Course Description
An overview of aquatic environments with an emphasis on human impacts and conservation of water resources. The course will cover the fundamentals of applied aquatic ecology with a survey of biota from headwater streams, lakes, and reservoirs to estuarine systems. The focus of the course will be on environmental monitoring and management of freshwater resources.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will read and evaluate additional journal
articles and be expected to facilitate discussion of the
scientific articles when covered in class. They will also
choose two topics from the syllabus related to their research
and be required to submit powerpoint slides and recently
published research articles to supplement the lectures on this
material. On both test and written assignments, they will be
graded at a higher standard than undergraduate students.
Athena Title
Aquatic Biology
Prerequisite
BIOL 1108
Corequisite
FISH 4200L
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This unique course will introduce students to the current condition of aquatic environments and biota. Relative changes in aquatic diversity from mountain streams to estuaries will link processes from the rivers to seas. After introducing students to general groups of aquatic biota, we will focus on biota and conditions in impaired systems. Student will also be exposed to the additive impacts humans have on each of these systems and potential conservation or management to control negative effects. Throughout this course students will demonstrate their understanding through critical examination of the facts and principles of the various aspects of aquatic research, relate their insights to contemporary issues involving pollution and development, and practice their critical thinking, problem-solving and writing skills both in the classroom and the laboratory. Integrated labs will provide valuable practical experience with identification of aquatic organisms and water quality sampling methods. Students will obtain hands-on experience with aquatic monitoring research techniques and taxonomy of plants, algae, and invertebrates. They will be able to gain experience monitoring various aspects of watershed disturbance, water quality, and hydrologic alterations through field trips to regional aquatic environments, including streams, ponds, reservoirs, and estuaries.
Topical Outline
1. The state of the world's aquatic environments 1.1. Distribution of world's aquatic habitats (GIS overview) 1.2. Water as a limiting resource 1.3. Need for monitoring aquatic environments 1.4. Southeastern US—detention/farm ponds, reservoirs and impounded rivers 1.5. Watershed changes and aquatic impairment 2. Anthropogenic impacts in aquatic systems 2.1. Water as a medium for life 2.2. Ecological grouping of aquatic organisms 2.3. Regulation of biodiversity (community structure) 2.4. Biota in impaired systems 2.4.1. Plankton as bioindicators 2.4.2. Aquatic biota as bioindicators 2.5. Disruptions of aquatic life cycles 2.5.1. Feeding 2.5.2. Breeding 2.5.3. Migration 3. Principles of aquatic environmental monitoring 3.1. Define the spatial and temporal population of interest 3.2. Upstream vs. Downstream 3.3. Temporal variation in parameters 3.4. Long-term trends in water quality 3.5. Translocation and transformation 4. Human impacts and management of rivers 4.1. Landscape development impacts on mountain streams 4.2. Sources of endangerment for aquatic organisms in mountain streams 4.3. Urbanization and legacy sediments in piedmont rivers 4.4. Industrial impacts on creeks and rivers 4.5. Emerging contaminant impacts on aquatic biota 4.6. Aquatic organisms as indicators of impairment 5. Current issues in management of small impoundments 5.1. Small impoundments as sources/sinks for sediment nutrients/contaminants 5.2. Fishkills in suburban and golf course ponds 5.3. Wildlife and livestock deaths in agricultural ponds 5.4. Detention ponds used for treat effluent storage 5.5. Invasive plants and impairment of water supply reservoirs 5.6. Eutrophication and toxic cyanoHABs 6. Current Issues in Reservoir Management 6.1. Hydrologic environment 6.2. Community succession with reservoir aging 6.3. Reservoir impacts on downstream rivers/estuaries 6.4. Complex interaction of reservoirs in series 6.5. Invasive aquatic species impacts 6.6. Dam removal benefits and costs 7. Aquatic plant management 7.1. Invasive/native aquatic plant taxonomy 7.2. Structuring effects of aquatic plants 7.2.1. Waterbird migration and aquatic plants 7.2.2. Fisheries and native/invasive plants 7.3. Plant removal and re-vegetation challenges 8. Coastal management concerns 8.1. Coastal development pressures 8.2. Tidal creeks as sentinels for human impacts 8.3. Exploitation of coastal fisheries 8.4. Nutrient pollution/HABs/dead zones 9. Future of water resources 9.1. Case studies in climate change impacts on aquatic ecosystems 9.1.1. Temporal changes in aquatic biota 9.1.2. Coastal river/estuarine salinity shifts 9.2. Degradation of aquatic ecosystems and ecological services
Syllabus