Postgraduate Course: Land Use/Environmental Interactions (PGGE11010)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course deals principally with the relationships between land management and surface and ground water quality. A Case Study approach will be used for much of the course and options for treatment of specific water pollution problems, such as bathing water quality, lake eutrophication, groundwater contamination by agrochemicals, surface water contamination by acidification, ferruginous discharges and sewage, will be evaluated. The course will be useful to students concerned with the protection and management of water resources from the effects of agriculture, forestry, mining, urban and domestic wastes. |
| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 44,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
152 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment details
There are 2 pieces of course assessment, namely;
¿ An ESSAY: With reference to a named environmental pollutant or contaminant of your choice, discuss the effect of specific land use practices on the dispersal of these pollutants to ground, surface and coastal waters, and/or target site; the impacts of the pollutant on water quality, the environment, and/or ecosystem function; and cost effective measures for mitigating the impacts of these land use practices. Illustrate your work with specific case studies or examples. This must be submitted before noon on Friday 6th April, 2018, and accounts for 50% of the total marks.
¿ Prepare a POSTER presentation to communicate the main points of the essay. Emphasis should be on getting your message across to decision makers and land users who have the power to act on your recommendations. Provide a printed A4 version of your poster, and an abstract of your poster (covering no more than a single A4 page) on the day of the poster presentation. The poster presentations will be marked on four points:
(1) technical content;
(2) quality of text and graphics;
(3) verbal explanation;
(4) the abstract.
Posters will be presented on Monday 26th March and Monday 2nd April 2018. An electronic copy of the poster and the abstract will need to be submitted before noon on Friday 6th April, 2018. This portion of the assessment accounts for the remaining 50% of the total marks.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Have knowledge on identification of opportunities for management and
- Have an understanding of nitrogen transformations, mineralisation,
- Use methods of organic waste management for water pollution control
- Evaluate groundwater quality under various management
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Reading List
Aspinall, R.J., Hill, M.J. (2008). Land Use Change: Science, Policy And Management.
Brannstrom, C., Vadjunec, J.M. (2014). Land change science, political ecology and sustainability: synergies and divergences.
Cowell R, Lennon M, (2014). The utilisation of environmental knowledge in land-use planning: drawing lessons for an ecosystem services approach. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 32(2) 263¿282.
Qiao-Yu Cui, Marie-José Gaillard, Geoffrey Lemdahl, Li Stenberg, Shinya Sugita and Ganna Zernova (2014). Historical land-use and landscape change in southern Sweden and implications for present and future biodiversity. Ecology and Evolution 2014; 4(18): 3555¿3570.
DeFries, R.S., Asner, G.P., Houghton, R.A. (2004) Ecosystems and land use change
DeGraff, J. V. (2007). Understanding and responding to hazardous substances at mine sites in the western United States
European Commission. Environment Land Use. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/land_use/index_en.htm
European Environment Agency (EAA). Land Use. http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/landuse
FAO. Land Resources. http://www.fao.org/nr/land/lr-home/en/
Ganoulis, J. (1994) Engineering risk analysis of water pollution: probabilities and fuzzy sets
Giampietro, M., Aspinall, R.J., Ramos-Martin, J., Bukkens, S.G.F (2014). Resource Accounting for Sustainability Assessment: the Nexus between Energy, Food, Water and Land Use
Gupta, A., Mason, M. (2014). Transparency in global environmental governance: critical perspectives
Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). Sustainable Land Use. http://www.ieep.eu/work-areas/agriculture-and-land-management/sustainable-land-use/
Harrison, R.M. (1996). Pollution: causes, effects and control.
Harrison, R.M. (2007). Principles of Environmental Chemistry
Haygarth, P.M. and Jarvis, S.C. (2003). Agriculture, hydrology and water quality
Kiely, G. (1996). Environmental Engineering
Lindenmayer, D., Cunningham, S., Young, A. (2012). Land Use Intensification: Effects on Agriculture, Biodiversity, and Ecological Processes
Niedda, M., Pirastru, M., Castellini, M., Giadrossich, F. (2014). Simulating the hydrological response of a closed catchment-lake system to recent climate and land-use changes in semi-arid Mediterranean environment. Journal of Hydrology, 517, 732¿745
O'Neill, P. (1998). Environmental Chemistry
Ritter, W.F. & Shirmohammadi, A. (2003). Agricultural nonpoint source pollution: watershed management and hydrology
Shortle, J.S. & Abler, D.G. (2001). Environmental policies for agricultural pollution control
Solbe, J.F.L.G. (1986). Effects of Land Use on Fresh waters.
Stallworthy, M. (2013). Sustainability Land Use and the Environment
Tuck, S. L., Winqvist, C., Mota, F., Ahnström, J., Turnbull, L. A., Bengtsson, J. (2014), Land-use intensity and the effects of organic farming on biodiversity: a hierarchical meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 51: 746¿755
Ward, A.D. & Trimble, S.W. (2004). Environmental Hydrology. 2nd edition.
Wild, A. (1993). Soils and the Environment - an Introduction.
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andy Evans
Tel: (0131) 535 4093
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Elspeth Martin
Tel: 0131 535 4198
Email: |
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