This unit cannot be completed entirely online. All students must participate in some face-to-face classes.

To pass this unit you must

• Attempt all assessments,
• Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%,
• Achieve at least 40% in the final examination,
• Participate in the Stanwell Tops Fieldtrip (or in the case of illness or misadventure an approved make-up activity)

Students scoring a final exam mark of <40% but that would otherwise meet all unit requirements will be offered a supplementary exam.

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

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

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

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Assessment descriptions

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 can choose a topic from the list provided in ilearn, or come up with your own based on the guidelines provided above the list. 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 9 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. Please consult this when developing your presentation.

Mid-semester test (25%)

There will be a mid-semester test held in Week 8. This will be 50 minutes in length, and will be an open book, online quiz (that can be completed on or off campus) 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 6 Sept. For infrequent attendance students, the test will be open on the evening of Wed 6 Sept, from 7-9 pm (your 50 min will count down from the time you start the test). 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. Some example questions will be provided in ilearn in the weeks prior to the assessment.

Fieldtrip Practical Report (25%)

At the Stanwell Tops fieldtrip, you will undertake a group-based project. Students will individually write this up in the style of a scientific paper for the journal Austral Ecology. 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. 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.  Please consult these when preparing your report.

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 9-13, some questions will also require knowledge of subject matter from Weeks 1-8.

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:

(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 unit (6 questions, 5 marks each, to give 30 possible marks);

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

Lectures start in week 1 and practicals in week 2.

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 AND Wed 1200, in 23WW P.G.Price Lecture Theatre
• Practicals (compulsory for weekday attendance students): Mon 1000-1300, Mon 1400-1700, OR Tues 0900-1200 (weeks 2-7 only; 06WW 106,110,112)
• On campus session (compulsory for infrequent attendance students): 10-11 August (0900-1700) 06WW 106
• Field trip (compulsory for ALL students): A: 23-25 September OR B: 25-27 September

Required and recommended texts and/or materials

There is no prescribed text book for this course. Instead, I have compiled a collection of media (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.

Methods of Communication

We will communicate with you via your university email and through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to the unit convenor via the contact email on iLearn.

COVID Information

For the latest information on the University’s response to COVID-19, please refer to the Coronavirus infection page on the Macquarie website: https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs. Remember to check this page regularly in case the information and requirements change during semester. If there are any changes to this unit in relation to COVID, these will be communicated via iLearn.

Lecture timetable

Part 1. Organisms and their environment

WEEK 1

22^nd July                        1. What is ecology, and why does it matter?

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

WEEK 2

29^th July                         3. Distributions

31^st July                         4. Global patterns of productivity    

WEEK 3

5^th August                     5. Ecological strategies and their evolution

7^th August                     6. Population growth and intraspecific competition

Part 2.  Interactions among species

WEEK 4

12^th August                   7. Interspecific competition

14^th August                   8. Predation and herbivory                                          

WEEK 5

19^th August                   9.  Parasitism and disease

21^st August                   10. Facilitation and mutualism

Part 4. Communities and ecosystems

WEEK 6

26^th August                   11. Community structure

28^th August                   12. Community function

WEEK 7                     

2^nd September               13. Disturbance and succession  

4^th September                14. Island biogeography                                                          \

WEEK 8

9^th September                15. Preparing for the field trip

11^th September              MID-SEMESTER TEST

MID SEMESTER BREAK

WEEK 9

30^th September             16. The flux of energy through food webs  

2^nd October                   17. The flux of matter through food webs

WEEK 10

7^th October                    PUBLIC HOLIDAY – NO LECTURE

9^th October                    18. Spatial subsidies

5. Applied ecological issues

WEEK 11

14^th October                  19. One Health: healthy ecosystems, healthy people

16^th October                  20. Pest species: invasion biology, biosecurity and management      

WEEK 12

21^st October                  21. Future Ecosystems: meeting the challenges of climate change and urbansiation

23^rd October                  22. Ecological impacts and their assessment

WEEK 13

28^th October                  23. Nature repair: restoration, reconciliation and Nature based Soultions

30^th October                  24. Managed ecosystems: fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, agriculture

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 on 10-11 Aug)

Week 1            22-23 July                               No prac                      

Week 2            29-30 July                               Practical induction/censusing deep sea life

Week 3            5-6 August                              Carbon accounting (fieldwork)

Week 4            12-13 August                          Oral presentations 1

Week 5            19-20 August                          Oral presentations 2

Week 6            26-27 August                          Herbivory and enemy release hypothesis (fieldwork)

Week 7            2-3 September                        Species richness (fieldwork)

Field trip (mid-semester break, September)

All students are required to participate in a field trip at Stanwell Tops. You may attend one of two sessions: A: 23-25 September OR B: 25-27 September. Students who have genuine clashes (e.g. other field trips, work or carer responsibilities) will be given first preference of fieldtrip. Others are invited to indicate their preferred trip, with remaining places filled on a first-come first-served basis (it is important that we have equal numbers of students on each). Places on specific fieldtrips are not confirmed until full payment has been made. Sign-ups for field-trips will be done electronically via Google docs. The web link for sign-up will be made available on iLearn from Mon 29 July. Please sign up by the end of week 4 (Fri 16 August).

We value student feedback to be able to continually improve the way we offer our units. As such we encourage students to provide constructive feedback via student surveys, to the teaching staff directly, or via the FSE Student Experience & Feedback link in the iLearn page.

Student feedback from the previous offering of this unit was very positive overall, with students pleased with the clarity around assessment requirements and the level of support from teaching staff. However, students noted that release of some marks was delayed. The technical issues that caused this delay have now been rectified and marking support enhanced to facilitate a shorter turn-around in marking of assessments. Also, this year the examples of how ecological knowledge can be applied to solve medical and biosecurity problems have also been increased, to accommodate students in the Bachelor of Medical Science.