School: Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Freshwater Ecosystems
  • Unit Code

    SCI3113
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    3
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    A/Prof Mark Andrew LUND

Description

This unit examines the nature of freshwater ecosystems, in particular, their physical and biological characteristics. Current management issues and the impact of human activity on these ecosystems are analysed as well as the strategies for assessing impacts and achieving balanced management.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must pass either SCC1123 or SCC1111 AND 2 units from SCI1185, SCM2110.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Design and undertake field assessments of water quality, hydrological parameters and biological surveys in flowing and non-flowing freshwater systems.
  2. Apply the principles of effective environmental management plans and their relevant strategies for freshwater systems.
  3. Identify strategies to minimise adverse impacts of human activities.
  4. Define the ecological interactions which maintain inland freshwater ecosystems and the threats to them.
  5. Critically evaluate the characteristics of a range of different freshwater ecosystems.

Unit Content

  1. Biological characteristics of freshwater systems; biota and ecological interactions in lotic and lentic systems; primary productivity and carbon and nutrient pathways in freshwater ecosystems.
  2. Design and implementation of technically sound sampling programs for water quality and biological surveys in freshwater environments.
  3. Introduction to the physical and chemical features of freshwater ecosystems; classification of freshwater systems; nutrient sources; forms of sediment; water as a geomorphic agent; morphology of drainage basins; stream dynamics, lake systems, estuaries, water-logged soils.
  4. Management of freshwater ecosystems: environmental impacts, management of polluting activities and water resource development; regulatory and legislative frameworks for management.
  5. Threats to freshwater environments; eutrophication, pollutants, physical disturbance and infilling, introduced species; case studies of the threats to freshwater ecosystems.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 213 x 3 hour labNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 213 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

WIL - Field Experience

Students will undertake, and be assessed on, authentic activities through engagement with industry and community partners.

Students experience an environment where they observe and/or participate in the application of theoretical knowledge and skills in a professional setting, under the supervision of an expert or professional in the field. Examples include study tours, observation, shadowing, fieldwork, industry tours.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Weekly lectures, discussing the nature of freshwater ecosystems is supported through laboratory sessions, which focus on the interrogation and analysis of real world data. Several of the lectures are replaced by field trips to local wetlands. Additionally, an overnight field trip, allows students to see a range of ecosystem issues and sampling in riverine and deep lake locations. LMS is used to support learning through support materials for assignments.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentBriefing note20%
ReportData analysis report30%
Laboratory WorkLaboratory exercises20%
TestReview tests30%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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