MEES 432/632 Physiological Ecology of Animals (3 credits)
Instructor: C. Rowe
Prerequisite: BSCI 361 or equivalent of permission of instructor.
Course examines the influence of environmental constraints on animal function and energetic efficiency in the context of abiotic conditions in the habitats occupied by individuals. Offered as a 400-level or 600-level option.
Offered spring of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 601 Applied Environmental Science - (formerly MEES 609A) (3 credits)
Instructors: C. Mitchelmore, T. Miller
Designed to promote an appreciation of interdisciplinarity in natural and social sciences and to provide exposure to how science can influence and inform ongoing policy and management debates. The course addresses the role of science and scientists in providing information to policy makers and managers on complex environmental challenges.
Offered synchronously to all MEES partner institutions via video.
Offered spring of odd years. IVN based.
Syllabus (sample)
MEES 604 Biometry (3 credits)
Instructor: R. Hilderbrand
Course emphasizes the analysis and design of experiments dealing with environmental sciences data and using the R programming language. Topics include descriptive statistics; graphical data exploration; hypothesis testing and inference using parametric tests relying heavily on ANOVA and regression and appropriate non-parametric counterparts; statistical power; and experimental design. An independent student project analyzing existing or newly collected data is required.
Offered spring of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 605 Energy and Environment (3 credits) - UMCP
Instructor: D. Tilley
Prerequisite: MATH 140, MATH 220 or equivalent
Course covers the role of energy in environmental and human-dominated systems and their linkage. Discussion includes the historical and modern production and consumption of energy, energy systems simulation modeling, energy analysis and energy auditing; and a review of national energy policies and proposed alternatives. Cross-listed as ENST 405 and ENST 605, credit awarded for only one.
MEES 606 Cell and Molecular Biology: A Mechanics View (4 credits)
Instructor: R. Jagus, A. Place
Prerequisite: biochemistry and/or cell biology
An invisible world courses through every living thing. This is the world of molecules, tiny machines millions of times smaller than the machines we are most familiar with, like automobiles. Individually, each of the molecules is a delicate instrument, measuring, making, weighing, and building the thing we call life. The molecules of living things are unique among the molecules of the earth. These tiny molecular messengers, engines and machines are built to perform highly specific tasks unlike the molecules formed by physical processes. This course introduces these molecules, the forces they use, and how they assemble into machines of such precise function they can be the basis of life.
Offered in fall. IVN based.
MEES 607 Quantitative Methods in Environmental Sciences (3 credits)
Instructor: L. Sanford, T. MIller
Prerequisite: 1 semester of calculus
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.
MEES 608D Scientific Writing and Communication (1 credit)
Instructor: E. North
Prerequisite: permission of instructor - 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.
This seminar provides an introduction to writing scientific papers and conference abstracts, giving scientific talks and posters, and preparing resumes and seeking jobs. There will be exercises in writing and editing which can be focused on data collected as part of a participant's graduate research. Students will become critically aware of factors that lead to excellence in communicating about science.
Offered in fall. IVN based.
MEES 608I Algal Blooms: Causes, Consequences and Conjecture (2 credits)
Instructor: K. Sellner
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 in spring of even years. IVN based.
MEES 608L Marine Microbial Ecology (2 credits)
Instructor: R. Hill, F. Chen
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 of even years. IVN based.
MEES 608 Scientific Presentation (2 credits)
Instructor: K. Sowers
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 at IMET.
MEES 608T Applications of State-of-the-Art Analytical Techniques in the Environmental Sciences (2 credits)
Instructor: J. Schijf
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 of even-numbered years. IVN based.
MEES 608X Advanced Topics in Aquatic Ecology (1 credit)
Instructor: R. Morgan
In-depth seminar course on an advanced topic in contemporary stream ecology
Offered in spring of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 610 Land Margins Interactions (4 credits)
Instructors: T. Fisher, M. Castro, L. Harris
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.
MEES 611 Estuarine Systems Ecology (3 credits)
Instructor: W. M. Kemp
Prerequisites: general ecology; advanced calculus; computer literacy (some programming skills).
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.
IVN based.
MEES 614 Landscape Ecology (3 credits)
Instructor: M. Fitzpatrick
Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor
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 in fall of even years. IVN based.
MEES 616 Fisheries Oceanography (3 credits)
Instructor: E. North
Prerequisite: at least one of the following: MEES661, AOSC670, MEES621, MEES631, MEES634, MEES682 or permission of instructor.
Course combines the disciplines of physical oceanography, biological oceanography and fisheries science to understand how environmental variability, ecosystems and humans influence harvested fish and shellfish populations. The course explores physical-biological interactions from small-scale processes that influence individual larvae to basin-scale oscillations in climate that shift ecosystems. Emphasis is placed on understanding and using quantitative tools that are fundamental to the discipline with special emphasis on the larval transport model LTRANS.
Offered in spring of even years. IVN based.
MEES 617 Hydrological Effects of Land Use Change (3 credits)
Instructor: K. Eshleman
Prerequisite: one course in hydrology and one course in statistics or permission of instructor.
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 in spring of even years. IVN based.
MEES 621 Biological Oceanography (4 credits)
Instructor: Staff
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.
MEES 626 Environmental Geochemistry I (3 credits)
Instructor: J. Schijf
Recommended: physical chemistry
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.
MEES 627 Environmental Geochemistry II (3 credits)
Instructors: K.H. Kilbourne, J. Cornwell
Prerequisite: Environmental Geochemistry I (MEES 626) or permission of instructor
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 in spring of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 631 Fisheries Ecology (3 credits)
Instructor: T. Miller, D. Secor
Prerequisite: upper level ecology course and introductory statistics
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 in spring of even years. IVN based.
MEES 634 Introduction to Bioenergetics and Population Dynamics (3 credits)
Instructors: T. Miller, C. Rowe
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 in fall of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 637 Zooplankton Ecology (3 credits)
Instructors: J. Pierson, M. Roman, D. Stoecker
Prerequisite: MEES621 or permission of instructor.
The goal of the course is to provide students with a quantitative understanding of zooplankton ecology, including population dynamics, nutrition, behavior, trophic interactions and bio-physical interactions. Emphasis will be placed on critical analysis of zooplankton dynamics from data and in-class discussions of peer-reviewed papers.
Offered in spring of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 640 Introduction to Environmental and Resource Economics (3 credits) - UMES
Instructors: M. Ali, T. Gong, S. Tubene
This course provides an introduction of major topics in the field, such as pollution, climate change, biodiversity, and fisheries. Students will learn basic market theory and the significance of market failures in the environmental context, and will study policy responses to these market failures, both the theory and practice. The goal of this course is to make students aware of the importance of economic arguments in the context of environmental policy discussions.
Offered at the UMES campus.
MEES 641 Fisheries Survey Sampling (3 credits)
Instructor: B. Stevens
This course will train students in methods of estimating abundance, mean size, proportions, and other parameters of fish and wildlife populations. Students will learn theory and techniques for different sampling strategies including random, stratified, systematic, cluster, adaptive, regression and ratio estimators, as well as procedures for estimating variance, confidence intervals, relative error, and sample sizes for each method.
Offered at UMES and on IVN.
MEES 642 Fish Population Dynamics and Stock Assessment (4 credits) - UMES
Instructor: P. Chigbu
In this course, the effects of alternative management actions and environmental factors on the abundance and biomass of fish populations will be discussed beginning with an overview of population modeling by reviewing essential mathematical concepts and biostatistics. Then students will be taught the basic fish population characteristics and life histories. Student will learn how to use various mathematical models to estimate population parameters and predict yield under different management scenarios. Topics to be covered include estimation of fish abundance, population growth and mortality rates, stock identification and dynamics and stock recruitment relationships. Other topics are fish production models, catch at age analysis and the problems in fisheries management.
Offered at the UMES campus.
MEES 643 Risk and Decision Analysis in Natural Resources Management (3 credits) - UMES
Instructor: M. Ali
This course will enable students to develop skills for managing natural resources with relevant decision frameworks reflecting uncertainty and risk about future events. The decision frameworks involve making tradeoffs across options and time using quantitative methods of risk assessment and decision analysis taking uncertainty into account. The course also considers the types of variability and risks faced by resource managers for several natural resources including forests, waters, wildlife, and fisheries.
Offered at the UMES campus.
MEES 644 Multivariate Statistics (3 credits) - UMES
Instructor: M. Malik
Students will learn various types of multivariate statistical methods including factor analysis, multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Knowledge from this course will enable students to summarize data and reduce the number of variables necessary to describe the data. The use of multivariate statistics will allow students to analyze complex sets of data from their disciplines, determine if multiple independent variables exist in the data set, and, if the data set contains dependent variables that are correlated with one another.
Offered at UMES campus.
MEES 650 Wetland Ecology (3 credits) - UMCP
Instructor: A. Baldwin
Prerequisite: BIOM 301 or permission of department.
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. Fall Odd Years.
MEES 652 Advanced Wetland Creation and Restoration (3 credits) - UMCP
Instructor: A. Baldwin
Prerequisite: one semester of biology or permission of department.
Design, construction, and evaluation of wetlands restored or created for ecosystem enhancement or mitigation. Topics will include ecological restoration theory, goal-setting practices, for establishing wetland hydrology, substrate, and vegetation, and restored ecosystem monitoring and functional assessment.
Offered at the UMCP campus.
MEES 661 Physics of Estuarine and Marine Environments (3 credits)
Instructor: L. Sanford, W. Boicourt, M. Li, S. Chao
Prerequisite: minimum of one semester each of undergraduate physics and calculus
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.
MEES 670 Conservation Biology (3 credits)
Instructor: K. Gedan
Conservation in the Anthropocene means conserving biodiversity and ecosystem function in the midst of climate change, habitat loss, overexploitation, altered nutrient cycling, and invasive species with protected areas and reserve networks, ecosystem restoration, and other biodiversity conservation and management schemes.
Offered in fall. IVN based.
MEES 671 Remote Sensing for Environmental Management (4 credits)
Instructor: A. Elmore
Students will develop (1) the tools necessary to carry out remote sensing studies of ecosystem pattern and process, land-use and land-cover change and the impact of climate changes; and (2) a general knowledge of recent research at the interface of remote sensing, ecosystem analysis, global change, and environmental management.
Offered in fall of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 681 Advanced Ecological Design
Instructor: S. Lansing
Prerequisite: MATH 220, CHEM 131 and PHYS 121 or equivalent or permission of instructor
An advanced survey course on the field of ecological design including illustration of principles of design with case studies from biologically-based waste treatment systems, ecosystem management and sustainable development. Cross-listed as ENST 481 and ENST 681, credit awarded for only one.
MEES 682 Fisheries Science and Management (3 credits)
Instructor: D. Secor, M. Wilberg
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 in fall of even years. IVN based.
MEES 688A Scientific Communications (3 credits) - UMES
Instructor: P. Chigbu
This course will address important writing concepts, content, organization, format, and style applied to professional scientific communications such as peer-reviewed manuscripts, science articles and reports for magazines, posters, proposals for funding agencies, theses, and dissertations. Topics such as oral presentations, ethics and research and publications, writing critiques of scientific articles and reports, and preparing cover letters, curriculum vitae, teaching and research statements for positions in academia and industries will also be covered.
MEES 688 Surface Water Quality Modeling (3 credits)
Instructor: M. Xia
This course is an introduction to the theory and application of mass balance-based mathematical models used to simulate the distribution of contaminants in the surface water as a contaminant migrates through the environment.
Taught at UMES and on IVN.
MEES 698A Aquatic Microbial Ecology (3 credits)
Instructor: A. Santoro
Explores the ecological roles of microorganisms in marine, estuarine, and freshwater ecosystems. Hybrid of a traditional environmental microbiology course - covering microbial growth, physiology and metabolism - and a marine microbiology course - covering microbial contributions to biogeochemistry, aquatic food webs and ecological theory. Topics include diversity and regulation of metabolic processes, the role of microbes in element cycling, microbial food webs, interactions with plants and animals, and phylogenetic and functional diversity. Also covers recent developments in genetic sequencing and analysis as applied to microbial ecosystems. Although emphasis will be placed in estuarine and marine ecosystems, lacustrine and riverine systems will also be discussed.
Offered in spring of even years. IVN based.
MEES 698C Chemical Oceanography (3 credits)
Instructors: L. Lapham, M. Gonsior, A. Heyes, H. Kilbourne, J. Schhijf, L. Cooper
The chemistry of marine waters will be covered and will incorporate an integrated approach together with physical and biological oceanography. It will provide a modern view and understanding of ocean systems. Over the course of the semester, we will explore the international of biological, physical and chemical processes that create the oceanic environment that covers more than two thirds of this planet. Topics include a historical perspective of chemical oceanography, discussions of the major ions in the seawater, key nutrient cycles, the importance of trace elements, organic matter formation and degradation, the chemical volition of the oceans in geologic time.
This course is meant for graduate students (600 level) and with permission of instructors, advanced undergraduates with chemistry background (400 level). No pre requites for graduate students, however an undergraduate chemistry background is recommended.
IVN based.
MEES 698F Chesapeake Bay Fishes: Identification and Natural History (1 credit)
Instructor: D. Secor
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.
Occasional. The course is only offered at CBL.
MEES 698Y Science for Environmental Management (3 credits)
Instructors: W. Dennison, D. Boesch
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 years. IVN based.
MEES 698P Behavioral Ecology of Prairie Dogs (4 Credits)
Instructor: J. Hoogland
Prerequisite: permission of instructor
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 in New Mexico. 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.
MEES 698Q Biogeochemistry (3 credits)
Instructor: M. Castro
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.
MEES 698Q Stream Ecology (3 credits)
Instructor: R. Morgan II
Prerequisite: permission of instructor
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.
MEES 708C Mixing and Transport in Coastal Water
Instructor: N. Nidzieko
Prerequisite: 2 semesters of calculus
Recommended: MEES 661
Application of environmental fluid mechanics to problems of pollutant and particle transport and mixing in the coastal environment, including rivers, estuaries and the continental shelf. Mathematical models and theories of advection, diffusion, and dispersion are applied to understand applications of scientific interest in the coastal environment.
Offered in fall. IVN based.
MEES 712 Advanced Population Dynamics and Assessment
Instructor: M.Wilberg
Prerequisite: MEES607, BIOM601 or permission of instructor.
Management of exploited populations relies on a quantitative understanding of population dynamics and the effects of exploitation on marine resources. This course focuses on developing students' quantitative and modeling skills, including understanding of population dynamics and responses of populations to exploitation and management actions. The course covers population models of production, mortality, stock and recruitment, age and growth, and harvesting, and methods for using these models to provide management advice. Additionally, the course focuses on statistical model fitting and simulation.
Offered in spring of odd years. IVN based.
MEES 721 Plankton Dynamics (3 credits)
Instructors: P. Glibert, M. Roman
Prerequisite: MEES 621
Physiology and ecology of phytoplankton and zooplankton; plankton food-web dynamics; role of plankton in biogeochemical cycles.
Occasional. IVN based.
MEES 743 Aquatic Toxicology (3 credits)
Instructor: C. Mitchelmore
Basic concepts and principles of aquatic toxicology, laboratory testing and field situations, as well as examples of typical data and their interpretation and use by industry and water resources managers will be discussed. 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 years. IVN based.