ENBE 688A/MEES 608A Created and Restored Wetlands (1). Weekly seminar to discuss recent peer-reviewed publications on constructed and restored wetlands.  Topics will include: design, water quality, heavy metals, mosquito control, bacteria removal, effects of vegetation, ecology, economics, remote sensing, and energetics of created and restored wetlands, plus areas of particular interest to students. Course is offered through the Interactive Video Network (IVN) from College Park.

NRMT 489F Restoration Ecology (3).  Discussion of the philosophies, principles and practices of restoring ecosystems.  Presentation of case histories of restoration projects to include wetland, terrestrial, urban, beach, aquatic and new ecosystems. (Syllabus)

NRMT 489E Information Technology for Ecosystem Management (3) Introduction to information technologies relevant to ecosystem assessment and management such as geographic information systems (GIS), basic statistical analyses, fundamental simulation modeling, scientific graphics, library resources, web-based dissemination of scientific data, and presentation and reporting of ecosystem management issues.

MEES 698D Ecological Decision Making (3) Discussion of the various roles of ecosystems in environmental health, culture, economies and modern society.  Introduction to quantitative theories for assessing the importance of nature for informed decision-making.  Simulation models of ecological and ecological-economic systems to appreciate system dynamics.  

HONR 229M Ecology, Energy and Alternative Futures (3) CORE non-Lab Ecological Science. Human culture has never reached such immense affluence. We communicate and travel rapidly over great distances; dietary intake is sufficient; great knowledge is shared by many; and several ghastly diseases have been eradicated. How long can the progress be sustained? What does the future hold for humankind? We will consider humans as a dominant component of the world ecosystem, connected to the natural world in visible and invisible ways. We depend on nature for food, structural material, energy, medicines, and many other amenities. However, from the power of ancient fuels and human creativity we have developed many technologies to control nature. The human as ecological player, consuming resources, manipulating landscapes, and creating wastes, will be assessed from a systems ecology perspective. We will develop and discuss scenarios for humanity's response to future conditions, whether it is world depletion of fossil fuel, massive terrorism, natural disease outbreak, international war, or glorious expansion of human civilization through technological innovation. The seminar will consist of lectures on the energy basis of human and ecological systems; an introduction to systems models of population, economy and nature; discussion of weekly readings on an ecological perspective of the past, present and future; field visits to campus ecosystems; and experimentation with ecological microcosms. Students are responsible for participating in class discussion, completing occasional homework assignments, writing a critical book review for a title chosen from a list provided by the instructor, and completing a final exam.