Disturbances, anthropogenic or natural, are fundamental to the development of natural ecosystems. This course covers various aspects of disturbance ecology, including concepts of disturbance, ecological resilience and resistance and ecosystem responses to and recovery from disturbance. Students critically evaluate disturbance types and their characteristics in different ecosystems and their implications for conservation, sustainability of ecosystems, and application to reclamation/restoration. The course is focused on management of resources based on a clear understanding of important disturbance processes which could then be applied across a wide range of human and natural disturbances. I teach this course every Fall Term.
Environmental assessments are becoming more common as increasing regulatory requirements are developed. Information collected for environmental assessments must have the potential to pass legal, legislative or regulatory, statistical and scientific scrutiny. Knowing what to assess and how to assess it will meet these objectives with efficiency and cost effectiveness. The course is focused on principles and elements of environmental assessments as they pertain to terrestrial investigations. Types of assessments, reasons for conducting them, information required, how that information should be collected, analyzed and ultimately communicated will be discussed. I teach this course every Winter Term.