Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module, students will:
1) be able to demonstrate knowledge of the variety of ways human activities are degrading the environment at global scales
2) understand how this environmental disruption affects biological process at all scales, from short-term effects on individual organisms, to long-term effects on ecosystem functioning and evolutionary shift.
3) comprehend the wide range of academic approaches used to describe and study the connections between human activities, environmental degradation, and biological disruption.
4) understand how ecological and environmental harm caused by human activities will ultimately lead to reduced quality of life for many human populations
5) be aware of the various strategies being used to reduce the environmental harm caused by human activities
Indicative Module Content:
- Overview of how human activities cause environmental harm, and how this can be communicated in terms of Earth's 'spheres' (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere)
- Consideration of how environmental changes are causing loss of biodiversity
- Review of how animals and plants are responding to climate change in terms of shifting biogeographical distributions and phenology
- Discussion of how ecological malfunction can diminish essential ecosystem services, such as provision of clean water
- Consideration of the consequences of climate change on agricultural systems, and how this subsequently affects human populations
- Review of how human activities such as energy generation and food production can be made more sustainable