Ecosystem Management
Contents
Introduction
Ecosystem management are part of the School of Environmental and Rural Sciences. Our teaching and research span disciplines such as biological conservation, land and water management, natural resource policy and geographical information systems. This discipline delivers the major components of the Bachelor of Natural Resources and has a strong track record in training industry-based postgraduate students.
Why Study Ecosystem Management at UNE?
The UNE has a long history in environmental science with the Bachelor of Natural Resources degree being the first of its kind in Australia, giving the school more than thirty years of research and teaching experience. Our location in the North Coast region of NSW means we have a wide diversity of ecosystems at our doorstep. To the east we have upland plains, temperate and rainforests, and an array of swamps and streams in pristine National Parks leading to populated urban centres in one of Australia’s fastest developing regions. Heading west we find the expanse of the Murray-Darling Basin, with rangelands, irrigated cropping and regulated lowland rivers in a semi-arid climate. Students wishing to study in Ecosystem Management will learn skills in the ecology and management of diverse systems including agricultural and forest landscapes, mining and extractive industries, and wetlands and rivers.
Courses
Undergraduate:
Bachelor of Engineering Technology
Bachelor of Environmental Science
Bachelor of Environmental Science/Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of GeoScience
Bachelor of Marine Science and Management - no longer offered
Bachelor of Natural Resources - no longer offered
Bachelor of Natural Resources/Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning - not offered to new students in 2011
Bachelor of Science
Postgraduate Research
Master of Resource Science
Doctor of Philosophy
Postgraduate
Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science
Graduate Certificate in Marine Science and Management - no longer offered
Graduate Certificate in Natural Resources
Graduate Diploma in Geographic Information Science
Graduate Diploma in Marine Science and Management - no longer offered
Graduate Diploma in Natural Resources
Master of Environmental Management
Master of Geographic Information Science
Master of Marine Science and Management - no longer offered
Master of Natural Resources
Professional Doctorate in Science - no longer offered
Bachelor Honours
Bachelor of Environmental Science with Honours
Bachelor of Science with Honours
Units
ECOL202 – Marine and Freshwater Ecology
ECOL203 – Ecology - Populations to Ecosystems
ECOL204 – Ecological Methods
EM334 - Introduction to GIS
EM311 - Land Assessment for Sustainable Use
EM312 - Impact Assessment in Natural Resources Management
EM323 - Ecology and Management of Australasian Wildlife
EM351 – Ecosystem Rehabilitation
EM353 - Conservation Biology
EM432 - Remote Sensing and Image Analysis
NR411 - Resource Policy and the Community
NR490 - Project Report: B. Natural Resources
RSNR301 – Pollution Management
RSNR402 – Integrated Water Resource Management
RSNR403 - Sustainable Land Management
RSNR404 - Project Management
ZOOL203 - Vertebrate Zoology - Evolution and Diversity
Careers
Job opportunities that require training in resource management will remain in demand as society moves towards ecologically sustainable management practices for all of our natural resources. Students trained in ecosystem management will be sought after as the pressures of urban and agricultural development place unprecedented demands on natural resources. Our graduates have taken positions in catchment management authorities, state and federal government management agencies, consultancies and industry, and research organisations. Our graduates are especially well-placed to gain employment at the end of their degree through contacts made during the 12 weeks of work experience required in the Bachelor of Natural resources.
Partnerships, Networks and Industry Links
Much of our research is in partnership with agencies, businesses and community groups. We have established projects with the Australian Research Council, Land and Water Australia, Cooperative Research Centres such as the Cotton Catchments Communities CRC and Weeds CRC, numerous Catchment Management Authorities in northern NSW, and state agencies such as Department of Water and Energy, Department of Environment and Climate Change, and Department of Primary Industries, and many mining industries such as BHP Billiton and RioTinto.
Facilities
GIS Computer laboratories: Networked facility of 50 PC computers dedicated to teaching geographic information systems and image processing. The GIS facility for resource information systems, comprising Silicon Graphics workstation and a variety of PC's with a range of GIS software including ARCGIS and IMAGINE. Peripherals include digitisers (AO size), flatbed colour scanners; plotters (AO HP 65OC, AO pen plotter, Epson Colour Stylus, A4 HP Jet), a laboratory and field based spectro-radiometer, Magellan GPS systems. collection of satellite imagery and digital GIS files has been compiled.
Analytical laboratories: Water Resources Laboratory for chemical analyses of soil, rock, plant and animal samples with an automated atomic absorption spectrophotometer, auto-analyser, UV/ UIS spectrophotometer, drying ovens, incubators, centrifuges, autoclaves, muffle furnace, balances, distillation units etc.
Wildlife resources laboratory: Houses specimen collections of Australian fauna, preparation rooms, teaching and research laboratories, animal house facilities including a nocturnal room for small mammals, field observation equipment including radio tracking devices, bat detectors, trapping and spotlighting equipment, field glasses, dietary analysis facilities, walk-in refrigerator and deep freezers etc.
Aquatic Ecology equipment and laboratory: Variety of Oxygen, pH and conductivity meters, water sampling bottles and sampling equipment, Ekman grab, multi-channel loggers, research-quality compound and dissecting microscopes with fibre-optic cold-light illuminators and epifluorescence, portable analytical balance, and access to a range of different sized boats. Specialist sampling equipment includes freeze corers and benthic metabolism chambers.
Ecology laboratories: Range of equipment including incubators, ovens, refrigerators, balances, microscopes (including some of research standard with fibre-optic cold-light source), portable field based automatic weather station, light and radiation meters, specimen storage facilities.
Plant and soil laboratories: Germination cabinets, incubators, drying ovens, balances, refrigerators, pH and conductivity meters, EM38 conductivity meter for measuring apparent soil salinity, neutron moisture probe, and preparation areas for sample analyses.
Land use planning and management laboratory: 45 research-quality mirror stereoscopes for aerial photographic interpretation, a small air photo library of NE NSW, a topographic map collection.
Field Stations: Newholme is a commercially operated Field Laboratory located about 10 km north of Armidale. Its primary function is for teaching and research. Arrawarra Field Station near Coffs Harbour for coastal management studies.
Research
Go to Ecosystem Management research page
Contacts
For general and administrative enquiries:
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Enquiries about studying Ecosystem Management at UNE can be made to:
Ecosystem Management:
Bec Wood
Email: rwood@une.edu.au
Ph: +61-2-6773 2539