Selected Research Topics Used in ESP, EPC and GIS courses
Environmental risks and rewards associated with non-native oyster introduction in Chesapeake Bay
Pick a biological or ecological influence or impact to an economically important fish species. Apply a
management solution that addresses both the life history and economic importance of the species.
Analyze and compare the NY or Philadelphia sustainability plan and your home city’s efforts against the
three “Es” of sustainability (environment, economics, and environment) looking at indicators, strategies,
and how success will be measured.
Will wolf control increase Alaska’s moose and caribou populations?
Pick a US region or state and a commercial renewable technology. From the point of view of a utility,
write a brief proposal to add 50 MW of the selected renewable to the utility's generation profile, and
discuss the benefits and challenges specific to the region/state. In conclusion, make a recommendation
with respect to the feasibility of the proposal.
Hydrofracking as a tool to extract energy resources is becoming common in several geologic terranes
across the U.S. What are the potential impacts to water resources?
Each student is to select a compound or class of compounds in our environment (food, personal
products, household items, water, air, medicine), to document the use, the extent of its use, the health
concerns, whether it is known to be in human tissue or blood, at what levels and your conclusion on its
impacts.
Prepare a Climate Change Impact Assessment and recommendations for major issues that should be
addressed in the development of an Adaptation Plan for a region of your choice (a country, a U.S. State,
a geographic region, etc.).
How is GIS used to correlate drinking water quality and human health
What are the relative health risks from bottled water and tap water
Assess the human health or ecological risk of an environmental problem of your choice.
What are the potential roles that oceanic deep circulation play in global climate change?"
What role, if any, did deforestation play in the downfalls of the Mayans and at Angkor Watt? In
each case what was the mechanism that liked deforestation to the decline of these civilizations?
Identify and evaluate the science underlying an air quality management policy, the policy tool(s)
selected to achieve the goal, the process used to develop and adopt the policy, with particular attention
to the stakeholders involved in the process and their respective influence, and the degree to which the
resulting policy has achieved, or for policies recently adopted or proposed, has the ability to achieve, its
stated goals.
How does GIS technology benefit the study of natural resources?
Choose a species or a population of that species that has declined. Your paper should focus of the
causes of the population or species decline, and the scientific assessment of that decline. You should
discuss the data that supports the information on the species’ decline. You may also discuss measures
taken or anticipated to both prevent further decline, reverse the decline, or to enable the species to
recover in the wild. Include basic ecological principles from this course in your discussion.
Selected Journals used by students in ESP, EPC and GIS courses for research projects
Ecology
Ecological Monographs
Ecological Applications
Conservation Biology
Journal of Ecology
Estuaries and Coasts (published by Springer)
Limnology and Oceanography (published by ASLO)
Marine Ecology Progress Series (published by Inter Research).
Marine Ecology Progress Series
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society Estuaries and Coasts Copeia Ecology Fisheries
Oceanography
JAPA - Journal of the American Planning Association
JPER – Journal of Planning Education and Research
Journal of Planning Literature
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment
Energy Policy
Electricity Journal
Environmental Science and Technology
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Technology
Water Resources Research
Science of the Total Environment
Journal of the North American Benthological Society
Journal of the American Fisheries Society
Journal of Freshwater Ecology
Journal of Environmental Monitoring
Science,
Nature
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
Geophysical Research Letters
Climatic Change
International Journal of Climatology
Journal of Geophysical Research
Biomass and Bioenergy from Elsevier
Global Change Biology: Bioenergy from Wiley
Journal of Coastal Research (from; Coastal Education & Research Foundation)
Sedimentary Geology (from; Elsevier)
Environmental & Engineering Geosciences (from; Association of Environmental & Engineering
Geologists)
Conservation Biology
Limnology and Oceanography
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Ecological Applications
Hydrology
Journal of the American Water Resources Association
Journal of the American Water Works Association
Harvard Business Review
Journal of Industrial Ecology
The Academy of Management Review
Journal of Operations Management
Journal of Comparative International Management
Review of Geophysics
Journal of Geophysical Research
Journal of Environmental Quality
Soil Science Society of America Journal
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy
International Journal of Geographical Information Science
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association
Journal of Air Quality, Atmospheric Environment and Health
Environmental Health Perspectives
Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
Geomorphology
Geoinformatica
Geospatial Information Science
Remote Sensing of Environment
IEEE Transactions in Geosciences and Remote Sensing
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres
Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences
Waste Management
Environmental Politics
Natural Resources and Society