91551 Ecohydrology and Climate Change

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Subject handbook information prior to 2020 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Science: Life Sciences
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks

There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Description

Ecohydrology is the study of the relationships between weather, climate, vegetation structure and vegetation function and water in terrestrial landscapes. In particular the study of ecohydrology requires an understanding of the physiology and ecophysiology of plants, micro-meteorology and hydrology. This subject expands students' understanding of plant physiology and ecophysiology and applies an ecohydrological perspective to understanding landscape behavior and function. It also explores how climate change may affect landscape ecohydrology across Australia. The subject examines groundwater dependent ecosystems, dryland salinity, the measurement and analyses of water and carbon fluxes above woodlands and forests and the impact of climate change on C and water fluxes of terrestrial biomes.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

1.	have an awareness and understanding of the interactions amongst weather, climate, vegetation structure and vegetation function;
2.	understand the component parts of a catchment water budget and the mechanisms through which vegetation can influence catchment water budgets;
3.	discuss the meaning of the term “groundwater dependent ecosystem” and understand the importance of GDEs to ecosystem services, water management and legislative policy;
4.	explain the various ways in which climate change may influence woody landscape structure and function and water the wider implications this may have to water management in Australia.

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

1. Disciplinary knowledge and its appropriate application
An understanding of the nature, practice & applications of ecohydrology.

New disciplinary knowledge will be delivered through guided reading material. The application of this knowledge will be learnt through study and review of case studies from Australia and overseas. Integration of wide range of disciplines (plant physiology, micro-meteorology, hydrology, ecology) will be a key aspect of this trans-disciplinary subject.

Learning will be assessed by students answering short-answer questions that require them to demonstrate an integrated understanding of the knowledge and examples of the ways it is currently applied.

2. An Inquiry-oriented approach
An understanding of the scientific method of knowledge acquisition. Encompasses problem solving, critical thinking and analysis attributes, and the ability to discover new understandings:

Critical thinking and attributes of analytic thought will be developed through students’ being taught to critically analyse current knowledge analysis guided reading material and assessment questions.

Learning will be assessed by a series of case study problems that require students to assess several issues (e.g. changes in catchment vegetation structure leading to changes in water budget) and propose viable solutions.

3. Professional skills and their appropriate application
The ability to acquire, develop, employ and integrate a range of technical, practical and professional skills, in appropriate and ethical ways within a professional context, autonomously and collaboratively and across a range of disciplinary and professional areas. e.g. Time management skills, personal organisation skills, teamwork skills, computing skills, laboratory skills, data handling, quantitative and graphical literacy skills:

Development of time management and personal organisation skills are a strong focus of the subject because the mode of delivery requires students to be organised to complete the readings on schedule and meet the weekly assessment schedule.

Learning will be assessed by students’ ability to submit assessment tasks according to deadlines, their use of various forms of evidence (written, data, statistical analysis, graphical) to support their arguments in questions, and their ability to acknowledge sources of information in a professional manner.

4. Ability and motivation for continued intellectual development
The capacity to engage in reflection and learning beyond formal educational contexts, that is based on the ability to make effective judgments about one’s own work. The capacity to learn in, and from, new disciplines to enhance the application of scientific knowledge and skills in professional contexts:

The mode of delivery allows reflective understanding of the guided readings as students apply newly developing understanding of each discipline to different disciplines (eg understanding the ecological aspects of vegetation structure to the hydrological ramifications of the physiological behavior of the landscape).

Learning will be assessed by setting increasingly complex questions and case study issues that require students to demonstrate (in addition to the relevant knowledge) their ability to formulate responses that integrate additional areas of knowledge at increasing depth. Climate change will be used as a relevant issue.

5. Engagement with the needs of Society
An awareness of the role of science within a global culture and willingness to contribute actively to the shaping of community views on complex issues where the methods and findings of science are relevant:

The subject has a focus on areas to do with policy, water management, land management and anthropogenic climate change and thus puts science into a human-centred perspective. Water policy reform related to the water needs of the environment is a critical issue in Australia because of the environmental degradation associated with historical water use practices and the socio-economic impacts of changing these practices to be more environmentally sustainable. The material in this subject is relevant to the science used to shape this policy reform.

Learning will be assessed by requiring students to reflect in various written short-answer questions on the place (contributions, shortcomings) of this disciplinary knowledge in the development of water policy.

6. Communication skills
An understanding of the different forms of communication - writing, reading, speaking, listening - including visual and graphical, within science and beyond and the ability to apply these appropriately and effectively for different audiences:

The weekly written assessments require written presentation of material in scientific format including reference citation.

Learning of these skills will be assessed from the accuracy of students’ answers, the clarity and specificity of their explanations of complex integrated concepts, and the correct usage of references.

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject is delivered through UTS Online. Discussion and interaction by students amongst themselves and with the Academic leading the subject will be facilitated through the Discussion Board on UTSOnline. Readings are made available each week, along with a set of assessment tasks designed to ensure that the reading material is understood. The subject is offered over a 12 period (excluding the exam period). There are no lectures. The subject content and workload are designed to require approximately 8 hours per week of structured reading and writing. A final exam is part of the assessment.

Content (topics)

1. Defining ecohydrology – the basic meanings of micro-meteorology, hydrology, ecophysiology and gas flux analyses

2. Techniques in ecohydrology
a) Measuring leaf water potential, stomatal conductance, gas fluxes (multiple scales) and micro-meteorological studies
b) Plant hydraulic architecture
c) Hydrology – river flow, groundwater depth, soil water content; a catchment water budget
d) Vegetation structure – leaf area index, tree height, DBH, woodland classifications
e) Use of stable isotopes in ecohydrology

3. Determinants of water and carbon fluxes of landscapes
a) Abiotic determinants
b) How vegetation attributes influence gas fluxes
c) Concept of Ecohydrological types
d) Landscape water and C balances

4. Modelling and remote sensing of vegetation structure and water use

5. Case studies in ecohydrology:
a) Salinity
b) Groundwater dependent ecosystems
c) Mountain Ash forest growth and catchment water yield
d) The NT Howard Springs and Daly River Studies

6. Climate change: causes and potential effects on vegetation and water budgets

7. Studies of vegetation responses to CO2 enrichment

Assessment

Assessment task 1: An overview of key methodologies in ecohydrology

Weight:

15%

Criteria:

These are based on demonstrated attainment of the graduate attributes, especially discipline-specific knowledge in the topics presented and understanding of relevant terminology, tools and methodologies. This assignment encourages students to use technical and professional skills presented in the reading. The assessment is based on the clarity of the report and the demonstration of a proper understanding of the readings.

Assessment task 2: Determinants of C and water fluxes from landscapes

Weight:

15%

Criteria:

These are based on demonstrated attainment of the graduate attributes, especially discipline-specific knowledge in the topics presented and understanding of relevant terminology, tools and processes. This assignment encourage students to use technical and professional skills presented in the reading to demonstrate a proper understanding of the topics presented. The assessment is based on the clarity of the report and the demonstration of a proper understanding of the readings.

Assessment task 3: Case studies in ecohydrology

Weight:

15%

Criteria:

These are based on demonstrated attainment of the graduate attributes, especially discipline-specific knowledge in the topics presented and understanding of relevant terminology, tools and problems identified in the case studies. This assignment encourage students to use technical and professional skills presented in the case studies to demonstrate a proper understanding of the topics presented. The assessment is based on the clarity of the report and the demonstration of a proper understanding of the readings.

Assessment task 4: Climate change, woody thickening and catchment water balances

Weight:

15%

Criteria:

These are based on demonstrated attainment of the graduate attributes, especially discipline-specific knowledge in the topics presented and understanding of relevant terminology, tools and issues confronting Australia as discussed in the readings. This assignment encourage students to use technical and professional skills presented in the case studies to demonstrate a proper understanding of the topics presented. The assessment is based on the clarity of the report and the demonstration of a proper understanding of the readings.

Assessment task 5: Final Exam

Weight:	40%
Criteria:	Are based on demonstrated attainment of the specific graduate attributes, especially discipline-specific knowledge in the topics presented and understanding of relevant terminology, tools, techniques and processes. The final exam will assess problem-based and essay skills under exam conditions.

Minimum requirements

Any assessment task worth 40% or more requires the student to gain at least 40% of the mark for that task. If 40% is not reached, an X grade fail may be awarded for the subject, irrespective of an overall mark greater than 50.

Recommended texts

D Eamus, T Hatton, P Cook and C Colvin 2006. Ecohydrology: vegetation function, water and resource management. CSIRO, Melbourne Australia.

P Nobel 2006 . Physicochemical and environmental plant physiology. 2006 Elsevier, 3rd Edition.

G Bonan 2010 Ecological Climatology. 2nd Ed. Cambridge Uni Press.

References

At least three dozen pdfs of references sent to students over 12 weeks for reading