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BIOL S328
Ecology
| 1. Introduction |  |
Ecology is a dynamic science. So much has been achieved in ecology in the past four decades that ecology is now almost a household word. Even in Hong Kong we can feel the influence of ecological thinking in our daily lives. The main TV news features a pollution index. Why? This is mainly because more and more people are becoming concerned about the quality of their environment. They are, in a sense, becoming ecologically aware.
As outlined in my letter to you, BIOL S328 is packaged as five books and a number of recently made local TV programmes. Glossaries come with each book, providing a compact series of ecological dictionaries. Last but by no means least are the Hong Kong field trips. These outdoor ecological experiences help you to 'see' the ecology in the five books through the 'eyes' of Hong Kong. The field work helps you to localise the ecology and relate the ideas to 'your place'. These and the field tutorials are a most important part of BIOL S328 for you in Hong Kong and at OUHK! Together, the dayschools (field trips), local video/TV shows and field tutorials help you to localize your ecology.
| 2. The Books | |
There are five textbooks (in photocopies). This is a lot for any course in level 3 ecology in the entire world of learning. But view these books as both your texts and or a resource for later use. Please read the objectives. Unfortunately these are placed at the end of chapters. Go to these first. Then inspect the contents and visit the section summaries once or twice as you study your text.
When you feel you are lost, stop. Go back. Re-read the introduction. Visit the conclusion. Read the summaries. Make a note or two of your own. Then read on again using all these actions as fresh 'sign posts' of your own.
Note how the books are well supplied with concept forming questions and answers. But, please, don't short cut! Try to work out an answer of your own first. Write it down, then check your ideas against those given at the end of the book or below a question within a text page.
This process helps (self) learning!
| 3. TV video programme | |
I have highlighted the TV video presentations in the table below. Make sure you watch them! You can view all of them from the OLE.
Title
Key ecological ideas
Rocky Shores: Life on the Edge
- Life on and in the rocks
- Coastal habitats
- Adaptation and natural selection
Tropical Forest: The Conundrum of Coexistence
- Biodiversity
- Existence and coexistence
- Dynamics of population
The Big Picture
- Habitats
- Ecosystems
- Conservation
- Eco-IA
Managing for Biodiversity:
Forest in Trinidad
- forestry
- biodiversity
- conservation
Hubbard Brook: The Chemistry of a Forest
- forestry
- chemicals in and excreted by plants
- natural air pollutants
| 4. Projects | |
We believe that doing practical work in the field is an essential part of ecological training, and this is provided in BIOL S328 by the Field Courses and by carrying out your own project. The other essential training aspects are planning a Project, analysing the results and writing a final report. In other OUHK science courses, a lot of time is spent in doing Experiments; in BIOL S328, all this time has been set aside for Field Course and Project work. Many contacts with your tutor will be in connection with your Individual Project and there are only few tutorials to take place at classroom. Work connected with Field Course and your Project will count towards four TMAs (carrying 35% of the total marks for the course) and the amount of time allocated to this component (including studying the Project Guide, attending Field Course, carrying out the project and writing the TMAs) is 60-70 hours. In the end, you should gain a lot from the project. These skills and ideas gained while doing the project also help in the examinations!
You are free to choose any line of enquiry or ecological topic for your Project, but you may waste a great deal of time unless you have detailed advice. The main problems are usually :
* choosing a topic; * designing a Project which can be completed within around 6 months (your BIOL S328 Ecology Project may give you ideas for a bigger research Project such as an MSc, MPhil or even PhD; but it must not become one!); * designing a Project in a way that allows at least some of your results (research findings) to be analysed statistically, at least to some extent. To overcome these and other challenges please do at least these three things :
- Discuss your ideas with your tutor,
- Attend the Field Courses,
- Study BIOL S328 web page especially the video.
Indeed you should not start your project until after you have attended at least one of the field courses. These field experiences will give you ideas, skills, techniques and experience with equipment -- all potentially useful in your project work.
As you read your textbooks, keep in mind these books were written by British writers in the UK. For example, where they talk of moss in the lawn, they are thinking of moss (Bryophytes) in a grassy place near a typical UK suburban house. In Hong Kong you may find a grass-covered park or football field that is like a lawn. Hong Kong is famous for lawn bowls and there are strips and patches of lawn near pathways in Kowloon Tsai Park. At the edges of many BBQ sites around Hong Kong there is grass too, which is kept mown by Council workers.
| 5. Field Courses | |
5.1 Where and When
In this Oct 2010 presentation of BIOL S328, the field studies will take place in the following regions of New Territories.
This was outlined in my letter to you. The theme ecosystems will be :
* terrestrial -- hillsides of Sai Kung * freshwater streams of Sai Kung * Intertidal ecology e.g. rocky and stony shore of Tai Po * Mangrove ecology of Chek Keng Reminder: you must attend 3 out 4Field Ecology trips.
5.2 Field Courses Objectives
After attending the field courses, you should be able to :
Design a sampling programme for the analysis of vegetation in a given area and be able to give reasons for your decision to choose :
between random and non-random sampling
whether to set up a transect or a sampling area
whether to use square quadrats to point quadrats, or both
whether to record the numbers or the frequencies of plant species, or both
whether to record plant cover or presence / absence
appropriate statistical tests to apply to your data.
Make representative collections of animals from given habitats including at least one of the following :
streams, ponds and / or canals (invertebrate animals and / or fishes)
grassland and / or shrubs or trees (insects and other invertebrates)
seashore
mangrove
Design a sampling programme for the estimation of an animal population and be able to give reasons for your decision to choose :
relative estimates
absolute estimates
population indices
Use keys for the identification of at least one group of plants or animals, including dichotomous keys.
Display a soil profile and recognize two soil types and the following soil horizons : letter layer (L), topsoil (A), subsoil (B), parent material (C), possibly with subdivisions of these.
Suggest hypotheses about which environmental factors may be affecting the distribution of plants and animals in a given area, how to measure some of these factors (e.g. light, temperature, pH, soil structure, O2 concentration) and how to test your hypotheses.
Set out data collected in ecological fieldwork so that they are clearly displayed and then suggest suitable methods of further analysis.
Carry out a survey in one day's field work and report on the outcome of this survey.
Recognize the impact of human activities on the environment and suggest appropriate objectives and methods for conservation of a named site.
Please note : These Objectives may be tested in CMAs, TMAs or the Examination.
| 6. Assessment and Examination | |
As with other OUHK courses both continuous (CMA and TMA type) assessments and an examination contribute to your course results in a balanced way.
Your total assessment package is made up as follows (the assessment weightings are shown as a % of the total) :
Final Examination 50%
Continuous Assessment carries 50% of the marks awarded in stages from your TMAs and CMAs thus :
TMA01 5% TMA02 10% TMA03 10% TMA04 (compulsory) 10% CMA's 41-44 (Best 3 out of 4) (i.e. 5% each) 15% Exam 50% Total 100% TMA04 is your Project TMA. To reflect the importance of the individual project, a student must achieve a minimum of 40% in the Project TMA to gain a pass in BIOL S328.
| 7. Course Objectives | |
After completing this course, you should be able to :
recall basic facts, terms, theories and techniques introduced or developed in this course and its Set Books.
synthesize information from various sources (including this course, the ecological literature and your own experiments) and communicate clearly your reasoning and conclusions in the form of an abstract, report or essay.
assess critically and draw conclusions from a given ecological experiment or set of observations not necessarily described in this course.
design and carry out an ecological Project by :
suggesting hypotheses and formulating them in a way that can be tested;
testing your hypotheses using appropriate fieldwork techniques;
analysing and drawing conclusions from your data using appropriate statistical techniques;
writing a concise report on your Project.
Describe specific examples (using named organisms when appropriate) to illustrate ecological principles and the complexity of interrelationships between living organisms.
Demonstrate some understanding of the relationships between human society (including technology)and ecological systems by :
describing the actual or likely consequences of particular technological or social changes;
evaluating the desirability or otherwise of such consequences.
understand the importance of ecology in environmental decision making and EIA -- Environmental Impact Assessment
| 8 Prerequisites | |
There are no essential prerequisites for this course BUT, as mentioned in my letter, a background in S122 would be helpful.
If you do not have such a biological background, you may need to read around the topics in each book much more. Your tutors will help you in this.
The glossary provided with each Book will be extremely important for you and, as I said earlier, a good biological / ecological dictionary may need to be beside you as you read.
| 9 Sister ecology texts | |
Many ecology textbooks are on the market. Your tutors will have opinions on which one is best for you according to your background knowledge here in Hong Kong. The five Books of this course (BIOL S328) are 'stand alone' texts. And, moreover they have been written in the distance education mode. These books should become your five companions!
Don't worry too much about reading other textbooks. In general, your BIOL S328 companions are designed to serve you well.
| 10 Audio CD | |
An audio CD: AC2230 Soils will be sent to you at the start of the course. The CD will introduce the ecology about soils.
| 11 Let's go! | |
When you open Book One, survey the way ahead by looking at the table of contents. Then inspect the objectives. This is a map to chart your way forward. Repeat this mapping approach with Book Two and so on. We are in the teaching team (Professor, Lecturer and tutors) here to help you!
Enjoy your Ecology!!
Dr. Fred Lee
Course Coordinator of BIOL S328
