Instructor: L. Sandford, E. North
Prerequisites: 2 semesters of calculus
Course description: Explores mathematical approaches and solutions that cut across environmental disciplines, and it will introduce analytical techniques that are taught infrequently in other courses. The goal is to provide students with the tools and confidence they need to apply quantitative methods in their own research.
Offered in fall. IVN based.

Instructor: V. Kennedy
Prerequisites: Participants should have data that they can use in a draft scientific paper, or they should be ready to write a draft of their research proposal.
Course Description: Introduction to writing scientific papers. Also covers giving scientific talks and making poster presentations, and concludes with material on preparing resumes and seeking jobs. There are practical exercises in writing to perform, including preparation of a brief report on data collected as part of a participant's graduate research, or of a proposal describing the research being planned for a participant's graduate degree. Students will become critically aware of factors that lead to excellence in communicating about science.
Offered in spring. IVN based.

Instructor: K. Sellner
Course Description: Explores the reasons for phytoplankton blooms in coastal and oceanic waters, examining the roles of physics, bathymetry, water quality, and the ecology, physiology and behavior of phytoplankton species. Students are encouraged to have MEES 621 or equivalent course background.
Offered spring of even-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: R. Hill, F. Chen
Course Description: Seminar-style course in which current papers from the literature on marine microbial ecology will be presented by students and critically analyzed by the group. Molecular approaches will be emphasized.
Offered in spring. IVN based.

Instructor: J. Du
Course Description: Class is held in a journal club format on a weeklly basis. Each week, one participant will present 1-2 high impact papers covering topics in cell biology, genetics, molecular biology or developmental biology. The objective is to provide students an opportunity to share and discuss some of the exciting progress being made in above research filed.
Offered at COMB.

Instructor: K. Sowers
Course Description: Weekly lectures emphasize skills required to effectively communicate scientific results and conclusions in venues ranging from professional meetings to job interviews. Students are required to prepare and present 3 15-minute presentations and 1 60-minute presentation on a topic of their choice. Grading is based on attendance, participation, genuine effort to improve presentation skills and overall effectiveness as a speaker at the completion of the course.
Offered fall of odd-numbered years. Offered at COMB.

Instructors: J. Schijf
Course Description: This course will provide a broad overview of current progress in the environmental sciences resulting from the development of new analytical technology or from novel applications of established technology. Methods to be discussed include approaches to quantifying the concentrations and speciation of nutrients, organic compounds, trace metals, and stable isotopes in a variety of natural samples, as well as some biomolecular and toxicological essays.
Offered in spring. IVN based.

Instructor: R. Morgan
Course Description: In-depth seminar course on an advanced topic in contemporary stream ecology
Offered in spring. IVN based.

Instructor: J. E. Gates
Course Description: Topics of interest to students in wildlife and conservation ecology. Most recent topic was selected by students in Wildlife Habitat Ecology and Analysis and was titled, "Application of Radiotelemetry, Global Positioning System, and Geographic Information System Technologies to Studies of Animal Ecology."
IVN based.

Instructors: T. Fisher, M. Castro, W. Boynton
Course Description: Overview course on physical, chemical and biological interactions in coastal zone for incoming graduate students. The course emphasizes water flows, biogeochemistry, biological productivity, and anthropogenic effects and covers interactions between the atmosphere, watersheds, streams and estuaries. 4 hours of lecture per week, a term paper, 3 field trips, and mid-term and final exams.
Offered in fall. IVN based.

Instructor: W. M. Kemp
Prerequisites: All students taking this course must have the following academic training: general ecology; advanced calculus; computer literacy (some programming skills).
Course Description: Provides graduate students with an integrated view of estuarine ecosystem processes and modeling methods for simulation and analysis of these processes. Organized into three parts presented in parallel: 1) introduction to estuarine ecology; 2) introduction to numerical modeling; 3) student model development.
Offered in spring of odd-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: R. Gardner
Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor
Course Description: development and effects of broad-scale patterns of ecological phenomena, the role of disturbance in ecosystems, and the characteristic spatial and temporal scales of ecological events. A variety of concepts important in landscape ecology, including: the structure and function of landscapes; identifying and modeling landscape pattern; the concept of disturbance, succession and landscape equilibrium; the implications of global climate change.
Offered fall of even-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: R. Hood
Course description: Graduate level survey course covering a wide range of topics which fall under the general heading of biological oceanography. These topics include plankton dynamics and biogeochemical cycles, benthic organisms and processes, and the structure and ecological role of marsh, mangrove and SAV (submerged aquatic vegetation) communities.
Offered in fall. IVN based.

Instructor: J. Schijf
Recommended: Physical chemistry
Course Description: A brief overview of biogeochemical cycles and stresses fundamental aquatic chemistry principles that can be applied to a variety of environmental systems (e.g., freshwater, marine, groundwater, atmospheric). Topics include chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, acids and bases, air-water interactions, precipitation and dissolution, oxidation and reduction, and the solid-solution interface.
Offered in fall. IVN based.

Instructors: H. R. Harvey, J. Cornwell
Prerequisites: Environmental Geochemistry I (MEES 626) or permission of instructor
Course description: A survey of aquatic geochemical cycles, split evenly between inorganic and organic geochemistry. Topics include global biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen, estuarine cycling of organic matter, nutrients and metals, radiochemistry and sediment biogeochemistry/diagenesis.
Offered spring of odd-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: T. Miller, D. Secor
Prerequisites: Upper level ecology course and introductory statistics
Course description: Understanding basic ecological processes that affect productivity, abundances and distributions is a prerequisite for effective utilization of Maryland's aquatic resources. This course will explore the forces that select individuals, regulate populations and structure communities.
Offered spring of even-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: W. Lamp, M. Palmer
Course Description: Ecological complexity of running waters in the context of human society. The complex interactions between the physical, chemical and ecological components of stream ecosystems.

Instructors: T. Miller, C. Rowe
Course Description: Focus on bioenergetic and population dynamic processes at the individual and population levels. Students are introduced to the thermodynamic and bioenergetic principals that underlie patterns of energy partitioning in aquatic animals, following which the course examines the sources and fates of energy that is acquired by individuals and demographic and life history consequences of surplus energy partitioning.
Offered fall of odd numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: D. Wright
Course Description: A tiered approach to environmental toxicology. Included are biotic & abiotic factors, toxic endpoints, env. chemicals and toxic threats, risk assessment.
Offered fall of even-numbered years. Offered at UMCP campus only.

Instructor: A. Baldwin
Prerequisites: BIOM 301 or permission of the department.
Course description: Plant and animal communities, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem properties of wetland systems. Laboratory emphasizes collection and analysis of field data on wetland vegetation, soil, and hydrology.
Offered at UMCP campus only in fall.

Instructor: L. Sanford, W. Boicourt, M. Li, S. Chao
Prerequisites: Minimum of one semester each of undergraduate physics and calculus
Course Description: Graduate-level introduction to physical oceanography, covering a wide range of physical processes in oceans and estuaries. Topics include ocean currents, water mass properties, heat and salt balances, dynamical oceanography, waves, tides, turbulence, sediment transport, estuarine circulation, and continental shelf circulation.
Offered in spring. IVN based.

Instructor: E. D. Houde
Course Description: The study of exploited, or potentially exploitable, populations of living aquatic resources, including fish and other organisms. It is applied ecology and, as such, seeks knowledge of how biological interactions and environmental factors influence populations in aquatic ecosystems.
Offered fall of even numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: B. Crump, M. Suzuki
Course Description: Ecological roles of microorganisms in marine, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems. Energetics, diversity and regulation of metabolic processes, the role of microbes in element cycling, microbial food webs, interactions with plants, animals and bacteriophage.
Offered in spring of even-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: W. Dennison, D. Boesch
Course Description: provides an overview of the process in which science is applied to various environmental management issues through a diversity of in depth case studies, practitioner perspectives, lectures and projects. Techniques of synthesis and science communication are emphasized through lectures, activities and hands-on exercises. The scientific context for environmental management is developed within historical, societal and geographic contexts. An in depth view of environmental management of the Chesapeake Bay and watershed is used as a recurrent theme throughout the course.
Offered in spring of odd-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: J. Becker
Course Description: Biochemistry, physiology and ecology of microbiological processes that lead to the detoxification of environmental pollutants and synthesis of commercial products from renewable feedstocks. Concepts form the basis of microbial biotechnology applications including bioremediation and industrial biocatalysis.
Offered on occasional Falls, at UMCP.

Instructor: R. Hilderbrand
Course Description: Entry-level graduate course emphasizing the analysis and design of experiments dealing with natural resources data. Topics include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing and inference using parametric tests (including ANOVA and regression) and their non-parametric counterparts; statistical power; experimental design, and using SAS. An independent student project analyzing existing or newly collected data will be required.
Offered spring of odd-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: D. Secor
Course description: Provides students with experience and knowledge on natural history and identification of Chesapeake Bay fishes, field survey methods, and laboratory techniques in fish demographics and trophic ecology.
The course occurs over the first 7 weeks of odd year fall semesters.
The course is only offered at CBL.

Instructor: M. Wilberg
Course Description: Ecological models of a single population, the catch equation and surplus production, stock and recruitment, age and growth, fecundity, harvesting models, catch-age assessment methods.

Instructor: J. E. Gates
Course description: concepts and measurement of wildlife-habitat relationships, and the management of wildlife habitat.
Offered fall of odd numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: K. Eshleman
Prerequisites: One course in hydrology and one course in statistics or permission of instructor.
Course Description: Examines the catchment-scale hydrological effects attributable to major land use and land cover alterations, including both anthropic and non-anthropic disturbances. First part of the course will focus on the quantitative measurement and mathematical description of those physical hydrological processes that can be affected by land use and land cover changes. Second part of the course reviews how both deterministic and empirical/statistical models can be applied to analyze and predict observed catchment-scale hydrological and hydrochemical responses to land alterations and disturbances.
Offered spring of even-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructor: J. Hoogland
Prerequisite: permission of instructor
Course Description: Students participate in a longterm research program that concentrates on the ecology and social behavior of Utah prairie dogs, which are in acute danger of extinction. The study site is Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Topics include predation defenses, alarm calling, mating sytems, infanticide, communal nursing, and the avoidance of inbreeding. Four credit hours for students who stay 8 weeks; eight credit hours for students who stay the entire field season.

Instructor: M. Castro
Course Description: Biogeochemistry is an interdisciplenary science that focuses on the interactions between ecology and geochemistry. In this course, we use concepts from both ecology and geochemistry to develop a mechanistic understanding of the biogeochemical reactions that occur in and influence the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems.
IVN based.

Instructor: R. Morgan II
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor
Course description: Ecology of streams, with emphasis on North American and regional stream ecosystems. Fish and invertebrate ecology, restoration ecology, and conservation biology of freshwater species.
Offered in fall of even-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructors: K. Engelhardt
Course Description: This course reviews a variety of topics in community ecology in order to understand the controls over community composition/structure and biodiversity. Special emphasis will be placed on the influence of species composition and species interactions on emergent properties of ecosystems.
Offered fall of even-numbered years.

Instructor: J. Baker
Prerequisites: CHEM 474 or equivalent, and permission of instructor.
Course Description: Quantitative mathematical descriptions of the physical and chemical processes which control the movement of chemicals in natural waters, including gas exchange across the air-water interface, adsorption, biological uptake, and biotic and abiotic degradation.
Offered in spring of odd-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructors: P. Glibert, M. Roman
Pre-requisites: MEES 621, Biological Oceanography
Course Description: Physiology and ecology of phytoplankton and zooplankton; plankton food-web dynamics; role of plankton in biogeochemical cycles.
Offered in spring of odd-numbered years. IVN based.

Instructors: C. Mitchelmore
Course Description: Basic concepts and principles of aquatic toxicology, laboratory testing and field situations, as well as examples of typical data and their interpretation and use; Toxicological action and fate of environmental pollutants will be examined in aquatic ecosystems, whole organisms and at the cellular, biochemical, and molecular levels.
Offered in spring of even-numbered years. IVN based.