Ecology:
Theory & Practice
Course Notes &
Focus
Questions
Lake Narasch, Belarus
Click on Week
Below:
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Map
- Introduction
to Systems and Global Viewpoints (Week 1) - Lecture
Notes
What is Systems Theory? How does this concept apply to ecology?
What is ecology? What is not ecology?
How do we study ecology?
What is the ecosphere? What does it really mean to think globally?
What are the most compelling global environmental issues?
What do ecologists do?
What are some current trends in ecological research?
What is "natural capital"?
What are some
characteristics of "sustainability"?
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- Biodiversity
and Ecological Sustainability (Week 2) - Lecture
Notes
Why are we so concerned about biotic diversity?
What are some of the stages of environmental awareness?
How can systems thinking help us in developing sustainability?
If not sustainability, then what? Are humans suicidal?
How important are World Environmental conferences?
What are some of the new trends in industry that support the
concept of sustainability?
How are equifinality and biodiversity connected?
How would you apply the concept of entropy to species loss?
What are some unusual features about Pfiesteria piscicida?
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What is an ecosystem? A food web?
How do materials move through ecosystems?
How does biomagnification occur?
What do pesticides and mercury and radionuclides have in common?
What does energy have to do with ecosystems?
What is the POET concept?
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What is a biome? A climax ecosystem?
Which biomes have the highest primary productivity?
What are some of the root causes of tropical rainforest destruction?
Why is human population growth considered to be a root cause of global
pollution?
How is the carbon cycle related to tropical rainforest destruction?
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Why do we worry about hormone disrupters?
How can we best address the issue of acid precipitation?
Should government flood insurance be used to assist building in flood
plains?
Why have rivershed protection programs been so successful in recent
years?
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Why is non-point source water pollution so difficult to manage?
If there is so much water on the earth, why do we have drinking water
problems?
How can we tackle the cleanup of drinking
water
supplies in developing nations?
Does nature ever contribute its own pollutants to drinking water?
Examples?
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- Agricultural
& Water Pollution/Wetlands Protection (Week 7) - Lecture
Notes
How is the Pfeisteria piscicida problem related to coastal land
use?
How can we afford to upgrade our sewage treatment facilities,
especially
in developing
nations?
When an aquifer becomes contaminated, who should pay for the damage?
Is the U.S. food supply contaminated?
How does globalism affect this situation?
What are some of the major problems associated with widespread
pesticide
use?
Can Integrated Pest Management techniques solve our pesticide problems?
Have pesticides entered the human food
supply?
Why do we try to protect wetlands? How
can we resolve land use conflicts?
What are some of the common threats to
wetlands?
How can we change mindsets?
Why don't we protect all wetlands?
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How
do toxics get into the environment? Why is this allowed?
What
are some of the special toxic problems confronting Belarus and other
Newly
Independent
States formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union?
What
are some of the differences between the CERCLA (Superfund) and the
RCRA federal laws that regulate toxics in the U.S.?
Who should pay for past damages to the environment? (CERCLA
establishes
that the
"polluter must pay" but industrial corporations suggest the "people
should
pay.")
Who is right?
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Is the air an example of a "global commons?" How does this affect
air quality
management?
Why is it so difficult to manage acid deposition problems?
What
do we mean by secondary air pollutants?
Why don't we want ozone in the lower atmosphere?
Why were the most recent Clean Air Act Amendments so controversial?
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- Population
Dynamics & Carrying Capacity (Week 10) - Lecture
Notes
What
is the "carrying capacity" for the world's human population?
What are the best techniques for instituting population controls in
crowded,
developing
nations? Will a "technological fix" work?
What role are women assuming in population control worldwide?
What are some of the most crowded nations? In these cases, is the
problem a cultural
or economic one?
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- Land
Use Patterns,Urbanization,Community
Planning (Week 11)-Lecture
Notes
Who should decide land use policies?
What are some of the problems of urban crowding?
How can community planning efforts help to encourage consensus among
potential
land use advocates? What role do banks and realtors play?
How is land use associated with "environmental justice"?
How can GIS techniques help in these issues?
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Why are the fossil fuel
industries so powerful? How can we move toward more
ecologically sustainable energy technologies?
Why don't we utilize
more solar energy applications?
Is geothermal energy
available in Rhode Island? Where? How?
How much energy could
be saved in the U.S. by better energy conservation? What
role does entropy play? How can we change well established
mindsets?
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- Models
for
Environmental Decision Making (Week 13) - Lecture
Notes
What can YOU do to make a difference?
What organizations work to protect the environment?
How do you contact government agencies?
Do public/private partnerships work? For which stakeholders?
How can we improve conflict resolution? Does an angry public
signal a breakdown in public policy?
What are the main NGOs protecting the environment? In the U.S.?
In other Western nations? Other places?
What about a career in environmental management?
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- Student
Presentations
& Course Wrap-Up (Week 14) - Web
Link
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copyright
Gaytha
A. Langlois, Ph.D., 1999
Bryant
College, Smithfield, RI 02917
E-mail:
langlois@bryant.edu
Last
Updated: January 2006