Biology 410

Human Role in Environmental Change

Human impacts through time on vegetation, animals, landforms, soils, climate, and atmosphere. Special reference to Asian/Pacific region. Implications of long-term environmental change for human habitability.

General Information

Instructor: Dr. Mark Merlin (Dean 108, 956-6038)
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring Semester
Time: T, Th 9:00 - 10:15 AM
Lecture: Dean 107
Texts:
- The human impact on the natural environment by Andrew Goudie, 1994. MIT Press, Cambridge.
- A green history of the world by Clive Ponting, 1993. Penguin USA.
- The holocene: an environmental history by Neil Roberts, 1989. Blackwell.
Pre: either BIOL 310 or GEOG 326, and one of BIOL 123, BIOL 124, or GEOG 101; or consent.
Cross-listing: GEOG 410

Topics

Conditions and processes defining Earth surface environment: energy flux, biogeochemical cycling, secular trends

Uniqueness of human intervention

Effects of technologyical innovation and human population growth on magnitude and character of environmental impact

Freshwater, estuaries, seas, alndforms, atmosphere and climate

Thresholds of resilience and reversibility of environmental change, influence of urbanization on human impact and human choice special emphasis is given to examples drawn from Pacific islands including Hawaii.

Disclaimer: This information has been obtained from the syllabus for the Spring 1996 class offering and is only partial information about the course. It is not an authorized syllabus and does not offer any guarantee that the course was taught according to this outline then or will be taught this way in the future. It is only intended for general planning.