BSc Zoology with Aquatic Biology (C3C1)
Zoology with Aquatic Biology focuses on the study of aquatic organisms and the environments in which they live. This course will develop existing strong links with potential employers (including for example, the Environment Agency and consultancies). It will cover fundamental aspects of the ecology of aquatic systems, and spans a wide range of organisms, from the microscopic marine plankton that play a key role in regulating Earth’s climate, to the largest of all animals ever to have existed, the great whales. The programme is almost unique in the UK as it considers elements of both marine and freshwater biology. The School is ideally situated for easy access to a diverse range of UK seashores and important freshwater habitats, including the Thames, the chalk rivers of Dorset and the lakes and Broads of Norfolk, as well as the London Aquarium and various nature reserves in the capital itself (e.g. the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust centre in West London).
For further information regarding the programme, please refer to our
Programme structure
Year
Required Modules – Essential skills for biologists, Cell dynamics, Ecological and environmental techniques, Heredity and gene action, The diversity of life, Basic biochemistry, Conservation and the environment, Evolution.
Year 2
Required Modules – Animal physiology, Evolutionary genetics, Populations, communities and ecosystems, The invertebrates, Aquatic ecosystems:structure and function, Fish biology and fisheries, Global change biology, Statistical methods in biology.
Year 3 -
Required Modules – Integrative studies in biological sciences, Behavioural ecology, Advanced aquatic biology and either Aquatic biology investigative project or Aquatic biology research project.
Options – Population and chromosome genetics, Mammals and evolution, Parasites and infectious disease, Tropical ecology and conservation, Turtles, seals, whales and dolphins.
Please note that this programme includes various compulsory modules with a field-course component. These field-courses typically require your attendance at a location away from Queen Mary outside of the normal teaching semesters. In the final year there are compulsory modules with more extended field-courses and you will have to meet travel costs and subsistence costs for these courses which are in addition to payment of the normal university fees for the programme.
Entry requirements
Normally 300 points at A2 level.
Biology (or equivalent) A2 is required with at least grade C.
International Baccalaureate: 30 – 32 points with Biology (HL) grade 5
and two other subjects to be specified (HL or SL) at grade 5
For more information on entry requirements visit the SBCS general entry requirement page.
Practical Skills/Project work
Every student has the option of taking an investigative or research project that may take up to a quarter of the final year's work. For many students, this is the highlight of their time in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, giving them an opportunity to work alongside established researchers in the field, and the Natural History Museum, the London Zoo, Forest Enterprise and London University's Marine Biological Station at Millport in Scotland all provide special opportunities for original work. There is a strong emphasis on fieldwork, with opportunities for residential modules in all three years, located at sites around the coastline of the UK and in the Lake District.