Springfield Technical Community College

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Course Number:	BIOL 113	Department:	Biological Sciences	
Course Title:	Fund. Environmental Biology	Semester:	Spring	Year:	1997	

Objectives/Competencies

Course Objective	Competencies	
1.	Provide an overview of environmental problems.

2.	Understand basic concepts of ecosystem structure and function.

3.	Learn world biomes.

4.	Understand concepts regarding human population growth and dynamics.

5.	Discussion of air resources.

6.	Discussion of energy resources.

7.	Discussion of water resources.

8.	Understand the various threats to biological diversity.

9.	Discussion of government conservation policy and the Endangered Species Act.

10.	Conservation strategies and reserve design.

11.	Discuss future goal in Environmental Biology.
	1.	Define Environmental Biology.
2.	Describe the biosphere and summarize the current state of the biosphere.
3.	Identify the root causes of environmental problems.
4.	Define sustainable society/resources.
5.	Discuss 5 major environmental problems of the 20th Century.
6.	Distinguish between an anthropocentric and a biocentric worldview.

1.	Define ecosystem and list the 2 major components of any ecosystem.
2.	Describe the basic processes that keep humans and all other organisms alive.
3.	Identify and define the levels of ecological study.
4.	Know the roles played by producers, consumers, and decomposers in the ecosystem and the interactions among them.
5.	List examples of producers, consumers, and decomposers.
6.	Understand structure and workings of a food chain and food web.
7.	Learn the carbon and water cycles.
8.	Understand predator-prey cycles and interactions.
9.	Other key terms and ideas:  Symbiosis, carrying capacity, keystone resources, keystone species, limiting factors, primary and secondary succession.

1.	Define biome.
2.	List 8 major world biomes, their geographic distribution and 5 characteristics of each type.

1.	Explain exponential growth characteristics.
2.	Discuss how population size is affected by birth, death, fertility, and migration rates.
3.	Define demography.
4.	Understand age structure diagrams and describe population momentum.
5.	Argue each side of the Great Population Debate.
6.	Explain differences in growth rates in More Developed Countries vs. Less Developed Countries.
7.	Discuss ways that human population growth can be slowed.

1.	List the layers that compose the atmosphere.
2.	Define and discuss 6 major classes of air pollutants and their sources.
3.	Distinguish between primary and secondary pollutants.
4.	Describe the effects of air pollutants on environmental and human health.
5.	Understand the phenomenon of acid deposition.
6.	Discuss ways to prevent and control air pollution.
7.	Learn about important federal legislation controlling air pollutants.
8.	Explain the phenomenon of global climate change (global warming).
9.	Understand the potential long-term effects of global temperature increase on humans and biological diversity.

1.	Identify the three major types of fossil fuels and explain briefly how fossil fuels are formed.
2.	Explain how energy consumption has changed in the United States over the past 200 years.
3.	Learn the environmental effects of obtaining and burning fossil fuels.
4.	Compare and contrast the various major and minor fossil fuels available worldwide.
5.	Discuss challenges for the future regarding fossil fuel consumption.

1.	List properties of water that enable it to support life.
2.	Identify how water resources are classified and describe each classification.
3.	Describe worldwide water availability and consumption patterns.
4.	Know eight categories of water pollution.
5.	Summarize how both drinking water and wastewater are treated.
6.	List current threats to groundwater, lakes, rivers, and marine waters.

1.	Explain habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation.
2.	List examples of all three types of habitat alteration.
3.	Know how changes in habitat affect biological diversity.
4.	Understand the dangers posed by exotic species on native organisms.
5.	Discuss the pros and cons of hunting.

1.	Understand early history of wildlife management in the United States.
2.	Know key ideas regarding the following pieces of Environmental legislation:  The Lacey Act (1900); The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1916); Migratory Bird Conservation Act (1929); Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (1934); Pittman-Robertson Act (1937); Dingell-Johnson Act (1939); National Environmental Policy Act (1976); CITES (1975).
3.	Understand early history of the Endangered Species Act.
4.	Summarize the objectives of the Endangered Species Act, categories of listed species, and enforcement of the Act.

1.	Explain the difference between in situ and ex situ conservation strategies.
2.	Learn the role of zoos, aquaria, and botanical gardens in the conservation effort.
3.	Learn fundamentals of reserve design, including corridors, buffer zones, core areas, and sustainable reserves.
4.	Differentiate between coarse-filter and fine-filter approaches to species conservation.

1.	Class discussion on future direction of, and priorities in, Environmental Biology.