Aquatic Pollution (BIO 438)
Spring 2001
COURSE INFORMATION
(T, Th: 09:30-10:45; T, 11:00-13:50 )
Dr. Clayton A. Penniman
341 Copernicus, 860-832-2658
penniman@ccsu.edu
Course Description:
BIO 438, Aquatic Pollution, will familiarize students with the major types and sources of aquatic
pollutants, their impacts on aquatic environments, and their control and regulation. The course will
focus upon a description of the various types of aquatic pollutants, their sources and control/treatment,
and the effects of water pollution upon freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems; as well as
Federal and State water pollution regulatory programs. The laboratory will include training in
collection of water samples and measurement of microbial indicators of water quality, dissolved
nutrients, BOD, dissolved oxygen, and toxicity. Both lecture and laboratory portions of the course
will emphasize watershed-level processes, effects, and monitoring.
The combination of lecture and laboratory sessions will allow students an opportunity to develop an
understanding of the functional effects of water pollution upon local aquatic ecosystems and the
methods of treatment and control including current Federal and State point and nonpoint regulatory
programs.
Prerequisites:
The prerequisites for BIO 438 are BIO 202 and BIO 201 and CHEM 122.
Office Hours:
Monday, 1200 to 1400; Wednesday, 1100 to 1300; Thursday, 1300 to 1600
To schedule an appointment at other times or to notify the instructor of an expected absence:
Phone: 860-832-2658 (has voice mail)
Email: penniman@ccsu.edu
Class Policies:
Class attendance is expected. Material will be presented in class that is not in the assigned text (and
will be included on exams). Laboratory attendance is required as per departmental policy.
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency
medical information to share with the instructor, or if you need special arrangements in case the
building must be evacuated, please make an appointment to discuss these issues with the instructor as
soon as possible.
Required Texts and Supplemental Readings:
The required text for the course is:
Laws, Edward A. 2001. Aquatic Pollution An Introductory Text Third Edition. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., New York, NY. 639 pp.
Other reading assignments, for both lectures and laboratories, will be made available. All reading assignments should be completed prior to attending the corresponding class.
Grading:
Examinations will include three (lecture) exams during the semester, each of which will cover information for the period immediately before each individual exam, and a comprehensive final examination. In addition, a student library research report (described below) is required. There will also be five short, laboratory project reports/work-ups required and two laboratory exams. Additionally, graduate students will be required to review two related articles from the recent, primary literature and give an oral presentation to the class and prepare a written review on that material.
The grade for the course is made up of a total of 500 points divided as follows:
Semester exams (3 @ 14% each) 42% 210 (70 points each)
Final examination 16% 80
Student report 10% 50
Lab exams (2 @ 7% each) 14% 70 (35 points each)
Lab reports (5 @ 3.6% each) 18% 90 (18 points each)
Total 100% 500 points
For graduate students, the grade for the course is made up of a total of 525 points divided as follows:
Semester exams (3 @ 70 points each) 210
Final examination 80
Student report 50
Lab exams (2 @ 35 points each) 70
Lab reports (5 @ 18 points each) 90
Oral presentation/literature review 25
Total 525 points
Student Report:
A student report is required, 10 to 12 pages in length (typed, double-spaced, no larger than 12-point font and one-inch margins, and not using right justification; required length not including figures, tables, bibliography, etc.), on a subject (pertinent to the course) of the student's choice (approved by the instructor). The report should not be merely a summary review of the subject but should represent some original synthesis by the student. The student should include a bibliography and should appropriately reference information within the text. Please do not include a folder or cover with the report, merely staple the report's pages together.
The report should include at least twenty references (i.e., citations) pertaining to the subject area. The citations can include newspaper and magazine articles, references from the Internet, articles from the primary literature, etc. At least 75% of the citations must be "traditional" primary literature sources (i.e., not from the Internet, newspaper, etc.).
The report should be an original writing exercise by the student.. Students should be aware of the CCSU policy on plagiarism (Student Handbook 2000-2001, Policy on Academic Honesty, http://scoes.ccsu.edu/handbook/ honest.htm). Material (i.e., text and information) taken from another source and presented in the report must be cited (e.g., footnoted). That is, unless the information is presented in the writer's (i.e., the student's) own words, the information must be clearly attributed to the original source (i.e., in quotation marks). While it is generally acceptable to directly quote information from another source, this must be clearly indicated (with quotation marks) in the writer's report. Merely altering a few words from the original author's format still constitutes plagiarism. However, for the BIO 438 report assignment do not use any direct, verbatim quotations. Students should consult a writing style manual (e.g., Council of Biological Editors Style Manual) to determine the appropriate format for citations in the text, footnotes, and bibliographic references. Further guidance on format and citation/bibliographic style will be provided in class. Additionally, the student should not use any reports prepared for another class, either previously or concurrently.
Students will submit (in writing) their choice of report topic by 08 March for approval. Students will submit an outline of the report and their list of bibliographic references (properly formatted) for review and approval by 27 March. Students may submit typed, final draft reports for review by the instructors prior to 10 April. The instructor will return the edited draft report within one week for the student to revise as indicated. Final reports will be due no later than 03 May. Five points per day (i.e., week-day) will be subtracted for overdue reports. No report will be accepted after 09 May.
Graduate student research literature review (Graduate students only):
Graduate students enrolled in BIO 438 will have the additional requirement of preparing a written literature review of two related papers from the primary literature on a subject (pertinent to the course) of the student's choice (approved by the instructor). Note that the subject area must be different from that used for the student's research report described above. Students will write a five-page report summarizing the research area reviewed and present the summary to the class in a 15-20 min oral report. Guidelines for the written report are equivalent to those described above for the student research report.
Graduate students will submit (in writing) their choice of report topic(including the literature references to be used) by 08 March for approval. Graduate students will give their oral presentations and hand in the written reports during the 08 May laboratory session.
BIO 438 Table of Contents