• Offered by Fenner School of Environment and Society
  • ANU College ANU Joint Colleges of Science
  • Classification Transitional
  • Course subject Environmental Science
  • Areas of interest Earth and Marine Sciences, Environmental Science, Biodiversity Conservation
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Course convener
    • Prof Saul Cunningham
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in Winter Session 2022
    See Future Offerings

See https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice. In 2022, This course is delivered entirely on campus/in person.

Environmental science and environmental management professionals need to be able to apply a range of knowledge and skills in a practical context. This course provides hands-on opportunities for you to apply your theoretical understanding to critical observation and measurement of biodiversity, biogeography, landscape ecology, soil-vegetation processes and sustainable land management. You will develop skills in describing soils and landforms, measuring vegetation patterns, identifying habitat features and detecting faunal associations. You will learn to appreciate how soils, landforms, vegetation and fauna should be considered holistically in research and decision-making.


The course is based at the ANU Kioloa coastal campus for five nights in the mid-semester break. You will be contributing to long-term field research informing management decisions across a range of biomes (farmland, forests, coastal and intertidal). The field work is complemented by pre-field trip workshops.


This course develops a diversity of field skills for graduates seeking careers in all fields of natural resource management. It provides important field training for those students concurrently enrolled in ENVS6201 Biodiversity Science: Wildlife, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology and/or ENVS6223 Sustainable Agricultural Systems, for each of which it is strongly recommended.


This course is co-taught with undergraduate students but assessed separately.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Design sampling strategies and collect a diversity of data that describe the biophysical attributes and processes of ecosystems
  2. Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of a range of field sampling techniques and survey designs
  3. Demonstrate advanced capacity to select appropriate data collection methodology, design appropriate sampling strategies and communicate synthesised findings about ecosystem patterns, processes and resource management impacts to a range of audiences

Other Information

There are additional field trip fees of approximately $400 applicable to participation in this course (payment to ANU Science Shop).

As required please contact the Fenner School of Environment & Society at fses.coursework.enquiries@anu.edu.au to request a permission code to enrol in this course

Indicative Assessment

  1. Quizzes based on required reading (20) [LO 2,3]
  2. Group Work (Task A: Group reflections, Task B: Data Management) (20) [LO 1,2,3]
  3. Research design - soil-landscapes (20) [LO 3]
  4. Wildlife Survey (10) [LO 3]
  5. Reflective Learning Journal (30) [LO 1,2,3]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the session including:

  • Face-to face component which may consist of 65 hours of contact delivered intensively over 2 weeks comprising: lectures, practicals and field excursions. This also includes a 5 day compulsory field trip at the Kioloa Coastal Campus
  • Approximately 65 hours of self-study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks.

Inherent Requirements

To be determined

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must be currently enrolled in ENVS6201 or ENVS6223. You are not able to enrol in this course if you have successfully completed ENVS2018.

Prescribed Texts

There is no prescribed text. Reading material will be provided throughout the course.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you 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). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
2
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found 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
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $4440
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $6000
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

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.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Winter Session

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
4276 05 Sep 2022 16 Sep 2022 16 Sep 2022 11 Oct 2022 In Person View

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