Welcome to the web site for BI301! This course, which is taught at Oregon State University , covers selected topics related to human impacts on ecosystems. Information related to the course is available by clicking on the highlighted topics listed below. Full notes for the lecture topics are accessible by clicking the topic titles below. For a discussion of the "philosophy" and workings of this home page, click "WEB" here.
Navigating this site will probably be different than you are used to - -e.g., there aren't navigation bars that float along with content. However, you can (1) use the back or forward arrows at the bottom of each page to move backwards or forwards within a given section of notes; (2) use the "back" button in your browser tool bar to return to the section you visited last, regardless of its location in the notes; or (3) use the "contents" button at the bottom of other sections to return to this page. Just play around with it, and you'll catch on quickly! For more information on navigating to and through the sections of this site, click "Navigate".
These materials are intended for on-screen use. Please do not print the pages! Formatting is "inefficient" in terms of paper use -- I have left more space between blocks of text and have used larger fonts than are appropriate for printed materials; this with ease of reading on-screen in mind.
If you want help finding material that was covered on a given lecture day, click calendar. This will take you to a page where I provide links to relevant sections of this site for each lecture date (as it actually occurred, rather than as I HOPED it would occur). Remember, however, that these written materials include quite a bit of information that is not presented in lecture, and that you aren't "responsbile for" that additional material.
SYLLABUS (includes dates for various topics, reading assignments, and other assignments)
TOPICS
(I) Introduction
(II) Human population
(III) Agriculture
--The "Green Revolution "
-- Pesticides
--Land degradation (Grazing on public lands, erosion, salinization and waterlogging)
(IV) Air quality
-- General considerations and methods
--Focus on tropospheric ozone pollution
(V) Stratospheric ozone depletion
(VI) Global climate change (general background on greenhouse gases and trends inatmospheric concentration and emissions)
--Probabilities, ecological consequences, and human consequences and policies related to global climate change
(VII) Biological diversity
--Global patterns in deforestation and a look at what has happened in forests of the Pacific Northwest.
--Pacific Northwest -- what are the conventional approaches to logging and site preparation and their consequences, and how are they being changed?
STUDY GUIDES AND ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
--Global climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion
Resource use reduction project -- Results from 2008 are listed here; there will be a new version for '09 once we've completed this project.
Click on "Navigate " for information on moving within and among these pages.
You may jump to the home page for Oregon State University by clicking "OSU" here. After visiting the OSU home page, you can return to this document by clicking on the "BACK" box in the toolbar near the top of your screen.
Click on "disclaimer" to access the official Oregon State University disclaimer statement. After reading the disclaimer, you can return to this document by clicking on the "BACK" box in the toolbar near the top of your screen.
Page maintained by Patricia Muir at Oregon State University. Page last updated Dec. 9, 2008, 2008.