ENVSC505-23A (HAM)

Environmental Systems: Biogeosciences across Scales

15 Points

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Division of Health Engineering Computing & Science
School of Science
Environmental Science

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What this paper is about

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This paper examines how core concepts in the multidisciplinary field of biogeochemistry provide a systems understanding across scales.

This paper is designed to provide umbrella coverage of seminal concepts in environmental science at a postgraduate level. Understanding of these concepts allows students with Bachelors degrees in Earth Sciences, Biology or Chemistry to feel confident in overall understanding of Environmental Science as a discipline. Coverage is designed to interface with other 500 level offerings in ENVSC and related disciplines. Topics include the ecosystem concept as applied to mass and energy, and scales from microbial to global. Also included is the role of different methods: science has different ways of investigating problems that are tractable with experiments (in field such as ecology or physiology) versus larger scales where historical and systems sciences (such as the earth sciences) debate and test ideas. Focus will be placed on exchange processes, interfaces, and dynamic systems required for application to environmental decision-making.

This paper provides understanding of system science and scaling concepts that build on 300-level curriculum from other sciences, and will couple to other 500-level offers with limited but useful overlap that allows students to learn from each other in the seminar. For the latter, specific examples include ENVSC503 Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Land, BIOEB505 Coastal and Estuarine Ecology, BIOEB506 Environmental Physiology, ENVSC501 Evaluation of Environmental Change, and BIOEB504 Freshwater Ecology.

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How this paper will be taught

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This is a seminar course where student-led discussion and presentations will be guided by introductory or short lectures. Students will make oral presentations of peer-reviewed literature either provided in class or that they have found. Learning will be re-enforced through a project requiring analysis and submission of an explanatory report.

There will be one two-hour class session every week, to be held online over Zoom.

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Required Readings

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These will be provided during the course
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Learning Outcomes

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Students who successfully complete the course should be able to:

  • Describe the ecosystem concept, applied to mass and energy, across scales ranging from molecules to planet Earth
    Linked to the following assessments:
  • Describe transfers and transformations at critical interfaces such as estuaries, sediment-water and land-atmosphere
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  • Construct a simple predictive model of an ecosystem exchange process
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  • Critically evaluate concepts of tipping points, resilience, environmental limits and planetary boundaries
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  • Compare different ways of understanding the state and functioning of environmental systems at different scales, from experimental, historical and system sciences, and how these are used to understand impacts of human activity as well as the mitigation
    Linked to the following assessments:
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Assessments

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How you will be assessed

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The internal assessment/exam ratio (as stated in the University Calendar) is 100:0. There is no final exam. The final exam makes up 0% of the overall mark.

The internal assessment/exam ratio (as stated in the University Calendar) is 100:0 or 0:0, whichever is more favourable for the student. The final exam makes up either 0% or 0% of the overall mark.

Component DescriptionDue Date TimePercentage of overall markSubmission MethodCompulsory
1. Ecosystem exchange model
13 Mar 2023
12:00 AM
10
  • Online: Submit through Moodle
2. In class presentation 1
5 Apr 2023
12:00 AM
15
  • In Class: In Lecture
3. Essay: key concepts in biogeochemistry
24 Apr 2023
12:00 AM
30
  • Online: Submit through Moodle
4. In class presentation 2
17 May 2023
12:00 AM
15
  • In Class: In Lecture
5. Report: modelled ecosystem response to climate change
19 Jun 2023
12:00 AM
30
  • Online: Submit through Moodle
Assessment Total:     100    
Failing to complete a compulsory assessment component of a paper will result in an IC grade
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