ENVC 320 - Landscape Ecology

Credits: 5
Variable Credit Course: No

Lecture Hours: 44
Lab Hours: 22
Worksite/Clinical Hours: 0
Other Hours (LIA/Internships): 0

Course Description: The science and art of the relationships between spatial pattern and ecological processes across different spatial and temporal scales and levels of biological organization.

Prerequisite: Admission to BASEC or Department Chair permission.
Meets FQE Requirement: No
Integrative Experience Requirement: No

Student Learning Outcomes

Identify and describe causes and consequences of landscape pattern.
Quantify landscape patterns, including landscape change over time, ecosystem processes, and fragmentation.
Use a variety of tools, including computer programs and models, to answer landscape questions.
Discuss how altering the scale at which a landscape ecology question is investigated influences the answers to the question.

Course Contents

Introduction to landscape ecology.
Critical concept of scale.
Introduction to models.
Causes of landscape pattern.
Quantifying landscape pattern.
Neutral landscape models.
Landscape disturbance dynamics.
Organisms and landscape pattern.
Ecosystem processes in the landscape.
Applied landscape ecology.
Metapopulations in fragmented landscapes.

Instructional Units: 5.5