Environmental Science Lab Spring 2009– EVS 195
Instructor :
Office:
Office Hours:
Email:
Phone:
Lab Time:
Textbook: No formal textbook required.
You will be responsible for
materials from your lecture textbook as well as for gathering data from the library
and web. A lab packet, as well as assignments, will be given out most weeks for
you to use. Please keep all items (lab book, handouts, and assignments)
together for your benefit in testing as well as for the laboratory instructor
to review at the end of the semester. Keeping the labs in order with all
materials will be beneficial to you during the lab and the lab manual and
handouts will also provide a means to study for the lab questions/tests.
Objectives:
The primary objectives of
this lab are to:
1. Acquaint you with various
important topics in the Environmental Sciences and explore/extend learnings from the lecture course
2. Illustrate the integrative
nature of Environmental Science topics. In this regard we will consider and use
geological, biological, chemical, social, and economic data.
3. Develop a foundation for
future studies in the sciences as well as to provide you with data that may
help in your decisions to be an environmental steward and support sustainable
practices in our society
4. Introduce some of the
“tools of the trade” that are used in the analysis of data and discuss the
methodologies for the acquisition and analyses of data
5. Acquaint you with some of
the important natural sites in southeastern N.C. and illustrate some of the
methods that are being used to protect them. We will also see the sites that
under stress from development and consider ways to protect them.
Attendance:
Lab attendance is basically
mandatory. We have few lab meetings and missing one lab is equivalent to
missing 3 lecture sections. It is also critical that you be on time as we will
be leaving the lab room to go in the field here on campus or in a van to a
remote location. We will not wait for you as we only have 3 hours of lab time.
Punctuality is a good thing.
If you do have to miss,
please inform me ahead of time and be prepared to have a legitimate excuse (bad
hair, surfs up, parties are not excuses). There will be no make-up labs as it
is impossible to mimic field trips and repeat a 3-hour lab. If you do have a
legitimate excuse from a Doctor, the Pope, the President, etc. then you will
have to do a paper or some other more difficult exercise for credit. As you can
see – don’t miss lab. See grading for the amount of class grade.
Grading:
The lab grade will come
from various parts including:
Weekly lab assignments/exercises/etc.: 50%
Test (includes Final Exam
and Semester Tests: 35%
Projects/Writeups/Summaries: 10%
Attendance/Participation: 5%
Academic Honor Code:
It is UNC-W’s stated policy that “no form of
academic dishonesty will be tolerated by its students or faculty”. I take this
very seriously and it applies to plagiarism, copying, and all forms of
cheating. Complete details of the code are in the current Student Handbook.
UNCW practices a
zero-tolerance policy for violence and harassment of any kind. For
emergencies contact UNCW CARE at 962-2273, Campus Police at 962-3184, or Wilmington Police at 911. For
University or community resources visit http://uncw.edu/wrc/crisis.htm.”
Etiquette: NO cell phones or players are acceptable (turn them
off before lab). . In addition, laptops are fine but not for checking email or
running other programs/chatting during the lob. It disturbs those around you -
and me
A
running dialogue w/ your neighbor is not acceptable unless we are
discussing/arguing a point – and then I want some discussion, lots of
discussion.
Laboratory Topics:
The laboratory will include
in class discussions and exercises but it will also have a large component of
outside exercises. These outside labs will include on campus walks to collect
data as well as field trips to some of the more important ecosystems in
southeastern N.C. where we make observations and collect data building on data
we learned in previous labs.
The schedule listed below is
a very tentative agenda as part of the lab depends on availability of vehicles
which we are still working out. The other tentative part of this schedule is in
regards to our ability to have a Saturday field trip and/or volunteer project. We
will talk more about these at our 1st and 2nd meetings.
“Tentative” Laboratory Schedule
|
Week of |
Topics |
|
8/25 |
Introduction Population Issues: People
and Biomes EXCEL techniques:
Gathering, Organizing and Plotting Data/Measurements |
|
9/1 |
Labor Day Week – No Labs
this week but work on assignments |
|
9/8 |
Maps and Aerials:
Interpretation, Uses, and Application (Soils, Flooding, etc.) |
|
9/15 |
Soils: Properties,
Interpretation, Importance Application to
vegetation, water, wetlands, and more. Desertification |
|
9/22 |
Remote Sensing: Tools,
techniques, Interpretation Environmental
Application: Deforestation, hazards, resources Review Test (10 points) |
|
9/29 |
|
|
10/6 |
Fall Break: No Labs (Have
Fun – Be Safe and Environmental) |
|
10/13 |
Watersheds, Best
Management Practices (Site visits), Assessment of Selected Areas |
|
10/20 |
Water quality:
Measurement and Issues |
|
10/27 |
Coastal Ecosystems:
Processes and Issues |
|
11/3 |
Energy, Air Quality |
|
11/10 |
Climate Change: Cycles,
global warming, greenhouse gases; Issues and ?Solutions |
|
11/17 |
Final Test = 25 points)
Presentations, Projects, etc. |
|
11/24 |
Thanksgiving Week – No
Labs |