life span of your invertebrate?
i. Why does your invertebrate have a short or long life span?
g. Why is your invertebrate important (e.g. food web, human impacts, etc.)?
5. Name your invertebrate (5 pts)
a. What is the scientific name (Genus species) of your invertebrate?
b. What is the common name of your invertebrate?
6. Human Impacts (9 pts)
a. How do we know about your invertebrate? How was it collected and first
studied?
b. Are humans a threat to your invertebrate? Why or why not?
c. Is your invertebrate a threat to humans and how?
7. Evolution (16 pts)
a. Enter the details of your invertebrate into an AI program (ChatGPT or similar).
b. See how AI predicts it will evolve over the next 50 and 100 years.
8. References (5 pts)
a. Rob Sippel in the library is a good resource and I’m happy to give pointers as
well.
b. Must have at least 5 references
c. At least 3 must be non-internet sources
d. Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference for this project.
e. Internet sites should end in .edu or .gov
f. Websites ending in .org or .com must be approved.
g. In text citations must be included throughout your paper.
3D Display (45 points)
Now that you have put thought into the design of your invertebrate, make a 3D model. This can
be done using arts and crafts, common household items, a computer model, etc. Be creative,
just make sure it is 3D. The model does not have to be “life sized”, but make sure we can see it.
Presentation (20 points)
You will have 2 minutes to present your invertebrate. Make sure to tell us the name of your
invertebrate, its location, its adaptations and its evolutions. Powerpoint should not be used
unless your model is on the computer.
Examples of in-text citations
The biological integrity and overall quality of the Indian River Lagoon has been declining over
the past 50 years (Steward et al. 1994).
Examples of how to cite references
Book:
Kennish MJ (1990) Ecology of estuaries. CRC Press: Boca Raton, Fl.
Scientific Article:
Hargraves PE (2002) Diatoms of the Indian River Lagoon, Florida: An annotated account. Florida
Scientist 65: 225-244.
Website:
National Weather Service (2007): http//www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/climatology.html