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Soil Ecology

EAS
430
EEB
489
Environ
430
Description

This course centers on the overlap of soil science and ecology.  Our goal is to understand: (1) how the interactions of landform, topography, climate, and biota influence the development and distribution of soils; (2) how physical, chemical and biological properties of soils affect water and nutrient availability to plants; and (3) how nutrients are cycled within terrestrial ecosystems and how these processes are influenced by human activities. In the field portion of the course, we will sample and describe soils of four ecosystems and observe first hand how differences in landform, topography, climate and biota influence soil formation.  In the laboratory, we will analyze our soil samples for a number of physical, chemical, and biological properties.  Using laboratory data in conjunction with field data, each student will select two of the four ecosystems for detailed comparison in a research paper.  Although we will focus our attention on local ecosystems of Michigan, skills learned in this course may be broadly applied within a variety of terrestrial ecosystems in other geographic regions.

Faculty/Instructor
Donald R. Zak
Syllabus
File
EAS_430_Fall_2019.pdf
Credits
Minimum credits
3.00
Maximum credits
3.00
Pass / Fail
NO Pass/Fail or S/U option
Undergrad
Yes
Graduate
Yes
Prerequisites
Introductory biology and chemistry.
Offered Fall Semester
Yes
Offered Winter Semester
No
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Dana Building
440 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 764-6708
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