EMGT 810: Ecosystem Monitoring Syllabus

All course information is listed within this syllabus.

EMGT 810: Ecosystem Monitoring (3 credits). This course provides students with an overview of ecosystem monitoring methods and analyses. Students completing the course will have the ability to apply a quantitative approach to the monitoring of ecosystems. Students will learn about monitoring planning, various sampling designs, and specific measurement methods used to accomplish monitoring objectives associated with ecosystem management. Students will be able to apply specific sampling, measurement, and data analysis methods for monitoring vegetation, wildlife, water quantity and quality, and soils, and they will have a statistical foundation for evaluating the various types of data that are collected. Specifically, students will be able to calculate reliability measures, trends, and indicators of ecosystem change, and apply hypothesis testing to these measures to determine their statistical significance. Specific sampling designs will be presented, such as simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, systematic sampling, and cluster sampling.

Prerequisite: STAT 500

Instructor

Instructor for EMGT 810

Marc E. McDill, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Forest Management

Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
310 Forest Resources Building
University Park, PA 16802

Phone (Office): 814-865-1602
E-mail: Use Canvas Inbox

Research Interests

Forest management, forest management planning, forest inventory, deer-forest interactions, oak regeneration

Course Overview

This course provides students with an overview of ecosystem monitoring methods and analyses.

Course Objectives

After successfully completing this course, a student will be able to:

  • describe the role of sampling, measurement, and monitoring in making natural resource management decisions
  • describe a variety of quantitative approaches to sampling and monitoring
  • apply fundamental statistical principles and common sampling designs to design and implement an ecosystem monitoring plan
  • describe various measurement, sampling, and monitoring approaches for different natural resources, including vegetation, water quantity and quality, soils, and wildlife

Course Outline

Module 1: Designing a Monitoring Program

  • Introduction / Why Monitor Ecosystems
  • Planning a Monitoring Program
    • Design Steps
    • Basic Techniques

Module 2: Assessing the Precision of Information with Statistics

  • Sampling distributions, estimation and measures of reliability
    • Populations, Samples, sampling distributions
    • Estimation, standard errors and confidence intervals
  • Hypothesis Testing and Change Detection

Module 3: Sampling Design

  • Simple Random Sampling
  • Stratified Random Sampling
  • Other designs (Systematic; Cluster)

Module 4: Vegetation Monitoring and Sampling

  • Sampling for presence/absence of vegetative taxa of varying frequencies and sizes and quantifying the abundance and size of vegetation
  • Sampling for trends in presence/absence, abundance, size and demographics of vegetation

Module 5: Water Quantity Monitoring

  • Methodology
  • Analysis

Module 6: Water Quality Monitoring and Sampling

  • Collection Methodology
  • Analytical Methodology
  • Interpretation

Module 7: Monitoring Wildlife

  • Estimating Probability of Detection
  • Special Techniques for Monitoring Wildlife

Module 8: Soil Sampling and Monitoring

  • Collection Methodology
  • Analytical Methodology

Course Schedule

For due dates, refer to the Course Summary on the Syllabus page in Canvas.

Course Materials

Most World Campus courses require that students purchase materials (e.g., textbooks, specific software, etc.). To learn about how to order materials, please see the Course Materials page. You should check the World Campus Course Catalog approximately 3–4 weeks before the course begins for a list of required materials.

Required

Elzinga, C. L., Salzer, D. W., & Willoughby, J. W. (1998). Measuring & Monitoring Plant Populations. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

(This textbook will be provided for free within library reserves.)

Or

ISBN: 978-0632044429
Elzinga, C. L., Salzer, D. W., Willoughby, J. W., & Gibbs, J. P. (2001). Monitoring Plant and Animal Populations. Wiley-Blackwell.

For pricing and ordering information, please see the Barnes & Noble College website.

Materials will be available at Barnes & Noble College approximately three weeks before the course begins. It is very important that you purchase the correct materials. If your course requires one or more textbooks, you must have exactly the correct text required (edition and year).

E-Reserves

This course requires that you access Penn State library materials specifically reserved for this course. You can access these materials by selecting Library Resources in the Course Navigation Menu, or by accessing the Library E-Reserves Search and searching for your instructor's last name.

Assignments

Course assignments include calculation exercises and writing assignments (e.g., writing a monitoring plan for an ecosystem resource of your choosing).

There will be quizzes upon completion of modules. Students also take two synthesis quizzes (similar to exams)—one at the end of Module 4 and one at the end of Module 8.

Final Exam

There is no final exam.

Late Submission Policy

Students are responsible for any of their missed work. The instructor will not inform students of any missed work. Each module builds upon one another and the time frame of each one is planned to be two weeks. Assignments can be submitted at any time during this time period, but will not be accepted for full credit after the date and time indicated. To ensure a reasonable turnaround time of approximately 1 week, you must submit on time. For weekly contributions to discussions, quizzes, and the final project, no credit will be given if submitted after the due date.

For the weekly reading assignments and peer review, if the deadline is missed, you can achieve up to 50% credit by turning it in prior to the next quiz. After that quiz date, no credit will be awarded.

Grading Policy

The following table is the grading criteria for the course.

Grading Criteria
Requirement Cumulative Point Value
Assignments 230
Quizzes 770
TOTAL: 1000

The following table is the grading scheme for the course.

Grading Scheme
Letter Grade Percentage
A 100% – 94%
A- < 94% – 90%
B+ < 90% – 87%
B < 87% – 84%
B- < 84% – 80%
C+ < 80% – 77%
C < 77% – 70%
D < 70% – 60%
F < 60%

Please refer to the University Grading Policy for Graduate Courses for additional information.

NOTE: If you are planning to graduate this semester, please communicate your intent to graduate to your instructor. This will alert your instructor to the need to submit your final grade in time to meet the published graduation deadlines. For more information about graduation policies and deadlines, please see "Graduation" under World Campus Student Resources.

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Technical Requirements

This course is offered online and it is assumed you possess the minimum system requirements and computing skills to participate effectively. A list of technical requirements is listed on World Campus' Penn State Technical Requirements page.

Minimum Skills

  • You should have an understanding of basic computer usage (creating folders/directories, switching between programs, formatting and backing up media, accessing the internet).
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  • You must be able to use a web browser to open web pages, download files, and search the internet.
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  • You must be able to download and install programs or plug-ins from the internet.

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If you're ready to see when your courses will be offered, visit our public LionPATH course search to start planning ahead.