ENVR12002 - Applied Ecology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Applied Ecology is the science of understanding and managing natural living resources. Over-harvesting of exploited species, habitat loss, and the spread of invasive species are among the world’s most pressing environmental issues. Solutions to these problems are complex, but firmly embedded in the fundamental tenets of ecological knowledge and theory. This unit will provide you with a broad perspective of the field of applied ecology by working across different ecological levels (ecosystem, community, population and species) and issues, in the process you will explore how ecological knowledge and theory is applied to the management of natural living resources.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites

ZOOL11005 Foundation Animal Biology and BOTN11004 Foundation Plant Biology or

BIOL11099 Living Systems and BIOL11100 Functional Biology or BIOL11102 and ENVR11014.

Anti-requisite

BIOL13031 - Ecology: Theory and Application


Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Compulsory Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2023

Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 40%
2. Practical Assessment 30%
3. Practical Assessment 30%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 25.00% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)
Feedback
The best aspects of this unit were the diverse range of topics and case studies - in addition the guest lecturers were beneficial to overall scope of the unit.
Recommendation
The unit will continue to use a Team Teaching approach to present a diverse range of engaging and current topics/case studies within the discipline.
Action Taken
The unit is based on a Team Teaching model and will continue to present a diverse range current topics and case studies from across the discipline.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)
Feedback
Maybe add a little demo on the tree calculations for the residential school report. As someone who struggles with math this would have been a great help.
Recommendation
A video demonstrating calculation of species diversity indices will be added to residential school resources. Calculations will be covered further during the residential school.
Action Taken
A video demonstrating how to calculate species diversity indices from raw data has been added, this was also modelled at the residential school.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)
Feedback
The unit was fantastic and highly applicable to environmental science.
Recommendation
The unit will continue to focus on real world applications and developing skill-sets required in Environmental Science research/industry
Action Taken
The unit continues to focus on the development of skill-sets required in the application of Environmental Science in research and industry.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)
Feedback
Everything was communicated clearly and expectations on the assessments were extremely clear with a very extensive marking rubric provided. The assessment pieces were engaging and formatted well.
Recommendation
The approach to assessment will continue.
Action Taken
Requirements and expectations around assessment continues to be clearly articulated.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)
Feedback
The tutorials and residential school were both integral and ensured a solid foundation of knowledge was set.
Recommendation
Weekly drop-in tutorials and a three-day residential school will remain integral components of the unit.
Action Taken
Weekly drop-in tutorials and Q&A sessions are integral components of the unit and student support.
Source: SUTE Student Comments
Feedback
Really enjoyed this subject. The residential school was very practical and informative. I will definitely be able to use this knowledge for my future endeavors.
Recommendation
The residential school will continue to be practical and informative with a primary focus on learning and developing practical applied skill-sets.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: SUTE Student Comments
Feedback
Great subject very interesting.
Recommendation
The unit will continue to explore a diverse range of environmental and ecological topics that stimulated student interest and curiosity.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Describe how ecological principles are applied to the protection, management, and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic living resources and ecosystems
  2. Discuss the elements, concepts, and theories of population and community structure and dynamics
  3. Apply integrated knowledge of population, community and ecosystem ecology to real world situations using industry standard methods
  4. Develop and utilise the skills necessary to undertake ecological fieldwork successfully and to analyse ecological data/models.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes)
2 - Practical Assessment
3 - Practical Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
5 - Team Work
6 - Information Technology Competence
8 - Ethical practice
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Online Quiz(zes)
2 - Practical Assessment
3 - Practical Assessment