Unit name | Catchment Science: Hydrology, Ecology and Management |
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Unit code | GEOG30013 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Johnes |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites but students will be offered a revision lecture in the first week to cover material from GEOG25050 Hydrosphere 2 that is relevant, as well as additional reading. |
Co-requisites |
Available to year-three Geography and year- four Geography with Study Aboard/Continental Europe students only. |
School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Aquatic Environments are subject to immense pressures as a result of human activity. Located at the base of catchment systems, all activities in the catchment will ultimately have an impact on waters draining from the land to the water body, whether it is a small pond, a stream, river, estuary or the open ocean. This unit covers the physical, chemical and ecological processes controls on the function of the hydrosphere, and the response of catchments to environmental change. It consists of 2 separate but complementary elements. These are:
Element 1 : Hydrology and Land Surface Processes
This looks at the link between hydrological processes and environmental change via geomorphic and biogeochemical processes. An overarching aim of this element is to link hydrology to land-surface processes, including erosion and biogeochemical fluxes, and discuss these processes in relation to the other part of the unit and other units in the syllabus (i.e. environmental change).
In particular, you will study the ways in which these processes operate in different environments (drylands, temperate humid, agricultural) and you will be looking at how processes and outcomes differ in these settings.
Lecture outline:
Element 2: Aquatic Environments: from Source to Sea
In Element 2 you will focus on the processes which control the movement of water, sediment and chemical contaminants from land within a catchment to a water body and thence downstream from source to sea, drawing on topics and materials covered in Element 1. A series of topics will be covered including process controls on:
(1) Catchment biogeochemical function
(2) Nutrient cycling and transport instream
(3) Carbon flux from land to inland and coastal waters in peatland systems
(4) Acidification of upland and boreal waters and evidence for their recovery in recent years
(5) Sediment erosion and transport in agricultural catchments and impacts of fine sediment deposition in chalk streams, and
(6) Eutrophication of inland and coastal waters and impacts on ecosystem and human health.
Disruption of the global biogeochemical cycles (C, N and P) and the impacts of this disruption on aquatic ecosystems will form an overarching
theme for this element.
Statement of unit aims
The objective of this unit is for students to gain an insight into how aquatic environments ‘work’, and how they are likely to respond to major drivers of environmental change. The specific aims are for students to gain an understanding of:
On completion of this Unit students should have:
The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:
Lectures, seminars, computing practical and a poster symposium.
Assessment for this Unit comprises two 1000 word briefing notes aimed at a busy environmental professional (each 25% of the unit) and an unseen examination (the remaining 50% of the unit).
Students will be provided with a list of 10 topics for each Element of the Unit, and must select one topic from each element for the briefing notes. The work will be undertaken as an independent assessment.
A detailed marking scheme for the briefing notes will be provided to the students at the commencement of the Unit, highlighting the specific attributes required and marks available for each component of the briefing notes.
Reading is mainly based on journal articles and specific reading lists will be given with each lecture.