Course Catalog Description: This course includes fundamentals of aquatic ecology, with special reference to community ecology. Taxonomy, stratification and succession of organisms to be investigated. Energy traffic through aquatic ecosystems will also be investigated. Field trips required. Lect. 2, Lab. 3. Prerequisite: BIO 105; one additional biology course; one semester of chemistry. Offered Fall.

My Comment: Limnology is the interdisciplinary study of inland waters including lakes, wetlands, ground water, and streams. This lecture portion of this course will serve as an introduction to the geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes that form and maintain these aquatic systems. Environmental threats to these systems will also be covered. Students will gain hands-on field and laboratory experience sampling aquatic systems, measuring and interpreting important limnological variables, and identifying aquatic organisms during the laboratory portion of the course. The course has several roles at UWL. The course can serve as either the foundational course for the Aquatic Science program, an elective course for several Biology concentrations, or as an Environmental Studies minor elective.

Course Catalog Description: This course will instruct students on the use of standard methods for analyses of selected biological, chemical, and physical constituents commonly included in water quality analyses. Quality assurance procedures, including Good Laboratory Practice Standards (GLPS) will be integrated into all activities. Materials covered include: principles of methods used; evaluation of precision, bias, and contamination; proper reporting and interpretation of results; and environmental sources and significance of constituents analyzed. Lect. 1, Lab 4. Prerequisite: BIO 203 or BIO 210 or BIO 303 or BIO 304 ; three semesters of college chemistry; junior standing. BIO 341 recommended. Offered Spring.

My Comment: Standard Methods is an advanced undergraduate/graduate course that concentrates on the principles and practices of quality assurance and on the methods often used in water analysis. The first couple of weeks are all lecture and then we transition into the lab for much of the rest of the semester. The lab exercises are designed not to be "cookie-cutter" procedures. In contrast, students will need to practice ingenuity and resourcefulness for success. Students will leave this course with increased confidence in their laboratory and analytical skill, a broadened understanding of water analysis, and a marketable skill (quality assurance) that can be very useful when applying/interviewing for employment.

Course Catalog Description: An introduction to key concepts and theory pertinent to understanding and managing fluvial ecosystems (rivers and streams) and their watersheds. The course emphasizes rivers as large-scale physical and biological systems. Course work includes a comparative case study of distinctive types of temperate, tropical, and polar rivers. Prerequisite: BIO 307 or BIO 341; junior standing. Offered Spring.

My Comment: Stream and Watershed Ecology is another advanced undergraduate/graduate course for students interested in learning about stream/river ecosystems. We cover the physical interations between flowing waters and their landscape as well as the biological/ecological relationships within these systems. The course is lecture-based, but we also spend several days discussing relevant articles from the primary literature. In addition, there is a strong quantitative component to the course where students are required to work through several data sets related to stream ecosystems.

Course Catalog Description: Ecosystems include the living and non-living components of an environmental system and have emergent properties that can only be understood by examining the system as a whole. This course will examine advanced ecological topics centered around the structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Topics covered will include the development of the ecosystem concept, ecosystem succession, production/decomposition, energy transfer in food webs, and nutrient cycling. The course will consist of classroom lectures, problem sets, and reading/discussion of relevant literature. Prerequisite: BIO 307; one semester of chemistry; junior standing. Offered Spring - Even Numbered Years.

My Comment: Ecosystem Ecology is another advanced undergraduate/graduate course for students interested in learning about ecology from the ecosystem scale. The course description above is relatively new and describes the course well.