I. ASCRC General Education Form
Group
College of Forestry & Conservation
Dept/Program
Resources Conservation
Course #
(RSCN)
Course Title
Wilderness Ecology
Prerequisite
none
Credits
UFOR271N
URSCN271N
3
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Date
Paul Alaback
X2913/palaback@forestry.u
mt.edu
Program Chair
Paul Alaback
Dean
James Burchfield
III. Description and purpose of the course: General Education courses must be introductory
and foundational. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/gened/GEPreamble_final.htm
Instructor
Phone / Email
This course is required for all students in the wilderness and civilization program and is
also open to students in the honors program and to other students by consent of the
instructor. In this class we provide a general overview of ecology and its application to
better understanding environmental issues, especially those that relate to wild landscapes.
We also provide examples of appropriate uses of ecological science in improving public
policy and decision making, and discuss how people fit into ecosystem processes and
functions. Our key objective is to help students better develop their skills in critical
thinking and synthesis, in particular how to think ecologically. Key topics include landscape
and regional drivers of ecological patterns including climatic variation, historical patterns of
climatic change, disturbance ecology, and human disturbance. We then review studies of
biodiversity, plant animal interactions, and assessment of ecological function for
conservation strategies. Students participate in field trips where observations compliment
discussions in lecture. We also discuss the scientific method as it applies to ecological
studies, and dissemination of scientific information. Students also critique peer-reviewed
scientific papers, and write and present a synthesis term paper in a scientific format which
is an environmental history of a particular area of interest, and an analysis of
environmental change, and the drivers responsible for that change in that geographical
area. They also write an essay on human interactions with landscapes, and have two
exams which emphasize the application of ecological ideas and concepts to contemporary
controversies in conservation.
IV. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See:
http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
1.
We have two lectures on the scientific
method and how it applies to ecological
studies including working through two
critiques of scientific papers. The appropriate
application of scientific information to
conservation problems (including
uncertainty, and methods of science) is a key
theme of the course and is the main focus of
questions on exams and the term paper
2.
Uncertaintly is addressed in many ways by
comparing concepts that derive from
physical principles and those that come from
historical, and descriptive studies (and from
empirical data) and how this effects the
appropriate uses of these kinds of
information (from well established theory, to
evolving subfields, and hypotheses derived
from examination of empirical patterns seen
in nature). These ideas are reinforced with
case studies which highlight both appropriate
and inappropriate uses of scientific ideas
(and strongly influenced by uncertainty)
3.
This is not a lab course, but is closely tied to
the extensive field trips in the wilderness
program. Field trips reinforce the lectures
and the term project involves extensive
independent research & synthesis (inquirybased). Two field trips include training
students in ecosystem monitoring, including
methods of collecting vegetation data.
V. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals. See: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ASCRCx/Adocuments/GE_Criteria5-1-08.htm
1
Key principles emphasized include
determinants of biological diversity and
adaptation to environmental change and
a multi-scale definition of ecosystem
(composition, structure, function, scale,
disturbance, species interactions)
2.
Paper critiques and discussion of
scientific publication process and critique
process emphasizes the methods of
natural science, and in particular the
many ways in which knowledge is gained
in ecological science depending on the
questions being investigated
3.
Patterns in field are compared with
concepts discussed in class, including field
trips that feature measuring plots, and
monitoring vegetation change
4. & 5.
Extensive discussion of the complex
interaction of human activities and
ecological processes focus on how to use
data and analyses of these data to test
hypotheses and to synthesize knowledge
to answer a wide range of questions over
a range of spatial and temporal scales,
and limitations of data and experiments
for individual studies and the field in
general. This is also a key component of
synthesis section of term project
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. ⇓ The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus
preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
*Please note: As an instructor of a general education course, you will be expected to provide
sample assessment items and corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.