GE2404:03
Biogeography and Climatology
| Townsville | HECS Band 2 |
39 hours lectures, 27 hours practicals, 24 hours fieldwork. Semester 2.
Staff: Dr J Luly, Dr R Jaycock.
The subject provides a basic introduction to climatology and biogeography, with a particular emphasis on the savanna and arid ecosystems of northern Australia as well as neighbouring Pacific and Asian regions. There will be a component devoted to climate change at a variety of time scales and the implications of contemporary climate change to the trajectory of ecological processes.
Learning Objectives:
- an understanding of the principles of climatology and biogeography;
- an understanding of the relationships between climatic, edaphic and palaeogeographical patterns and the organisation of the Australian biota;
- appreciation of the relationships between Australian biota and those of regional neighbours;
- an appreciation of the complexities of predicting biotic change in response to anthropogenic modification of the biosphere.
Assessment by examination (35%); field report (20%); essay (30%); practicals (15%).