NB: This unit cannot be completed online. All students must attend some face to face classes.

To pass this unit you must:

- Achieve at least 40% in the final exam, and attain an overall grade of 50% or more.

- Attend the compulsory fieldtrip.

Presentation (15%)

You will prepare a 6 minute presentation on a topic of your choosing, related to the application of ecology to real-world issues. The purpose of this is to demonstrate your understanding of how ecological concepts can be applied to understand and solve real-world problems, and your ability to communicate scientific issues to a lay audience. You will deliver your presentation in the week 4 and 5 labs (or, if you have enrolled in the infrequent attendance offering, the on-campus session). All students must upload Powerpoint slides to ilearn by 11:55 pm Fri 12 Aug. Late submission of slides without approved Special Consideration will attract a penalty as per the assessment policy. A marking rubric is provided on iLearn.

Mid-semester test (25%)

There will be a mid-semester test held in Week 7. This will be 50 minutes in length, and will be an open book, online quiz that may cover all work from Weeks 1-7, including lectures, practicals and reading material. For weekday attendance students, this will run during the scheduled lecture session on Wed 7 Sept. For infrequent attendance students, the test will be open on the evening of Wed 7 Sept, from 7-9 pm. Infrequent attendance students who cannot make this time are required to the convenor at email biol2410@mq.edu.au to make alternative arrangements. The tests will be multiple choice and will include numerical exercises similar to those taught in lectures. Questions will be randomly allocated to students. Note that if you are unwell and cannot undertake the test during your scheduled time, a special consideration will need to be submitted to organise a new time to sit the test.

Fieldtrip Practical Report (25%)

At the Stanwell Tops fieldtrip, you will undertake a group-based project. Students will individually write this up in the form of a scientific paper for submission to the journal Austral Ecology. The word limit for this report is 1500 words (excluding Abstract, Acknowledgement and References). Any text beyond 1500 words will not be read by the markers; shorter submissions are acceptable. Further details can be found in the Field Trip practical notes (on iLearn). A marking rubric is provided on iLearn, as well as a template for completing your report and examples of previous studies. This task is designed to assess your understanding of ecological concepts, limitations associated with fieldwork, how to source and utilise appropriate scientific literature to craft an argument, and scientific communication conventions.

Examination (35%)

The final exam will be held during the Semester 2 Exam Period and will be 2 hr (plus 10 min reading time). This will be an in-person, invigilated exam. Please consult the University Handbook to determine the commencement and finishing dates of the compulsory exam period. You will be permitted to take a non-programmable calculator and/or English language dictionary into the exam. Notes will not be permitted. While most of the material will focus on Weeks 8-13, some questions will also require knowledge of subject matter from Weeks 1-7.

The exam questions have been carefully written to test understanding, not rote learning:

• You will NOT be required to regurgitate definitions or the details of case studies we have discussed in class;
• You WILL need to be able to apply ecological principles to solve real-world problems.

Specifically, the exam (out of 70) will be comprised of three sections, and it is recommended you spend ~40 min on each:

(A) a multiple choice section where you will be asked to interpret figures and tables and synthesise information (20 questions, 1 mark each; to give 20 possible marks);

(B) a short answer section where you will be asked to solve problems by integrating ecological concepts you have learnt during the course (6 questions, 5 marks each, to give 30 possible marks);

(C) longer response questions where you will use your ecological knowledge to address an applied (conservation or management) problem (2 questions, 10 marks each, to give 20 possible marks)

Note that there are also four non-assessed practical quizzes that must be done before undertaking practicals. These are to ensure that students are properly prepared for these.

Assignment submission

The Powerpoint slides for the oral presentation are to be uploaded to iLearn via the assignment submission box and the Practical Report via the TURNITIN link by 11:55 pm on the due date. TURNITIN is a powerful online tool for the detection of plagiarism. It works by comparing the text of a submitted document (i.e., your assignment) with the work of your current classmates, past students in Ecology and other courses at Macquarie, as well as published material in books, journals and on the web.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following university standard late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7^th day (including weekends). After the 7^th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.  

The unit consists of 2 lectures per week (available to infrequent attendance students via Echo360) and either

• a 3 hour practical per week (weeks 2-7) for weekday attendance students or
• a weekend on-campus session for those nominating infrequent attendance

There is a compulsory field trip to Stanwell Tops in the September mid-semester break that all students enrolled in this unit must attend. Students who cannot attend the fieldtrip should NOT enrol in this unit.

• Lectures: Mon 0900 (23WW Price Theatre) AND Wed 1100 (21WW Macquarie Theatre)
• Practicals (compulsory for weekday attendance students): Mon 1000-1300, Mon 1400-1700, OR Tues 1000-1300 (weeks 2-7 only; 14EaR )
• On campus session (compulsory for infrequent attendance students): 13-14 August (0900-1700)
• Field trip (compulsory for ALL students): A: 19-21 September OR B: 21-23 September

Required and recommended texts and/or materials

There is no prescribed text book for this course. Instead, I have compiled a collection of materials (papers, videos, websites) that directly complement the lectures. These are available via the iLearn site for this unit. It is expected that you review these materials before coming to each lecture.

If you would also like to consult a textbook (this is not compulsory), I suggest:

Begon M, Howarth RW, Townsend CR (2014) Essentials of Ecology. 4th edition. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Cambridge. The 3rd (2008) edition is also acceptable, if you can come by it second hand.

Unit web page

PowerPoint slides, lecture recordings, unit readings, copies of all unit hand-outs and helpful resources for completion of assessments will be available through iLearn. Consequently, it is strongly recommended that you interact with the BIOL2410/6410 online unit regularly. To access the online unit, go to https://iLearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ/ and type in your Macquarie OneID Username and password.

New to iLearn? You can find out more at: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/technology/systems/ilearn

Experiencing difficulties? contact the IT Service Desk at help@mq.edu.au.

Lecture timetable

Part 1. Organisms and their environment

WEEK 1

25^th July                         1. An introduction to ecology

27^th July                        2. Conditions, resources and the niche concept

WEEK 2

1^st August                     3. Distributions

3^rd August                     4. Global patterns of productivity    

WEEK 3

8^th August                     5. Ecological strategies and their evolution

10^th August                   6. Population growth and intraspecific competition

Part 2.  Interactions among species

WEEK 4

15^th August                   7. Interspecific competition

17^th August                   8. Predation and herbivory                                             

WEEK 5

22^nd August                  9.  Parasitism and disease

24^th August                   10. Facilitation and mutualism

Part 4. Communities and ecosystems

WEEK 6

29^th August                   11. Community structure

31^st August                   12. Community function

WEEK 7                     

5^th September                13. Preparing for the field trip

7^th September                MID SEMESTER TEST

MID SEMESTER BREAK                                                                              

WEEK 8

26^th September              14. Disturbance and succession

28^th September              15. Island biogeography

WEEK 9

3^rd October                    PUBLIC HOLIDAY – NO LECTURE       

5^th October                    16. The flux of energy through food webs

WEEK 10

10^th October                  17. The flux of matter through food webs

12^th October                  18. Spatial subsidies

5. Applied ecological issues

WEEK 11

17^th October                  19. Global change biology

19^th October                  20. Ecological impacts and their assessment    

WEEK 12

24^th October                  21. Invasive species and their management

26^th October                  22. Restoration and reconciliation ecology

WEEK 13

31^st October                  23. Managed ecosystems: fisheries and forestry

2^nd November               24. Exam discussion, revision, 300-level unit information

Practical classes

For all practical sessions (including Oral Presentations in weeks 4 and 5) you must be wearing covered shoes to be allowed entry to the labs and there is strictly no eating or drinking.

Timetable for weekday attendance students (infrequent attendance students will do these during the co-campus session on 13-14 August)

Week 2            25-26 July                               No prac                      

Week 2            1-2 August                              Practical induction/censusing deep sea life

Week 3            8-9 August                              Carbon accounting (fieldwork)

Week 4            15-16 August                          Oral presentations 1

Week 5            22-23 August                          Oral presentations 2

Week 6            29-30 August                          Herbivory and enemy release hypothesis (fieldwork)

Week 7            5-7 September                        Species richness (fieldwork)