Camden

Undergraduate Courses

Ecology of Soil Organisms (50:120:422) undergraduate course lectures and lab  (3 credits) offered each Spring semester. This course introduces students to ecological concepts by concentrating on the organisms and processes occurring belowground. Soil is a medium that supports all primary production in terrestrial ecosystems and is vital to our agriculture, forestry and recreational landscapes. The laboratory classes teach students some basic methods of measuring soil processes and introduces them to the diverse groups of soil organisms and their interactions.

Medical, Industrial and Environmental Mycology a course for Undergraduate (50-120-460) and Graduate (56-120-592) students (3 credits). A lecture and discussion based course offered every third year in the Fall Semester. The course introduces students to the diversity of activities of fungi that can be of benefit and detriment to humans and our agriculture. The course discusses medical implications of fungi, the way in which fungi can be used in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, their role as a source of food and entertainment, other diverse industrial uses including ‘green chemistry’ and their interactions with human activities in the environment, especially pollutants. Come and learn what we do know about the very small fraction of possible some 5 million potential species of fungi in the world.

Graduate Courses

Medical, Industrial and Environmental Mycology – see above – offered every third Fall Semester.

Advanced Soil Ecology (56:120:595) A 3 credit graduate lecture course designed to extend the student’s knowledge of the organisms and processes in soil that underpin our agriculture, forestry and natural landscapes throughout the world. Lecture material will be supplemented with focused readings of primary literature.   Offered every third Fall Semester

Fungi in Ecosystem Processes (56-120-580) A 3 credit graduate lecture course discussing the varied ways in which fungi interact with other organisms to effect ecosystem processes of soil development, underpinning primary production, regulation of plant and animal populations and communities, mediating nutrient and carbon cycling and interacting with human activities, especially pollution. Offered every third Fall Semester

Interpretation of Biological Data Special Topics in Ecology (56:120:599) A 3 credit graduate course designed to help students understand and present data in publications. The course is not a statistics course, but will outline the concepts of statistical analyses to a depth that allows the student to interpret data presented in tabular and graphical form in publications. The course revolves around short lectures and hands-on reading and interpretation of primary literature. Case studies will highlight to good and bad forms of data presentation in order to show students the best way to communication in scientific publications.  Offered each Spring Semester.