Instructor: Dr. Zhi-Qing Lin
Office: 2180 Science West
Email: zhlin@siue.edu
Phone: 650-2650
Class Schedule: Thursdays, 6:00 pm -8:50
pm; 2410 Peck Hall
Office Hours: by appointment
Course Description:
This graduate/senior-undergraduate course will explore
the ways in which ecological science can be applied to solving some of the most
important environmental problems facing our world today, such as the conservation
of species, wetland restoration, and mitigation of environmental impacts. We
will draw together, in a single course, major topics in environmental and
resource management that traditionally have been presented amongst several
different courses so that we will look at those difficult conflicts and choices
in a balanced way. Students will be encouraged to explore current and emerging
fields in applied ecology.
Course Prerequisites: A basic understanding of biology and general ecology is required.
Text Book: Applied Ecology and Environmental Management. 2nd edition. By Edward Newman.
Blackwell Science, 2000.
Reference Books: First
Ecology. 3rd edition. By
Alan Beeby and Anna-Maria Brennan. 2008. Oxford University Press; Applied Ecology and Natural Resource
Management. By G.R. McPherson and S. DeStefano. Cambridge University
Press. 2003.
Additional selected articles from journals (e.g., Journal of Applied Ecology) and the internet will be given as supplemental reading materials.
Course Objectives:
1) To understand how basic ecological principles are applied to solve current important environmental issues; 2) To increase students’ awareness of the importance and complexity of evaluating potential impacts of environmental problems on the global ecosystem; and 3) To enhance students’ critical thinking ability.
Grading Policy:
Class exams (two midterms and one final): Material presented in class lectures and required readings will form the basis for examination questions. Class examinations will require an understanding of lecture and reading materials, and result in applications of the knowledge to practical situations. Students will need to give one research presentation on a selected topic of applied ecology. Graduate students will be required to prepare their research presentations more thoroughly and in depth. Each assignment and exam will also have at least one extra question for graduate students. To answer those extra questions, a comprehensive understanding of the text book and materials will be required.
Grading: Two midterm exams: 50% (25% each); Assignments: 10%; Research presentation: 10%; Final exam: 30%. Total Points: 100. A: 90-100; B: 80-89; C: 70-79; D: 60-69; F: <60.
Attendance Policy:
Regular prompt attendance is required for success in this course. Only University approved absences will be accepted. Because classroom or group discussion will form an important part of class lectures, excessive absences may result in a 10% reduction of your overall grade or being dropped from the course.
Students with
Disabilities
Students with disabilities should visit the Disability Support Services (DDS) located in the Student Success Center, Room 1270, at their earliest convenience to meet the director and discuss available services. The student with a documented disability and a disability ID card from DSS should also notify the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary arrangements, including special assistance during an emergency evacuation.
Academic Misconduct:
"Acts of academic misconduct for which students are subject to sanctions include, without limitation, plagiarism, cheating, failure or refusal to follow clinical practice standards, falsifying or manufacturing scientific or educational data and/or representing manufactured data to be the result of scientific or scholarly experiment or research, and soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or attempting such act. Plagiarism is defined as including, without limitation, the act of representing the work of another as one's own. Plagiarism may consist of copying, paraphrasing, or otherwise using the written, electronic, or oral work of another without proper acknowledgement or consent of the source or presenting oral, electronic, or written material prepared by another as one's own. Plagiarism also includes using information from electronic resources, including the Internet, without the use of proper citations." (SIUE Student Academic Code, Spring 2003)
In the event of academic misconduct, the student is subject to a number of penalties, including a failing grade for a plagiarized assignment or for a course.
Lecture Schedule:
Week 1 (1/16): Course Introduction. Basic natural resources; Energy, carbon balance, and global climate change
Week 2 (1/23): Basic natural resources: energetics of agroecosystem; biofuels and ecological impacts; Classroom discussion: Global warming/climate
change
Week 3 (1/30): Basic natural resources: Fresh water and precipitation processes
Week 4 (2/6): Basic natural resources: Soil and soil erosion; Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE); soil salinity
Week 5 (2/13): Biological resources – Fish from the Sea, surplus yield and sustainable fishery
Week 6 (2/20): Term Exam I covers materials from Weeks 1 to 4; Case study and classroom
discussion
Week 7 (2/27): Management of grazing lands; Tallgrass prairie
Week 8 (3/6): Forest production, deforestation and
management; Research outline due
Week 9: (Spring break, no class)
Week 10 (3/20): Pest Control: chemical resistance and management
Week 11 (3/27): Biodiversity - conservation and management of wild species
Week 12 (4/3): Term Exam II covers materials from Weeks 5 to 10; Case study and classroom
discussion
Week 13 (4/10): Restoration of natural ecosystem: principles for wetland restoration; Ecological engineering
Week 14 (4/17): Pollution and environmental health; Phytoremediation
Week 15 (4/24): Ecosystem management: Adaptive community-based conservation
Week 16 (5/1): Student research presentations
Week 17: Final Exam covers materials from Weeks 11 to 16.