121-270 Biodiversity

Note

All BSc students, except those enrolled in the BA/BSc combined course and the BASc course, can only receive 12.5 points science credit at the 200-level for this subject.

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

25 points of 1st year subjects from the following list: 121-101, 121-171, 121-172, 600-142, 600-111 or other appropriate subjects as approved by the subject coordinator.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject introduces students to ecosystem, species, functional and chemical diversity; the scientific, economic, medical, moral and other arguments for maintenance of biodiversity; methods for estimating biodiversity; patterns of biodiversity in space and time; hypotheses to explain global, regional and local patterns of biodiversity; biodiversity loss; and national and international policy on biodiversity. On completion of this subject students should: understand the reasons why maintenance of biodiversity is important; have knowledge of the global patterns of distribution of biodiversity; comprehend the major hypotheses proposed to explain global and local patterns of species diversity; be able to use a variety of quantitative methods to estimate levels of diversity; be aware of the processes leading to biodiversity loss, and of the Australian and international legislation, conventions and initiatives concerned with biodiversity conservation and exploitation.

Assessment

Written work from practical classes and seminars totalling 3,000 words (50%); a 2-hour end-of-semester examination (50%). Students must attend at least 80% of scheduled laboratory and seminar classes to be eligible to pass the subject.

Prescribed Texts

A subject manual containing selected readings will be produced and made available to students at cost, as well as being available at the University Library Reserve Desk.