Entry requirements

Biology 5 credits, Ecology for engineers 5 credits and Probability and Statistics 5 credits.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course the student shall be able to:

• apply the environmental analysis cycle to identify and remediate effects of environmental problems in aquatic ecosystems
• explain the principles of the Swedish environmental assessment criteria, environmental goals, water management and international agreements
• explain causes, extent and consequences of contemporary water quality issues
• use environmental assessment criteria for lakes and streams, statistical methods and geographic information systems to analyse environmental problems with a large spatial distribution
• analyse temporal changes in water quality and assess causes of the changes
• orally and in writing present and discuss and analyse current water quality problems through critical examination of own and others' results

Content

This course consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part deals primarily with the causes, extent and consequences of major chemical threats to aquatic ecosystems, i. e., acidification, eutrophication, brownification and contamination in lakes and coastal waters. This is the basis for the second part where environmental assessment cycle should be implemented on different Swedish water bodies using existing data. The environmental assessment cycle includes identification of the problem, planning, data management, data analysis, evaluation and remedy action plans. Evaluation criteria for lakes and streams, as well as related legislation and international agreements are used to identify environmental problems. Statistical analyses and geographical information systems are used in data analyses and assessment.

Instruction

The course contains lectures, seminars, practical exercises with focus on indipendent data analysis and an excursion.

Assessment

The examination consist of report from data analyses (2 credits), seminars (2 credits), and a written exam (2 credits).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.