Instructor:      John E. Havel, Ph.D.
                        Office:  KGSX 307      phone: 836-5308  email: johnhavel@missouristate.edu
                        Office hours: MW 10-11, F 10-12, & by appointment

 

Course content: Limnology is the study of inland waters, and has as its central focus the structure and function of lakes.  Limnology is multidisciplinary, with topics including lake formation, light and heat, hydrology, water chemistry, plant and animal diversity, and the ecology of food webs. BIO 562 emphasizes the laboratory and will include one weekend field trip.

 

Class meetings:      Lecture:           MWF 9-9:50 AM     (KGSX 217 or 309?)
                     Lab:                 Friday 1-4 PM         (KGSX 308)

                                   

Prerequisites:  BIO 369; CHM 105 or CHM 170 & 175

 

Required readings:

1.   Horne, A.J., and C.R. Goldman. 1994. Limnology. McGraw-Hill, 2^nd edition.

2.   Reserve readings in library.

3.     Needham, J.G., and P.R. Needham. 1962. A guide to the study of freshwater biology.        Holden-Day, 5^th edition.

4.     Havel, J.E. 2000. Limnology laboratory exercises. 7^th edition. (Available at Textbucks,        located at Kimbrough & Madison).

Grading:		Final grades
Exam 1	50	90-100%	A
Exam 2	100	80-89	B
Exam 3 (final)	100	70-79	C
Laboratory participation	50	60-69	D
Laboratory reports	150	<60	F
	450 points

 

Course policies

General philosophy.  Limnology is lab intensive and requires regular writing.  I will assume that students are familiar with the basic principles in the listed prerequisite courses.  Many students have difficulty with basic chemistry, so keep your general chemistry textbook handy.

Attendance.  Attendance in lecture will not be directly counted in grading for the course.  However, you are responsible for any announcements and handouts presented in your absence. Reading assignments are listed in the following schedule.  Attendance in laboratory is mandatory.  Each unexcused absence from lab will result in a loss of 20 points (participation) and three or more unexcused absences will result in an automatic failure for the course. Each absence from the Monday discussion period will result in the loss of five  points (participation).

Exams and makeup policy.  Three exams are scheduled.  Exams will be based on material from lecture, laboratory, and the text. I will provide study questions prior to each exam to guide your review of the text.  Examples of old exams are available on reserve; use these only as a guide for types of questions, not content.  If you must miss an exam, please let me know in advance. Makeup exams are usually all-essay format.

Laboratory, field trips, and discussion. The laboratory is vital part of this course.  The lab takes a lot of effort for us to set up, so there will be no opportunity to make up labs (but see “reports” below).  You are expected to help with cleanup after lab.  Since laboratory moves quickly, you should read the lab exercise prior to lab.  Scheduled field trips will go rain or shine, so you will need to dress appropriately for the weather. Although we will attempt to return to campus on time, Friday field trips may occasionally finish later than the scheduled period.  One field trip will take up an entire weekend, so adjust your schedule accordingly. By law, no alcohol is allowed in university vehicles. While off campus, remember that you are representing Missouri State, so common courtesy is expected.  The Monday lecture period will often be used to discuss the previous lab, so bring your lab data to this class.

Lab reports.  Lab reports are due on Monday, a week and a half after completion of the lab exercise.  Most reports are brief (10 points), though several other reports will be written in the format of scientific papers (20 points); details are given in the lab manual. For one excused absence, a 2-page summary on a pre-approved seminar can be substituted for a 10-point report and two such summaries can be substituted for a 20-point report. 

Academic integrity.  The following is general University policy: “All members of the University community share the responsibility and authority to challenge and make known acts of apparent academic dishonesty. Any student detected participating in any form of academic dishonesty in this course will be subject to sanctions as described in the Student Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures (http://www.missouristate.edu/acadaff/AcademicIntegrity.html).”  All lab reports or other written work must represent you own work.  We will share and interpret data during discussion, but all subsequent writing must be your own.  Any instances of copying will be considered academic dishonesty (score of zero for first infraction, failure of course for second infraction).

Disabilities.  Some of you may need accommodation for a physical or learning disability. Numerous campus resources are available through Disability Support Services (836-4192 or 6792 (TTY)).  If you have special needs, please visit with me during the first week of class.

Nondiscrimination.  Missouri State is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.  Concerns may be brought to the attention of your instructor (Havel), Biology Department Head (Jensen), or the University EO officer (Jana Long, 836-4252).

Library and internet resources

 

Reference books.  These books are all available at the Missouri State library.

APHA. 1989. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association. Washington, DC. 17^th edition.

Downing, J.A., and F.H. Rigler. 1984.  A manual on methods for the assessment of secondary productivity in fresh waters. (IBP Handbook 17) Blackwell Scientific. Oxford, England.

Edmondson, W.T.(ed.) 1959.  Freshwater biology.  Wiley. New York. 2^nd edition.

Hutchinson, G.E. 1957. A treatise on limnology. Volume 1: Lake origins, physics, and chemistry. Wiley.

Hutchinson, G.E. 1967. A treatise on limnology. Volume 2: Limnoplankton. Wiley.

Hutchinson, G.E. 1975. A treatise on limnology. Volume 3: Macrophytes. Wiley.

Hutchinson, G.E. 1993. A treatise on limnology. Volume 4: Benthos. Wiley.

Thorp, J.H., and A.P. Covich. 1991. Ecology and classification of North American freshwater invertebrates. Academic Press. New York

Welch, P.S.  1948.  Limnological methods.  McGraw Hill. New York.

Wetzel, R.G. 1983. Limnology. Saunders. New York. 2^nd edition.  (On reserve)

Internet resources.  The aquatic biology web page contains a lot of helpful information for this class.  For example, we list library holdings for journals commonly used by limnologists and, in lecture, I will occasionally refer to web sites which are linked to the aquatic biology web page.  This web site can be found by first going to the Biology Department home page (http://biology.missouristate.edu/) and then clicking on “Aquatic Biology”.  A variety of useful web sites are available through the following link:  http://biology.missouristate.edu/aquatic/offcampuswebs.htm

Library reserve readings.  The following papers are required reading and are listed by title in the following lecture and lab schedules.  The papers are available through the library reserve, either by going to the desk and checking out a hard copy (3 hour limit) or by going to electronic reserve.  To use the electronic reserve, you may work from a computer lab on campus or else from your home computer.  From your home computer, you will need to first have Adobe Acrobat, which can be downloaded from the library web site.  Open the internet program, go to the Missouri State web site, locate the library web site, and then locate the reserves.  From reserves, search with my name (Havel) and then select BIO 562. You should then see a listing of reserve articles.  After choosing an article, give the following  password: limnology (all in lower case).  You should then see the text and can either read it on screen or else print and read later.  Note: for longer articles, printing is sometimes slow, so you might find visiting the reserve desk in person a little easier! 

Cole, G.A. 1994. “Shapes and sizes of lakes”. Pp. 132-150 in Textbook of limnology. Waveland Press, 4^th edition.

Edmondson, W.T. 1991. “The eutrophication and recovery of Lake Washington”. Pp. 5-56 in The uses of ecology. University of Washington Press, Seattle.

Jones, J.R., and M.F. Knowlton. 1993. Limnology of Missouri reservoirs: An analysis of regional patterns. Lake and reservoir management 8: 17-30. (reference for lab report)

Korgen, B.J. 1995. Seiches. American Scientist 83: 330-341.

Lampert, W., and U. Sommer.  1997. “ Bacteria in freshwater”,  Pp. 93-100 in Limnoecology: The ecology of lakes and streams. Oxford University Press. New York.

Mallin, M.A.  2000. Impacts of industrial animal production on rivers and estuaries. American Scientist 88: 26-37.

Mason, C.F. 1991. “Sewage treatment”.  Pp. 57-72 in Biology of freshwater pollution. Longman Scientific. Singapore. 2^nd edition.

Pechenik, J.A. 1987. “Writing laboratory reports”. Pp. 15-47 in Writing about biology. Little, Brown, and Co., Boston.

Wetzel, R.G. 1983. “Water economy”. Pp. 37-44 in Limnology. Saunders, 2^nd edition.