| NRMT 479 Tropical Ecology: Course Syllabus | ||
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[Click here for Printable PDF!] NRMT 479: Tropical Ecology and Resource Management Course Description: Tropical Ecology and Resource Management is a 3 credit survey course covering tropical ecosystems and issues of human use and impact. The course includes a set of lectures which lead up to an off-campus field trip to Belize over Spring Break. During the trip material presented earlier in lectures is discussed and demonstrated with examples and exercises. A course fee of $1,500.00 - $1,700.00 will be required to cover trip expenses; this fee is additional to the cost of tuition. Meeting time: To be arranged (typically once per week during early evening). Instructor: Patrick Kangas Office: 1457 Animal Sciences Building Phone: 301.405.1198 Course Requirements and Grading: Grades will be based on a test covering lecture material to be given after the trip (40 percent), a journal covering activities and information presented on the trip (30 percent) and an independent research project conducted during the trip (30 percent). The journals are due on the last day of classes and will be evaluated on completeness and organization. Reports on the research projects will be due one month after the trip and will be evaluated on organization, writing style, and literature review coverage. The research project will be set up before the trip and will be based on feasibility of success and interest of each student. Reading Materials: Required - Kricher, J. C. 1997. A Neotropical Companion. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Course Packet (papers to be given out during the first week of class) Suggested - Kaplan, E. H. 1982. A Field Guide to Coral Reefs of the Caribbean and Florida. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA. Lecture Schedule: week 1 Course Introduction, Definitions of the Tropics week 2 Tropical Forest Ecology week 3 Ecology of Coral Reefs and Other Coastal Systems week 4 Natural Resource Management in the Tropics week 5 Natural Resource Management in the Tropics week 6 Pre-hispanic Maya and Their Resource Use Patterns *Exam, Following Spring Break Field Experience Overview Itinerary: Day 1 Travel to Belize City, Belize, Central America; Visit Baboon Sanctuary Day 2 Day Trip to Maya Ruins Day 3 Travel to Possum Point; Tour the Trail System Day 4 River Sampling Day 5 Riparian Forest Measurements and Plantings Day 6 Day Trip to Maya Mountains Day 7 Travel to Wee Wee Caye on the Coral Reef Day 8 Coral Reef Day Trip Day 9 Coral Reef Day Trip Day 10 Travel to Washington, DC Academic Integrity Because the University is an academic community in which commitment to the principles of truth and academic honesty are essential, the Code of Academic Integrity prohibits students from committing the following acts of academic dishonesty: 1. Cheating: intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. 2. Fabrication: intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in any academic exercise. 3. Facilitating academic dishonesty: intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another violate any provision of [the Academic] Code. 4. Plagiarism: intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any academic exercise. |
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