Ecosystems and Global Change
Overview
This course will consist of lectures, readings and discussion, and a final class-project. It will have two sessions every week (online). In lectures, the instructor will cover topics related to ecosystem ecology, biogeochemical cycles, feedbacks between global change and ecosystem functions. The overall aim will be to introduce the different aspects of global change (e.g., rising CO2, altered precipitation, nutrient deposition, land-use and land-cover change, etc.) and their linkages with ecosystem functions. Through assigned readings, students will develop a broad understanding of how biogeochemistry provides a common premise to understand these linkages. Students will be evaluated upon their performance in a mid-semester exam, and a final class-project. The class-project is envisioned to be a review or synthesis (e.g., meta-analysis of primary literature) of a topic that is relevant to ecosystem ecology or global change.
Topics Covered
Ecosystem structure and function. Nutrient cycles and biogeochemistry. Human domination of nutrient pathways across the globe. Land-use and land-cover change. Tipping points for ecological systems. Concepts of sustainability. The physics, chemistry, and biology of global change. Ecosystem research and its translation into policy (case studies).
Schedule
First few weeks will consist of readings and discussions on broad topics covering various aspects of Ecosystems, Biogeochemistry and Global Change. This will be followed by weekly presentations by students on papers of their interest.
Dr. Sumanta Bagchi
TB-03, CES, 3rd Floor, Biological Sciences, IISc