GSE803 Science in Environmental Management
About this Unit
Semester 2, 2008
Offered: E2 - Evening; Second Half-Year
Convenor: Dr Vladimir Strezov
Prerequisites/corequisites: None
Credit Points: 4
Science in Environmental Management introduces students to physico-chemical, biological and earth sciences that are relevant to environmental decision making. The focus is on science and how environmental problems and their possible solutions are seen from the viewpoint of science. In the first part of the unit, the basic disciplinary concerns and environmental issues within the subjects of ecology, geomorphology and the chemistry and physics of pollution will be explored by experts in each area. In the second part, the focus will be on climate change and how knowledge from each of the disciplines informs decisions about how to manage for future climate change. The limitations of single discipline approaches and the importance of linkages among these disciplines will be emphasised.
Unit Objectives
- To provide an overview of the three disciplines of Science that are particularly focussed on the physical environment, namely environmental chemistry, geoscience and ecology;
- To demonstrate how scientific information is gathered, analysed and presented;
- To demonstrate the application of scientific information, including its limitations as well as its strengths, in environmental problem solving
Teaching Staff
Convenor: Dr Vladimir Strezov
Lecturers:
Classes
Contact hours: 3 per week
The timetable for classes can be found on the University web site at http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/
Unit web page
There is no web page for this unit.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit students should
- have gained an understanding and appreciation of how the scientific method works and its application to environmental problems
- be able to review scientific work in a critical manner
- have an awareness of the limitations of single disciplinary approaches
- have developed their skills in gathering information on scientific research, sorting and synthesising that information, and presenting it in written, oral and visual form
- have developed skills in both individual research and working in groups, and
- have gained some experience in developing realistic strategies for dealing with complex environmental issues.
Teaching and Learning Strategy
Schedule of Lectures
| Week | Topics | Lecturer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to Environmental Science What is science? Introduction to Scientific Method and Practice |
All |
| 2 | Physical Sciences: basic concepts | Strezov |
| 3 | Physical Sciences in Environmental Management: some examples | Strezov |
| 4 | Geoscience basic concepts | Fanning |
| 5 | Geoscience in Environmental Management: some examples | Fanning |
| 6 | Ecology: basic concepts | O'Grady |
| 7 | Ecology in Environmental Management: some examples | O'Grady |
| MID SEMESTER BREAK | ||
| 8 | Climate change 1: ecology Assignment 1 due 9.00am |
O'Grady |
| 9 | Climate change 2: geoscience | Fanning |
| 10 | Climate change 3: physical sciences | Strezov |
| 11 | Group Project Workshop | All |
| 12 | Group Project Presentation* | All |
| 13 | Group Project Presentation* Unit review and SETS questionnaires Report due 17 November 9am |
All |
*Group Project topics must be finalised by 18th September. Presentations must be ready by 6th November; presentations will begin on this date and in random order, and will continue on 13th November until finished.
Macquarie University requires attendance of at least 80% of formal classes, and you will be asked to sign an attendance sheet. Attendance may be taken into account when assigning final grades for the unit where marks are on the border between one grade and the next.
Relationship between Assessment and Learning Outcomes
There are two main assessment tasks, with several components to the second. All are compulsory. The marks for each component and the due dates are:
| Assessment | Max. Length | Marks | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Literature review | 3000 words | 30% | October 10, 9am |
| 2a. Group Project Presentation | 5 min presentation per participant in the group + 10 mins for questions | 20% | November 6 |
| 2b. Group participation | 1/2 page | 20% | November 17 |
| 2c. Individual report | 3000 words (approx. 12 pages) | 30% | November 17 |
Individual Literature Review: Science in Environmental Management
At the first meeting for this unit you will be randomly assigned to one of the three disciplines of physical sciences, geosciences or ecology, and you must restrict your review to the role of Science in that discipline. You may decided to review one specific or a range of topics discussed in the class.
Scientific papers can be pretty daunting at first but this is the form in which original research first appears. Primary scientific references describe the rationale for the investigation, the approaches, methods and the findings. Secondary references are a step removed from the original work and include review articles. You will be writing a review article, and you must include at least 15 peer reviewed scientific papers that report the results of research in your assigned discipline. Each student should independently decide which specific topic to review. The topic must be in the category of the assigned discipline.
You are also encouraged to look critically at scientific data. In the first lecture we learn about the nature of science and why scientific experiments can be so difficult to carry out. The experimental design and execution inevitably has many shortcomings and if you come to appreciate the inherent difficulties you will be better equipped to spot weaknesses in published research and to undertake critical review.
Your review should be no longer than 3000 words, excluding title page, executive summary, tables, graphs and reference list. Use sub-headings to structure your review. You must use the guidelines provided in the GSE Writing Guide
Assessment will be according to guidelines provided at the first lecture.
Group Project: Planning and Managing for Climate Change
Group Presentation: any format
Students will be assigned to groups of about 4 people to research and develop strategies for dealing with the impacts of future climate change on one of the following activities, scenarios or developments, or a subject of your choice. One session of class time in October (see timetable) will be allocated to group workshops, but you will also have to meet outside of class time to allocate research tasks, collate your material and develop your presentation. Groups will be asked to report the outcomes of their deliberations in a 5 minute presentation per participant in the group + 10 minutes for questions (groups containing 3 participants will have 15 minutes for the presentation, while those with 4 participants will have 20 minutes time for presentations). Groups will give their presentations to the rest of the class on the 1st or 8th November. You may use any presentation format you like: lecture, seminar, poster, role-play, video etc. Groups will be allocated a single mark for the presentation, which will be assessed according to criteria to be provided. All members of the group must play an active part in either preparation of the material or its presentation.
Suggested topics are included here, but other topics or examples may be researched with the consent of the unit convenor. Only one group may research each topic. Groups will need to finalise their choice and lodge it with the unit convenor by 13th September.
- Conservation of high altitude species, populations, and/or ecosystems e.g. Mountain Pygmy Possum, Corroboree Frog
- A coastal resort development
- An agricultural product sensitive to rainfall and/or temperature change e.g. sugar cane
- Water licences and environmental flows in the Murray-Darling basin
- Antarctic ecosystem
- A new ski resort in the Snowy Mountains
- Water supply for urban expansion on the north coast of NSW
- The Great Barrier Reef
- Atlantic salmon production in Tasmanian waters (aquaculture)
- Expansion of a pest species or disease vectors
- Energy consumption for heating and/or cooling
- Future development on the urban fringe of Sydney in the light of probable changes to bushfire incidence and intensity
- Changes in plant community composition and diversity of the Cumberland Plain
- Hydrogen economy
- Carbon sequestration
Group Participation: report
Assessment of group project participation will be by peer review. Each member of the group will provide a mark out of 20 and a written assessment of no more than half a page justifying that mark, reflecting the quality of the involvement of each other member in the research for and preparation of the group project presentation. The final mark allocated to each student will be an average of the individual marks. To assist with your assessment, you may find it helpful to keep a diary of what you did and when and submit it with your peer assessments.
Individual Report
Write an individual report on the topic you worked on for the Group Project. Include executive summary, aims and scope, background (including location etc), evaluation of the potential impacts of climate change, conclusions, recommendations for mitigation and/or management, and references.
Assignment Submission
Assignments will be submitted through the university's anti-plagiarism detection software, Turnitin (see http://www.copyright.mq.edu.au/plag.html for details). Further details will be given in week 1, but in brief:
Your assessment task will be automatically compared to work of your classmates, previous students from Macquarie and other universities, with material available on the Internet, both freely available and subscription-based electronic journals.
The results of the analysis will be sent only to your lecturer, who will analyse the results in reference to the University's standard Policy on Plagiarism (http://www.student.mq.edu.au/plagiarism/)
Extensions will only be granted for exceptional circumstance (which does not include workload or computer problems!) and with prior permission by the unit convenor. Unapproved late submission will attract a 10% per calendar day penalty.
Required and Recommended Texts/Materials
There is no single text for this course. References will be provided with the lecture material. Background reading can be found in the following:
Aplin, G (1998), Australians and their Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Studies, Oxford University Press
Arms K (1994). Environmental Science, Saunders College Publishing, Fort Worth, 2nd edition.
Australian State of the Environment Committee (2001). Australia: State of the Environment 2001. Independent report to the Commonwealth Minister for Environment and Heritage. CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of Environment and Heritage, Canberra.
Beckmann R (1994). Environmental Science, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra.
Enger ED and Smith BF (1995). Environmental Science: a study of interrelationships, WC Brown, Dubuque, 5th edition.
Munasinghe M and Swart R (2005). Primer on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Cambridge University Press.
OíRiordan T (ed) (1995). Environmental science for environmental management, Longman House, Harlow.
Ecology source books
Begon M, Mortimer M and Thompson DJ (1996). Population Ecology: a Unified Study of Animals and Plants, Blackwell, Oxford, 3rd edition.
Burgman, M. and Lindenmayer, D. (1998): Conservation Biology for the Australian Environment. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Sydney
Krebs CJ (2001). Ecology: the Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Harper, New York, 5th edition.
Magurran, A. E. 2004. Measuring Biological Diversity. Blackwell Science, Massachusetts, 1st ed.
Townsend, C. R., Harper, J. and Begon, M. (2000) Essentials of Ecology, Blackwell Science, Massachusetts, 1st ed.
Physical Science source books
Brasseur GP, Orlando JJ and Tyndall GS (1999) Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change, Oxford University Press.
Bunce NJ (1990). Environmental Chemistry, Wuerz, Winnipeg.
Connell DW (1993). Water Pollution: Causes and Effects in Australia and New Zealand, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 3rd edition.
Harrison RM (1992). Understanding our Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry and Pollution, Royal Society of Chemistry, London.
Laws EA (1993). Aquatic Pollution: An Introductory Text, Wiley, New York, 2nd edition.
Manahan SE (1991). Environmental Chemistry, Lewis, Chelsea, 4th or 5th edition.
O'Neill P (1993). Environmental Chemistry, Chapman & Hall, London.
Van Loon G.W. and Duffy S.J. (2000) Environmental Chemistry: A Global Perspective, Oxford UP, Oxford.
Geosciences source books
Brierley G.J. & Fryirs K.F. (2005) Geomorphology and River Management: Applications of the River Styles Framework, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK. GB1203.2.B755/2005
Cooke R.U. & Doornkamp J.C. (1990). Geomorphology and Environmental Management, 2nd edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford. GB406.C64/1990
Jacobson M.C. (2000). Earth System Science: From Biogeochemical Cycles to Global Change. Academic Press, London. QH344.E17/2000
Marchetti M. & Rivas V. (2001). Geomorphology and Environmental Impact Assessment. Balkema, Lisse. GB406.G46
Press F. & Siever R. (1998) Understanding Earth. Freeman, New York. QE28.P9/1998
Slaymaker, O. (2000). Geomorphology, Human Activity, and Global Environmental Change. Wiley, Chichester. GE149.G46/2000
Summerfield, M.A. (1991) Global Geomorphology, Longman Publishers, Singapore. GB401.5.S84
Journals
Ambio QH540.A5
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems QH541.5.W3.A67
Australian Journal of Ecology QH540.A85
Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research GC1.A85
Biological Conservation S900.B5
Cunninghamia QK445.C8
Current Advances in Ecological and Environmental Sciences QH540.C87
Earth Surface Processes & Landforms GB400.E3
Ecological Monographs QH540.E28
Ecological Applications QH540.E263
Ecology QH540.E3
Environmental Conservation S900.E5
Environmental Research RA565.A1.E85
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science QH541.5.E8.E83
Forest Ecology and Management SD1.F57
Geomorphology GB400.G46
Journal of Animal Ecology QL750.J65
Journal of Ecology QH540.J68
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology QH91.J6
Journal of Vegetation Science QK900.J68
Land Degradation & Rehabilitation S622.L36
Marine Ecology Progress Series QH541.5.S3 .M26
Ocean and Coastal Management GC1000.O25
Oecologia QH540.O3
Oikos QH540.O35
Research on Population Ecology QL750.R42
Science of the Total Environment QH540.S36
Trends in Ecology and Evolution QH540.T73
Vegetation QK 901.V3
Zeitshcrift fur Geomorphologie G1Z472
Plagiarism
The University defines plagiarism in its rules: "Plagiarism involves using the work of another person and presenting it as one's own." Plagiarism is a serious breach of the University's rules and carries significant penalties. You must read the University's practices and procedures on plagiarism. These can be found in the Handbook of Postgraduate Studies or on the web at: http://www.student.mq.edu.au/plagiarism/
The policies and procedures explain what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, the procedures that will be taken in cases of suspected plagiarism, and the penalties if you are found guilty. Penalties may include a deduction of marks, failure in the unit, and/or referral to the University Discipline Committee.
The GSE recommends that students familiarise themselves with the information contained on the Georgetown University Honor Council website which discusses plagiarism in an easy to understand and comprehensive manner.
University Policy on Grading
Academic Senate has a set of guidelines on the distribution of grades across the range from fail to high distinction. Your final result will include one of these grades plus a standardised numerical grade (SNG).
On occasion your raw mark for a unit (i.e., the total of your marks for each assessment item) may not be the same as the SNG which you receive. Under the Senate guidelines, results may be scaled to ensure that there is a degree of comparability across the university, so that units with the same past performances of their students should achieve similar results.
It is important that you realise that the policy does not require that a minimum number of students are to be failed in any unit. In fact it does something like the opposite, in requiring examiners to explain their actions if more than 20% of students fail in a unit.
The process of scaling does not change the order of marks among students. A student who receives a higher raw mark than another will also receive a higher final scaled mark.
For an explanation of the policy see:
http://senate.mq.edu.au/rules/Guidelines2003.doc or
http://senate.mq.edu.au/rules/detailedguidelines.doc
Student Support Services
Macquarie University provides a range of Academic Student Support Services. Details of these services can be accessed at http://www.student.mq.edu.au.
Advice for Students with Disabilities/Health Conditions
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To register with ESU, download an Advice of Disability/Health Condition form from http://www.reg.mq.edu.au/academic-index.html. This form must be completed annually, irrespective of whether a disability/health condition is temporary, long-term or permanent. Students wishing to request support services from the ESU should make an appointment to see a Disability Advisor immediately after enrolling at Macquarie University.
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