This course builds an understanding of key processes that have shaped Australia's biophysical environment. Through a coordinated series of modules, students acquire foundation knowledge across a range of environmental science disciplines. One of the world’s great drainage basins, the Murray Darling Basin, is used as a case study to connect and integrate these modules into a clear narrative about the processes and issues affecting Australia's environment. In each module the case study is revisited to address topical issues and apply the learning covered in the module. By the end of the course, students will understand the Murray-Darling as an integrated system whose processes and problems reflect the biophysical and social forces that have shaped Australia.
Proposed modules include:
- Creating a continent: the breakup of Gondwana - implications for geology, climate, soils and evolution of flora and fauna;
- Geological events that shaped Australia: faults and rifts, volcanic activity, glaciations, sea level fluctuations;
- Australia's climate: climate patterns in time and space, the nature and role of climate variability, and the impacts of global warming;
- Australian landscape evolution: geomorphology, including effects of Aboriginal and European settlement;
- Water in Australia: how much, where it is, comes from and goes to, and how to regulate its use;
- Characterising Australian soils: soil formation and description, including aeolian deposition and land salinization - implications for productivity;
- Australian vegetation: coping with nutrient deficiency, water, fire, herbivory, weeds;
- Environmental policy and planning: linking science to policy and practice.
Modules are delivered by a diverse range of disciplinary experts. Lectures are complemented by a strong practical component, in which students learn through posing questions and solving problems in panel discussions, laboratory and field classes, and an overnight excursion.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- critically appraise the role of the Murray-Darling as an integrated system whose processes and problems reflect the biophysical and social forces that have shaped Australia;
- understand the geological development of Australia in general, and the Murray Darling Basin in particular;
- recognise the patterns and processes which characterise Australia’s climate and explain their connection to the evolution of Australian landscapes and biota;
- discuss the unique characteristics of water in Australia and the interacting environmental and social factors that make it so;
- describe the development of Australian soils and understand the implications for ecosystem productivity;
- recognise key morphological traits in Australian plant families and explain their function in coping with nutrient deficiency, aridity, flood, herbivory and fire;
- integrate knowledge across a range of disciplines to critically evaluate complex environmental problems and critique policy approaches to solving those problems.
- formulate and test hypotheses and synthesise results in a scientific report.
Indicative Assessment
- Field trip reports (40%)
- Scientific report (20%)
- Weekly practical exercises (20%)
- Final examination (20%)
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Workload
60 hours of contact, comprising 2 lectures and up to 2 hours of practicals or tutorials per week; 5 days of fieldwork.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Assumed Knowledge
General science knowledge.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2018 | $3660 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2018 | $5160 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8212 | 23 Jul 2018 | 30 Jul 2018 | 31 Aug 2018 | 26 Oct 2018 | In Person | N/A |
