Instructor: Dr. Zhi-Qing Lin
Office: 2165 Science West
Email: zhlin@siue.edu
Phone: 650-2650
Class Schedule: Thursdays, 6:00 pm -8:50
pm; 0413 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: BIOL 151 (general biology and ecology) or equivalent, or consent of Instructor.
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 books 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. In addition, graduate students need to become familiar with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE2) for soil erosion determination.
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. The passing grade for graduate students is C or above.
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: Course Introduction;
Energy, carbon balance, and global climate change; Energetics of agroecosystems; Biofuels and ecological impacts
Week 2: Soil and soil erosion; Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE);
Soil salinity
Week 3: Fresh water and precipitation processes;
Fish from the Sea, surplus yield and sustainable fishery
Week 4: Management of grazing lands; Tallgrass prairie;
Forest production, deforestation and management
Week 5: Case study and classroom discussion
Term
Exam I covers materials from
Weeks 1 to 4
Week 6: Pest Control: chemical resistance and management
(Research outline due)
Week 7: Biodiversity - conservation and management of wild species
Week 8: Invasive species and management
Week 9: (Spring break, no class)
Week 10: Case study and classroom discussion
Term Exam II covers materials from Weeks 5 to 10
Week 11: Restoration of natural ecosystem: principles for wetland restoration;
Ecological
engineering
Week 12: Constructed treatment wetlands: Concept, design and application;
Case studies
Week 13: Phytoremediation: Concepts, design and application, including phytoextraction, phytostabilization, phytodegradation and phytovolatilization
Week 14: Ecosystem management: Adaptive community-based conservation
Week 15: Case studies;
Student research presentations
Week 16: Student research presentations
Week 17: Final
Exam covers materials from Weeks
11 to 16.