121-213/313 Plants, People and Changing Environments

Credit Points:

When taken from Geography, Faculty of Arts:

16.7 2nd and 3rd year

When taken from Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning:

12.5

Coordinator:

Prerequisite/s:

Timetable:

Contact:

Objectives:

Students completing this subject should:

• understand how the spatial distribution of plants and animals has changed during the Quaternary period, and the environmental and human factors driving these changes;

• gain an introductory knowledge of the ways in which study of past environments leads to explanation of the present and prediction for the future;

• understand the concept of uniformitarianism and be able to assess its validity;

• obtain a basic understanding of the methods available for reconstructing past environments and biological communities, and for determining their ages;

• identify the impacts of people on plants and animals during the prehistoric period;

• understand the major factors leading to the modern expression of plant and animal distributions, especially climatic change and people;

• have an introduction to ethnobotany and the origins of agriculture.

Content:

Changing patterns of plant and animal distributions in the Late Quaternary. Reconstruction and interpretation of past environments through pollen analysis. Climate change, human impacts. Introduction to ethnobotany and the origins of agriculture.

Assessment: