Undergraduate - UnitBIO1042 - Environmental biology

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Organisational Unit	School of Biological Sciences
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Gerry Rayner

Synopsis

A study of the biosphere, environmental conditions and their effects on animals, plants and communities; responses of organisms to environmental conditions; interactions between plants and animals; environmental genetics and microbiology; management of biological resources; and an introduction to ecology and the impact of humans on the environment. As for BIO1011 the unit is structured to encourage self-paced learning with considerable feedback on individual performance.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Understand the nature and importance of biodiversity, evolutionary concepts and processes, aspects of the evolution of the Australian biota and the nature of biogeochemical cycles;

Work in teams to discuss, design and implement a field experiment, including the gathering, analysis and presentation of data using appropriate software;

Undertake field observations of a species and collate, input and analyse such data;

Communicate scientific principles and information underlying biology-related topics in written or oral formats and using appropriate conventions for scientific attribution;

Demonstrate and utilise skills in the use of library catalogues and databases to locate suitable information for essays and practical reports.

Assessment

Examinations (2.5 hours): 40%
Practical work: 30%
Essay: 10%
Miniquizzes: 20%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Gerry Rayner

Workload requirements

Two 1-hour lectures and one 2.5-hour practical (or tutorial equivalent) per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Ecology and conservation biology
Genetics
Marine and freshwater biology
Plant sciences
Zoology