9/1/2024 2:34:10 AM |
| Changed Course |
CATALOG INFORMATION
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Discipline and Nbr:
BIO 15 | Title:
FUTURE OF RAINFORESTS |
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Full Title:
The Future of Rainforests |
Last Reviewed:9/11/2006 |
Units | Course Hours per Week | | Nbr of Weeks | Course Hours Total |
Maximum | 3.00 | Lecture Scheduled | 3.00 | 17.5 max. | Lecture Scheduled | 52.50 |
Minimum | 3.00 | Lab Scheduled | 0 | 17.5 min. | Lab Scheduled | 0 |
| Contact DHR | 0 | | Contact DHR | 0 |
| Contact Total | 3.00 | | Contact Total | 52.50 |
|
| Non-contact DHR | 0 | | Non-contact DHR Total | 0 |
| Total Out of Class Hours: 105.00 | Total Student Learning Hours: 157.50 | |
Title 5 Category:
AA Degree Applicable
Grading:
Grade or P/NP
Repeatability:
00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP
Also Listed As:
Formerly:
Catalog Description:
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A broad overview of the biodiversity and ecology of tropical rainforests, including their distribution, causes and effects of their destruction and the analysis of conservation strategies. Case studies from different countries are presented to examine the integration of conservation solutions with human well-being and the site-specific circumstances of history, culture, poverty, land use, politics and economics.
Prerequisites/Corequisites:
Recommended Preparation:
Eligibility for ENGL 1A or equivalent
Limits on Enrollment:
Schedule of Classes Information
Description:
Untitled document
A broad overview of the biodiversity and ecology of tropical rainforests, including their distribution, causes and effects of their destruction and the analysis of conservation strategies. Case studies from different countries are presented to examine the integration of conservation solutions with human well-being and the site-specific circumstances of history, culture, poverty, land use, politics and economics.
(Grade or P/NP)
Prerequisites:
Recommended:Eligibility for ENGL 1A or equivalent
Limits on Enrollment:
Transfer Credit:CSU;UC.
Repeatability:00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP
ARTICULATION, MAJOR, and CERTIFICATION INFORMATION
Associate Degree: | Effective: | Fall 2001
| Inactive: | Summer 2011
|
Area: | C H
| Natural Sciences Global Perspective and Environmental Literacy
|
|
CSU GE: | Transfer Area | | Effective: | Inactive: |
| B2 | Life Science | Spring 2007 | Summer 2011 |
| E | Lifelong Learning and Self Development | | |
| E | Lifelong Learning and Self Development | Fall 2001 | Spring 2007 |
|
IGETC: | Transfer Area | | Effective: | Inactive: |
| 5B | Biological Sciences | Spring 2007 | Summer 2011 |
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CSU Transfer: | Transferable | Effective: | Fall 2001 | Inactive: | Summer 2011 |
|
UC Transfer: | Transferable | Effective: | Fall 2001 | Inactive: | Summer 2011 |
|
C-ID: |
Certificate/Major Applicable:
Major Applicable Course
COURSE CONTENT
Outcomes and Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:
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Upon completion students will be able to:
1. Critically evaluate what they read, write and hear in scientific literature as well as popular media.
2. Apply the scientific method to solving ecological problems.
3. Analyze the basic principles and assumptions of ecology, including the cellular nature of life, correlation of structure
and function, energy transformation, evolution, and characteristics of systems.
4. Describe the tropical rainforest ecosystem.
5. Explain the effect of climate on the distribution of biodiversity.
6. Describe the complexity of plant-animal interconnections in tropical rainforests and compare this to other biomes.
7. Discuss the social political and economic forces that threaten rainforests and propose amelioration.
8. Compare the site-specific conservation solutions and assess their probable outcomes.
9. Explain how rainforest destruction has local, regional and global implications.
10. Evaluate the impacts of human population growth and resource use on tropical rainforests, with a focus on
identifying the immediate and underlying causes of forest disturbance and destruction and the current extinction
crisis.
Topics and Scope
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1. Ecology as science
a. Scientific approaches to problems
b. Scientific method
2. Foundational principles
a. Cellular nature of life
b. Structure and function; physiological and anatomical adaptors
c. Evolution: species adaptations, speciation, evolution of
ecosystems
d. Characteristics of an ecosystem
3. Definition of tropical rainforests
a. Tropical moist forests and their climates
b. Forest formations
c. Growth cycle
4. Plant life
a. Climbers and epiphytes
b. Trees
5. Rainforest animals
a. Richness and diversity of animals
b. Modes of coexistence
c. Carrying capacity
6. Interconnections between plants and animals
a. Animals as pollinators
b. Animals as dispersers
c. Food webs and keystone species
d. Co-evolution
7. Tropical forests through time
a. Paleogeography
b. Paleoclimates
c. Pleistocene refugia
8. Forest dynamics
a. Forest microclimates
b. Pioneer and climax species
c. Seed and seedling ecology
d. Species richness
9. Nutrients and their cycles
a. Shifting agriculture
b. Nutrient pools and cycles
10. The tropical rainforest yesterday and today
a. Indigenous cultures
b. Colonial era
c. Post-Colonial era
11. Destruction of rainforests
a. Past rates
b. Present rates
c. Future prospects
12. Causes and processes of clearance
a. Fuel/wood gathering
b. Shifting cultivation
c. Land distribution and population
d. Resettlement
e. Commercial logging
f. Plantations and cash-cropping
g. Cattle ranching
h. Development projects
13. Impacts and costs of destruction
a. Loss of biodiversity
b. Loss of resources
c. Loss of environmental services
d. Local and regional climate change
e. Global climate change
14. Forest peoples
a. Tribal people and the rainforest
b. Decline and fall
c. Threats and pressures
15. Possible solutions
a. The need for action
b. Constraints
c. Protection and conservation
d. Restoration and reforestation
e. Sustainable use
f. Tropical timber trade
g. Debt for nature swaps
Assignments:
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1. Read text and other assigned readings, 30-40 pages per week.
2. Homework: written responses to scientific journal articles and
written analysis of websites that address rainforest issues
relevant to the class.
3. Preparation of group project to design a written conservation plan for an
assigned rainforest site.
4. In class work: exercises, presentations, class discussions.
5. 4-14 Quizzes and 3-5 Exams.
Methods of Evaluation/Basis of Grade.
Writing: Assessment tools that demonstrate writing skill and/or require students to select, organize and explain ideas in writing. | Writing 20 - 40% |
Written homework, Group conservation plan | |
Problem solving: Assessment tools, other than exams, that demonstrate competence in computational or non-computational problem solving skills. | Problem Solving 0 - 0% |
None | |
Skill Demonstrations: All skill-based and physical demonstrations used for assessment purposes including skill performance exams. | Skill Demonstrations 0 - 0% |
None | |
Exams: All forms of formal testing, other than skill performance exams. | Exams 40 - 60% |
Multiple choice, True/false, Matching items, Completion, Essay | |
Other: Includes any assessment tools that do not logically fit into the above categories. | Other Category 0 - 20% |
Class participation | |
Representative Textbooks and Materials:
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An Introduction To Tropical Rain Forests, by T.C. Whitmore, 2nd Edition,
Oxford University Press, 1998.
Tropical Rainforests, by Chris C. Park, Routledge Publishing, 1994.
The Diversity of Life, by Edward O. Wilson, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.,
1999
Foundations of Tropical Forest Biology, edited by R.L.Chazdon and T.C.
Whitmore, University of Chicago Press, 2001
Classic texts
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