606-311 Community & Ecosystem Ecology B(lecture)

Note

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Botany 606-201 and 606-204 are recommended.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject aims to provide a sound theoretical basis of modern trends, developments and methods in plant ecology, with particular reference to south-eastern Australia. Lecture and seminar topics include:

• vegetation and soils of natural ecosystems of Australia;

• structure, floristics and dynamics of vegetation;

• the ecology of natural disturbance and succession;

• forest soils, forest productivity and nutrient cycling;

• quantitative analysis of vegetation data; and

• theories and models of community structure, dynamics and diversity.

The seminar/discussion exercises provide training in library research and in the preparation, writing and oral presentation of scientific reports.

Assessment

A 3-hour written examination at the end of the semester.

Prescribed Texts

• Groves R H, Australian Vegetation. 1981 Cambridge University Press.
• Attiwill P M and Leeper G W, Forest Soils and Nutrient Cycles. 1987 Melbourne University Press.