Biology 310: Midwestern Ecosystems

Redbuds along the Mississippi River

Course Syllabus

Some Midwestern Ecology Links

• Regional Departments of Natural Resources
• Iowa DNR
• Illinois DNR
• Illinois Natural History Survey
• Wisconsin DNR
• Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
• Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois
• Plus more Ecology and Botany links from my other home pages

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Last updated January 14, 2008

Course Syllabus

Course Description

This course is a field-oriented examination of regional ecosystems. Ecosystem change during the geological past and historical times will be covered. Classroom material will be illustrated by weekly field trips to representative areas.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course you should be able to:

1. Describe the physical factors (climate, soil, geological background) that characterize the Midwest.
2. Describe the physical and biological characteristics of prairie, forest, wetland, and urban habitats.
3. Identify representative plants and animals of the major midwestern ecosystems.
4. Name regional parks and preserves that are representative of midwestern ecosystems, and the unique features of each area.

Required Texts

• Anderson, Wayne I. 1998. Iowa's Geological Past: Over Three Billion Years of Change. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. On e-reserve at the SAU library website.
  
• Barbour, Michael and William Dwight Billings. 2000. North American Terrestrial Vegetation, Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. On e-reserve at the SAU library website.
• Horn, John C. 1999. Watching the River, Walking the Land: A Natural History of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science, Davenport.
• Kricher, John C. 1998. A Field Guide to Eastern Forests. Houghton-Mifflin, New York.

Attendance Policy

Attendance is required at both class sessions and field trips. On Fridays we will leave promptly at 2:00 p.m. from the parking lot on the north side of Lewis Hall. Please note that field trips cannot be made up. If you must miss a field trip, let me know in advance. It may be possible to receive partial credit for the trip by completing a report for the area missed.

Evaluation and Assessment

Mastery of the course objectives will be assessed in the following ways:

• Objectives 1 & 2: There will be midterm and final exams over physical and biological characteristics as presented in the readings and in class. The form of the exams will be primarily essay, but I may include some objective-style questions. The final will only cover material presented after the midterm. Grading of each will be on a 100-point scale, with 90+ = A, 85-89 = B+, 80-84 = B, 75-79 = C+, 65-74 = C, 55-64 = D, below 55 = F. This portion of the course will contribute 60% toward the final grade.
• Objective 3: Identification of plants and animals will take place in the field and possibly in the classroom (through slides or specimens). You will be provided with a list of organisms you must learn. This is intended to be mastery-based learning -- I will keep asking you for identifications until I am satisfied that you have successfully learned all the species. This portion of the course will contribute 10% toward your final grade.
• Objective 4: There will be a report due for each field site that is visited. These reports should indicate the name of the site, its location, a brief description the area, why it was preserved, and what (if any) its unique characteristics are. In addition, there should be a journal-type narrative of your observations during the visit. Each report is due on the Thursday following the site visit. This portion will contribute 30% toward the final grade.

Course Schedule

We will be in the field every Friday if at all possible, no matter what the weather, so come physically and psychologically prepared to be outdoors for the afternoon.

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