Manatee Health and Conservation (Summer)

Course Information

Manatee Health and Conservation is an online course designed to introduce students at the graduate and undergraduate level to the natural history, anatomy, physiology, behavior, conservation and health issues of manatees. Graduate students will practice scientific writing skills with a term paper requirement

Course Syllabus

Course Objectives

• The class will focus to a large extent on lectures, a significant amount of reading from book chapters and primary scientific literature, and discussion to establish a baseline of information on manatees. You are expected to leave this course having a working knowledge of the manatee topics listed in the above goals, but also having been exposed to the current experts in these fields.
• Students will be expected to review the reading material and the MediaSite lectures, then complete the module quiz and related homework assignments. The quizzes are designed to assess your assimilation of the lecture and reading material, may be taken 2 times before the due date, are open book, and the highest score will count towards your grade. Undergraduate students will have 3 exams throughout the course, the last exam will not be cumulative. Graduate students will not have exams and will complete a term paper instead.
• Zoom sessions will be provided at regular intervals throughout the semester as an opportunity to ask questions in real time and have discussions with some of the experts involved in the course. While preferred, it will NOT be required for students to attend the real time session, but students WILL be asked to provide questions through the discussion board. Questions will be answered during the sessions, which will be taped, allowing access through a link to be viewed at the student’s convenience.

Course Topics

• History: History and Current Issues
• Evolution: Evolution of Sirenia
• Population: Genetics, Habitat, and Tracking
• Anatomy: Functional Morphology
• Physiology: Pathology, Necropsy, Metabolism, Nervous System, Reproduction, Behavior and Digestion
• Health: Health Assessments, Capture, Handling & Transport Techniques, Rehabilitation, Red Tide Issues, and Virology
• Conservation: Saving Manatees, Management, and Recovery

Registration Information

There are multiple ways to register for each course. Please review the Non-UF Student, Continuing Education and UF Student descriptions below in order to decide which method is most appropriate for you. You may also want to review our FAQ page or Contact Us to help differentiate between these options.

Student Enrollment Options:

Please note steps for application depend on current education level and University of Florida affiliation. Please see below for details to determine your application steps.

UF Students:

• UF Tuition and Fee Rates
• University Registrars Office
• ONE.UF

Non-UF Students:

• Must complete a Non-degree Application to UF.
• Complete a Course Interest Form
• Credits from this course may be transferable to your current institution.
• Non-degree students pay the Capital Improvement and Technology fee.
• University of Florida Critical Dates and Deadlines

Registration Deadlines

Note: This class has limited enrollment and may fill up prior to the end of drop/add so we suggest registering early.

For More Information:

Distance Education Program Critical Dates

Frequently Asked Questions