WETLAND ECOLOGY

Alternate years:11:704:421 and 16:375:519

Fall Semester

Professor : Dr. Joan G. Ehrenfeld

Dept. Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources
Env. & Nat. Resources Bldg. Room 126
732-932-1081
ehrenfel@rci.rutgers.edu

Readings :

Undergraduate Text: Tiner, Ralph. 1998. In Search of Swampland: A wetland sourcebook for the Northeast. Rutgers University Press (paperback)

Graduate Text: Wetlands 3 rd edition, by W. Mitsch and J. G. Gosselink, John Wiley & Sons, New York . 920 pp. 2000.)

Two paper(s) from the research literature most weeks (available on the web on the ecompanion site).

Assignments and Grading:

Undergraduate course: The course involves weekly one-page summaries of a paper from the research literature, reading of relevant material from the textbook, and the preparation of 5-10 page literature review paper.

Graduate course: The course involves presenting and discussing research literature papers to the class, and the preparation of a term paper in the form of a National Science Foundation proposal.

Other short assignments may be added to the course requirements.

There is a mandatory one-day field trip.

Course Description:

The goals of this course are (1) to introduce you to the major conceptual and factual bases for understanding, studying, managing and utilizing wetlands, (2) introduce the range of methods used to obtain scientific information about wetlands, and (3) develop the ability to critically review and evaluate scientific information about wetlands. The first third of the course covers topics common to all wetlands, the second third reviews the ecology of the major classes of wetland, and the last third introduces topics in the management, utilization and conservation of wetlands.

The course will consist of alternate lectures and discussions of papers from the research literature. Two papers will be assigned for each topic (see schedule below): one paper will be discussed in class, with small groups working on study questions, and the other paper will be the subject of the brief (one-page) summary that you will submit. The purpose of these assignments is to familiarize you with the methods and approaches used in gaining a scientific understanding of wetlands by studying how scientists have gone about the job of developing this understanding, and to hone your skills in critical reading of research literature by learning to identify strengths and weaknesses in scientific investigations in ecology.

The term paper assignment is your opportunity to explore a topic in wetland ecology in more detail than we have time for during the course. For graduate students, this is an opportunity to gain proposal-writing skills.

There will be a formal final exam.

General outline of class subjects:

Introduction

Hydrology (2 periods)

Soils and biogeochemistry (3 periods)

Adaptations of plants and animals (2 periods)

Wetland types: emergent marshes (2 periods)

Wetland types: swamps (2 periods)

Wetland types: peatlands (2 periods)

Wetland types: coastal wetlands (2 periods)

Animal Ecology (2 periods)

Community dynamics (2 periods)

Classification, Delineation, Assessment (2 periods)

Wastewater treatment wetlands (2 periods)

Creation and restoration (2 periods)