New Online Course Catalogue will be available soon.
BIOSCI 731 : Biogeography
Science
2020 Semester Two (1205) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
BIOSCI731 is a course for students who are interested in the study of ecology and evolution at landscape and geographic scales. The course is ideally constructed to prepare students with an interest in employment/careers in key land management agencies such as Regional Councils and the Dept of Conservation. It is also relevant to students taking PG programmes of study in other courses teaching various components of ecology and evolution since it provides the landscape scale overview to complement these other studies.
The course continues with the overall teaching profile from BIOSCI395 – Biogeography, in that it takes a geographic scale approach to the study of ecology and evolution. However, it does not involve a repetition of the teaching and learning outcomes from BIOSCI395. Instead, it seeks to examine a number of key themes that are either not addressed at all or only touched upon in BIOSCI395 and to include more of a continental scale approach to biogeography rather than just focussing on islands. These themes are more complex and require a more in-depth learning experience that is only possible at post-graduate level. BIOSCI395 is a recommended preparatory 300 level course for this BIOSCI731 course although at this level it is not an essential pre-requisite and students have successfully completed this course without having taken BIOSCI395.
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 3: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 4: | Communication and Engagement |
| Capability 5: | Independence and Integrity |
| Capability 6: | Social and Environmental Responsibilities |
Learning Outcomes
- Understand Summarise key advanced relationships in the study of biogeography: namely; Species Abundance Patterns/The Geography of Speciation/Community Level Evolution/Insular Speciation. Course assessment is designed to test this in the form of Exam, Essay and Seminar. (Capability 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
- Communicate From a selected series of relevant journal articles communicate a key aspect of the study of biogeography in a seminar setting. The student performance in group discussion and in particular the delivered seminar is designed to test this communication ability. (Capability 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
- Explain Produce in written form an outline of a key relationship or pattern in the study of biogeography as an extensive piece of work. The student performance in the essay in particular is designed to assess this ability to explain key relationships. (Capability 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
- Develop Describe the relevance of the concepts taught in the current social and environmental settings. Student participation in the extensive discussion sessions involving whole class is designed to develop this contextual awareness. (Capability 4, 5 and 6)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Final Exam | 60% | Individual Examination |
| Essay | 20% | Individual Coursework |
| Presentation | 20% | Individual Coursework |
| 3 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Final Exam | ||||||||||
| Essay | ||||||||||
| Presentation | ||||||||||
Learning Resources
A broad range of journal articles which are supplied to participants during the course.
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard [15] point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.
For this course, you can expect [8] hours of lectures, [8] hours of tutorial, [40] hours of reading and thinking about the content and [60] hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.
Digital Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Copyright
The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license.
You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Student Feedback
During the course Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the staff responsible for the course and staff-student consultative committees.
At the end of the course students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback.
Your feedback helps to improve the course and its delivery for all students.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.